I can't seem to find a shop in Fort Worth, Tx to rebuild my 235 ci engine. I am torn as to what to do at this point. I can't decide if I should rebuild it myself or shell out the cash to have it done and save some time and pain. If I knew of some shops in this area that can do it, then the decision may not be as hard. Can anyone provide some info? Thank you in advance.
Call Wayne Calvert in Denton . Don't know if he will do it but he is the or one of the best builders in N. Texas .
Calvert messed up my Studebaker 289 years ago, < 500 miles and it started do knock I will never recommend him. they were a bear to deal with, rod nuts were not tight, left out an oil galley plug, Main bearings, were badly scratched, etc. I had to go through it again to fix it. I ended up having Dave Plubell re do it, I think he is in Garland. Great guy, he also built my 383 Stroker I still run.
I went there in the first place because I heard great things about Calvert. I already had bearings for the Stude and he got really fussy about using my bearings so I told him fine, use your own. only to get a call later that he couldn't find them so he would go ahead and use mine like he was doing me a favor. this started the bad taste. The time line went over what was promised and I was trying to get to a car show, but I figured good things sometimes take time so I would wait. When I picked up the motor we were good. he even showed me a stock Willys, never seen a stock one before. After installing it I could not get it to prime, took some digging with the Stude guys, but a galley plug was missing. < 500 miles after getting it running it developed an internal knock. I was so upset by then I wasn't about to go back to Calvert (Money was not the issue) so I took it to Dave who found something wrong with the Pal nut on the connecting rod, I don't remember if it was upside down or loose or what exactly. The main bearings were pretty scratched like it was assembled dirty. Collectively everything added up to a bad experience with Calvert. This was all 10+ years ago but I tend to hold a grudge. The good news is the Stude motor is still running strong in my Model A truck Tyler