I read alot about guys who you don't want to do business with , but I want to flip it around. If you live in mid-Missouri, in the hills, there's a little town called Cuba, MO. Theres a guy, actually a whole family there, with a little machine shop that will be my machinist and builder until the day I die. I lost my vision for the most part and I have to hand the engine prep baton off to someone I feel confident in. Dave is the guy. He is very meticulous about how things go together, and offers complete machine shop services. He ports heads and develops combinations in a class of people that include the best in the USA, and has a dyno to show you his work. He is building a 466 BBF for me right now, and is porting the heads right now. He has a combination planned for me that will be set on stun, for my son and nephew (and the wife if she can avoid peeing her pants every time she hits it good) to drive me around in. If you live in the east to mid MO area and need an engine done, I highly reccomend him, he is worth a drive. You get alot more than your average job done. He doesn't work for free, but he does it right and is fair on pricing, and that in the end is what counts. In my mind he is the best. He does circle track stuff of all makes, and can do you right on anything else. Here is his his website. Give him a call. http://misn.com/~frd460/MclComp.html I hope you don't mind Ryan, but a good word for a really good guy who is just going about it feels worthy of comment. Dave is someone you will like doing business with. And the eastern mid-MO, and the hills around need good folks with a work ethic like his to stay around, he's busy as a one-legged man in an ass-kickin' contest now, but I wanted to throw a good word out for him and his ilk. He's a great guy to work with, like we used to have all over America, he can do engines for hot rods and do it right. From mild to holy s*it! he can do it.
It is a good thing to recognize someone, who epitimizes what we desire when soliciting work done! It is so easy to beat up, and comment on all of the horror stories out there-with poor quality work, excessive times, poor communication, etc., simply because there seems to be so many examples of it. The economy, the way it is, may actually have one positive effect-that would be that businesses, now have to work harder for our business, and not take us for granted.
x2 on Dave...he's a great guy, smart as a whip, & takes care to do things right. He has a neat little flathead-powered rod...simple & practical (though he needs different wheels on it ). His father had Dave working from an early age, so he's an old fart, experience-wise. Also is heavily into music & playing live. Bill, are you on the 460ford.com board?
great to hear about the good guys out there. i posted one a few weeks back about a shop in tucson that i've enjoyed doing business with. if anyone in tucson needs work done on their daily driver or even a classic car, look at chuck hawk automotive. they're family owned and operated, will explain everything you need to know in detail before going ahead with any work and leave the decision making up to the customer. they've gone out of their way to help me out when i needed it and been incredibly patient with me on many things, while still being an absolute pleasure to deal with. i really can't say enough good things about them.
Its very nice to hear about someone doing good work. There alot of people who talk a good game but very few that can deliver. Its very hard to trust someone to do work on your baby. Todd
Yep, I am on Bruno's forum mostly. I have a thread going on TFI ignition and adapting it to hot rods in various ways. Dave and his whole family are great people, I wish I could just go over and hang out, they have a lot of fun and eat, sleep, and breathe hot rods. I haven't heard him play, but I'd like to plug my old 'strat in sometime and do a little slide. Its hard when you don't get to drive anymore, I'd be a real pest
Thats good to hear. I need to find someone around Witichita/ Salina Kansas area like that. Got taken by a shop before and kinda leary now...
Ha! Yeah...I haven't been on Bruno's forum for about 2 weeks (before you signed up). I got a little burnt out with all the drama this summer....there's about 4-5 people between the two boards who don't ever seem happy unless they are bitching about something...just like being back on the grade school playground. Randy Malik (rmcomprandy) is one of the smartest guys I've ever met. Straightforward, maybe even a bit brutal, but I read everything he posts...can't say that about too many people. If you've never been to one of the 460 tech seminars, I highly recommend it. He usually gives a presentation and they are well worth going to hear. There's always something new there...got to see Kaase's new Boss heads & pieces long before they hit the market. This last year, Blake dyno'ed his engine on Fri. night & we autopsy'ed it afterwards at Mike Phillips' shop. Dave McLain was there in a sweater & Dockers...just jumped & started tearing it down, good clothes be damned. That TFI thread is very interesting...I learned some things. I'm also a big fan of FoMoCo ignitions....well, maybe not the Load-O-Matic.
Randy Malik is a smart dude. I like reading his stuff because you don't have to wade through a lot of BS to get to a point, and if you have something interesting he will grab on and you can both run with it. Great guy. He doesn't care if you just stumbled in, if your logic is sound , he with you. If it isn't, be prepared for ridicule. There are a lot of talkers and not nearly as many doers. I like Randy and that style of thought because it reminds me of growing up, my uncle was like that. Dave is very diplomatic but he will correct you too and you will go away better off in your thinking. I like getting tangents worked out before you go through all the work of scewing up. Dave is like that, he doesn't care what he's wearing, he'll be knuckle deep in anything he wants to get at. You aren't too shabby yourself. I have been reading your stuff too. The TFI stuff I put down isn't my own. I was reading AVRider and decided to try it on my old 352. Who would have known how well it works? This week my nephew has a 347 Mustang coming in that we are going to use the stock dizzy and wire it without the computer for locked out advance, 34° at first and if its OK then 36°. The 460 guys are a great bunch, you learn a lot just from being around with your ears open and mouth shut.
That's funny! Thanks for the laugh! It's nice to hear a good recommendation about someone for a change.