are all machine shops so slooooow?

I am going to agree with you only halfway. Only a fool wouldn't ask "how much".

 

Note: I said the first two questions. If the second question out of your mouth is how much, you are NOT gonna get thier best effort, because you have just told them where quality work falls on your list of priorities, after price and time. Usually I start off by telling them in detail what I want done and how I want it done. Usually that leads to them asking me why, which leads to a lengthy conversation on exactly what I am doing and why, and what my expectations are. At this point, if I havent already left, and they are still talking, my next question is can you, after that comes will you. Then and only then do we get to price.

 

Really! Humm!

 

Having written a couple of books already i have manuscript called "The Wrench" about my days in all sectons of The Trade as we call it. It is an inside look into what actually really goes on behind the front counter. Some is funny, some is technical and some is pitiful in a couple of shops i have been in. I am reading this post and while it pertains mostly to machine shops I am thinking maybe I should drag that told manuscript out and finish it. Life and perception is very different on the back side of the counter than folks on the front side percieve it to be. Not in a bad way, just that the machinist or mech thinks is often nothing like what the customer percieves he thinks.
Don

 

Hear! Hear!

 

I'll make one more comment here. I have walked out of LOTS of machine shops after the first couple questions. I have never walked out of one after the last question. I have never found the price of machine work to be the deal breaker. But I guess it depends on what it is you are doing, and what your expectations are.

 

Humm!

 

Man painfully slooow, I kept my cool for 5 months then started bitchen to get my 59a back from VSI, ridiculous, Ive work in a industrail machine shop for fifteen years it dosent take that long to bore deck seat. Ya have to figure they have all the tooling too. kind of screwed up a good time. I could see a month, there is other work to do maybe two.

 

I bought a GM built crate engine from a buddy who has a Vette Shop. I figure if by some strange twist its bad I can go see him. I figure I got as good deal on it for $1800 new in the factory box, he even loaded it. It was for a project that the customer never followed through on. We have fired it twice my distributor was bad so I changed it from a cross-fire system back to HEI. My car is just finishing up now at the 4 yr mark. I sold my old engine for $800 to a friend in the parts business and he is still waiting for a rebuild. I hope I came out ahead. I'd love to get some other machine work done but their emergency crap has worn thin. I miss the old days when we had machinists all around. My uncle was one and we had old timers at a local factory that could make anything. We used to get some odd things made for firetrucks. Those days are gone. I've been scouting around for a more stable shop.

 

RE: the do-it-yourself machine shop:

i meant with supervision and guidance from shop staff. As in step-by-step.

i feel the good points about this is 1) Less BS in that if you're doing it yourself, you verify that it is indeed being done......obviously and done right. No more "oh we're getting on next week.......you're next in line etc." You bring the engine in when they/you're ready to start in lieu of dropping it off at the "bermuda triangle."

2) The pride and exitement of knowing you did it yourself.

3) You'll learn more about the engine building process; This is sort of what it's all about after all?


Also, i don't feel that the shop would have to worry about "giving away trade secrets etc." because the casual/occasional engine builder isn't interested in investing in the high dollar machinery if s/he's only going to be building an engine every now and then.

Something similar in concept to this:
http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/12/autos/corvette_engine_build/index.htm

http://jalopnik.com/5584808/gm-will-now-let-you-build-your-own-corvette-engine

 

I was not coming down on machine shops in general. There are many good shops locally that I will now use. I am not a "Wal-Mart" shopper...I do not expect same week turnaround on parts. I am friends with a few machinists...good work takes time and patience not only with working a mill...but with everything. Precision is key...yeah...I get that.

About shop A here in town...What pisses me off is when people feel the need to lie and push my work off. I paid good money to get my heads done only to find he broke them and shipped em off to get fixed. Had I not raised a stink about it, he never would have told me...HE EVEN SAID THAT. I don't care if I am a regular customer or not. When it comes down to it, he has an account at Advance Auto (where I work) and I (used) to send him business. He knows who I am. He had my heads for over a month to do standard run of the mill stuff to a 289 head. When I finally confronted him about it, he started to talk dirt about the other local shops...sayin his shit dont stink. BS!

Shaker Racing....shop B if you will...was where I ended up going. Granted, he had a set of heads on his shelf ready to go. Even still, he said a week to three MAX depending on his current work load and what kind of shape my castings were in...which is a realistic time. His work speaks for itself, his shops reputation has always been stellar...my only question is why I did not call him before.

I am not ragging on machine shops, so dont take it that way. My hats off to these folks. I am quite patient to a point and I understand some things take priority. As a business owner/operator, you should have the decency to be honest...which is the best form of customer service. An engine builder knows a good machinist is worth his weight in gold even on a bad day.

 

And I thought this was a peculiarly English problem.

 

My friends shop in Texas does good work in a timely manner, for some engines depending on what they are (how odd ball) and the parts manufacturer can determine the speed. Example: ARP bolt kit for a mid 90's 350 Camero are nothing like the actual engine. If it wasn't for a few factory bolts provided by the owner who brought the engine in pieces, it never would have went back together.