So, Long's did a great job on my dad's 455, but that's not a nailhead and they're way out on Somerset road and I live in New Braunfels. I'd make the drive if they're significantly better than closer options, namely Janke in Kirby or Kendrick's over on WW White. Any south Texas Buick guys have any experience with these shops?
Is Franks a machine shop? Or Orlando has his own machine shop? If I was gonna drive all the way to the south side, I'd just go to Long's. They've got a great reputation. But if I can get the same quality work somewhere closer, like Janke's or Kendrick's, I'll save myself the drive...and the gas. Anybody used Janke's or Kendrick's?
Orlando works at Franks. Great guy. Longs are great guys to. Ive had Jeff and Jerry do a lot of machine work over the years for my britt bikes and motor work. Ive never used Jankes or Kendricks for machine work. I personally would drive the extra distance for Longs or Franks. Plus Virgil nows more about the older motors. Just my 2 cents.
I have used Jerry (Janke's) for a ton of stuff. One of the last "real deal" engine builders of his generation. Your nailhead would be in good hands with him, but last I heard, They're doing primarily heavy equipment these days... Long's is bad ass..... If You were Closer, I would reccomend Larry Schultz at Austin Performance Plus. He's a freakin madman when it comes to powersport motors.
Whatever you do... don't let anyone try and put hardened seats in the heads. Very hard to do correctly and the low spring pressures and high nickel content of the castings do not require it.
Speakin of Heads- if You're in Austin and need Head work done, call Brooks Elliot- he is an official Cylinder Head ninja.
Thanks, guys. After a conversation with a machinist who worked for Kendrick's for ten years and still recommended Long's, I'll make the long haul to Long's. Janke apparently had a medical problem that forced him to shut down for awhile, I also heard now that he's back he's primarily doing heavy equipment.
I've heard good things about Long's but have never dealt with them. The one S.A. machine shop that I've never, ever heard anything negative about it is Duffin. I personally have had bad dealings with Kendrick and know others that have as well. My impression is that if you're not building a high-zoot BBC race motor (and putting Kendrick on the side of your car) you take your chances.
Duffin quoted $150 to put the rotating assy in my flathead. They had done all the machine work. I went to pick it up and noticed the rods in backward. They turned them around but at payment time, was told the assembly was now $400 as they had trouble with it. So much for knowing what you are doing and keeping your word. I paid but desided to check everything. I had asked if the Merc crank cleanout plugs had been pulled. I was assured that they had. I found rust scale and gunk completely filling the traps and oil feed lines. Great assembly
Damm it, I'm back to my old standby of hearing something bad about every single machine shop out there, sorry to hear about that. But seriously, do you trust someone else to assemble your motor? It pains me to say so, but I don't believe it's clean unless I see it myself. I had dealing with Kendrick several years ago with a pair of BBC heads, I was 18 at the time and really didn't have the money to do it twice, it sucked. I took them the heads for a valve job and springs. After repeated phone calls I got the heads back 3 months later. When I saw valve lapping compound still on the valves that prompted me to take them to someone else who broke them down and had to regrind seats and valves to make them right. I've had two different reputable machine shops install pistons in the wrong hole on a big block Mopar (valve reliefs in the wrong place). It seems like if you're not running a Chevy motor it's a game of chance with machine shops. PM me if you want to know which machine shops did that work.
I went with Long's, he's a bit...eccentric, but I like him, he knows his nailheads (and he's got a complete 401 sitting behind his shop)...we're waiting on valve springs and cam bearings before he can finish. So far I got most of my parts from TA performance and I've been happy with their service. I'll be posting pictures when the job is done. Originally, I was only going to have him do the machine work and assemble the heads, but I've decided to let him assemble the bottom end and the heads, I'll do the rest. It's gonna be a while before I can gather all the parts I want to finish the motor, e.g. dual quad manifold, carbs, oil pump, timing chain cover ($$$), finned aluminum valve covers and valley cover, new aftermarket distributor, headers, and I'm taking the time to clean up and repaint the engine compartment and underside of the hood. I'll also need a new radiator and I'm going to convert to an OD automatic, either a 2004-R or a 700R-4, so, if I'm lucky, it might be back on the road by the Roundup.
Im glad they got Amby running again. It was sittin for awhile. That thing used to terrorize s.w. military.
I hate to admit that we ran PINKS in San Antonio but I guess I must. Anyway, they had the ambulance there also, that thing moves off the line pretty hard.
I had no choice, Virgil is damn proud of that thing, and he'll tell you about...and tell you about it...and tell you about it...every time I swing by to drop off parts, he tells me about it again...
The following is a summary of the fun and games at Kendrick! Finally the machine shop called and said everything was ready, so 2 days later we go to pick it up and it was not ready...waited 2 hours for them to 'tie up loose ends'. After we got it back to my shop and unwrapped the parts we found the bad news: even though they said everything would be "assembly clean", everything was filthy with machine oil and grindings; the crank also had rusty finger prints on the polished journals; the oil galleys in the block were still full of sludge since the plugs had not been removed for cleaning; the heads were a mess. Ah, the heads. First thing I noticed was the valve stem height varied more than 1/8", second after removing some valves we noticed that the valve guide seals that were paid for were not installed, an intake valve seat had a rust pit that you could catch a finger nail on, and no valve spring shims were present even though the old springs were used. So back to the machine shop and a formal ass-chewing with the owner who agreed that this was not acceptable. Back home everything looked fine except the heads: when I removed a valve I found that the generic shims for the outer valve spring covered the recess for the inner valve spring. This the exact same thing that happened on a previous rebuild, except it was not discovered until after the engine was started: that little old spring bind resulted in bent push rods, broken rockers, bent and broken rocker shafts and a bent camshaft! Back to the machine shop and 3 weeks for them to find and install the correct shims for both the inner and outer springs. Walk, no RUN from Kendricks Willie
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