I spoke with DC (Doc Cortez, I'm to lazy to write it evertime) and got permission to make a directory for reputable machine shops in the US. This was done in the f/i forum for tuners (notaeg I believe started that thread). I believe the following rules would be acceptable to DC and the other Mods, so here goes. We would like to have any input on a reputable machine shop that you or someone you know personally has done business with. This is a good chance for people to know what options they have in the way of machining services. This is not a thread for flaming, so if you don't have any positive feedback to post then don't post. If you believe that a certain shop has less than adequate machining skills (especially wrt honda engines) then say so in a mature manor. It will be up to the people who choose one of these shops to decide if the shop fits thier needs. Please respond with the following.......

1) State and city of the shop
2) Name of the shop
3) Contact information
4) Services they offer (it would be good to include if they also do engine work or tuning)
5) What service they performed for you or the person you know first hand

I'll start.....

CALIFORNIA

1) California - San Bernadino
2) Southwest engines
3) (909)888-1333
4) They are a traditional machine shop, bores, hones, general engine building. They do not specialize in honda engines, they do work on all engines.
5) I had them bore, hone, balance (this included the crank, flywheel and pressure plate) and piece together my gsr block (je pisons, je rings, eagle rods and federal mogul race bearings).

-I would use these guys again for any stock rebuild or simple project. They do not seem to have extensive knowledge of honda engines, but seem to be competant machinists (at least in my limited xp). I had these guys work on my block b4 I knew of any other viable options.


1) California - Anaheim
2) Laskey Racing
3) Web: http://www.laskeyracing.com/ Phone: 714-688-0222
Address: 2860 E. Gretta Ln Unit H Anaheim, CA 92806
4) From what I have read about Laskey Racing they are one of the premier honda engine building shops in the country. They have their block sleeving done by Dan Benson and use only the highest quality components. Check out their website, it seems that there is no machining/engine building procedure that they are not equiped to handle. Just by reputation alone I have no reservations in recommending them to anyone.

1) Upland, California
2) Graves Machine Shop
3) Jodie (909) 982-1856
4) Full machine shop doing everything except head porting. Many of the big name shops in the area secretely use them. Usually have really long wait times, but will definately work with you through your build, with suggestions and years of knowledge.


ILLINOIS

1)near ohare airport (bensonville?)
2) APEX.
3) Bill, (630) 766 7168
4)machine shop, engine building, etc. -HAS HONDA ENGINE EXPERIENCE, and even stocks some factory seals, etc.
5) had them rebuild/mill/clean a head for me...and a good buddy has had Bill assemble an engine, and do a couple of heads.

-AWESOME experience here...owner has over 30 yrs experience, and makes most of his dough building race engines. tiny shop, but PACKED full of tools. seems like his priority is doing the work, NOT banking big time off people.

1) frankfurt (south west side of chicago)
2)Book Racing Engines
3)(815) 464 7200
4)machine shop, engine building, engine dyno, carb tuning, full general repair and tow service too
5)best friend spent almost 10K here on a built engine. i had them do some general machine work, and rebuild a head.

- buddy wishes he wouldnt have had them do the work sometimes. (took 2 years to get a running engine out of them, first dropped sleeves, had o-ring problem...second is good). owners son went the extra mile to get it done finally, and the running engine seems great(DART block, worked head, etc). they SPECIALIZE in V8's(are nationally known), not hondas, but i'm sure they would do good work now...they have some good experience now(owners son is kind of a honda-head).

INDIANA

1) Indiana - Indianapolis (Gasoline Alley)
2) Stewart Racing Engines
3) Jim Stewart - owner, head porter, R&D, engine builder, etc. etc. etc.
http://www.stewartengines.com
4) Head porting, flowbench, custom valve jobs, engine building & parts prep & assembly, custom-spec parts for race applications, general automotive machining, machine polishing crank journals, precision measuring of various automotive clearances and parts, retailer for serious race parts...pretty much everything you'd need if you were a serious racer
5) Jim can pretty much do it all, but he's primarily a head porter. He's probably most well-known for his involvement with Joe Demaree and at least one other team racing NDRA and NHRA SC series, and building IRL engines.
But, I know him as a guy who gives a lot of himself to his customers. He's helped my friends and I a great deal when it comes to engine building, racing, making power, services/advice/parts for fixing stuff we've broken, divulging his thoughts of what works and what doesn't, shooting the ****, and letting me make use of some his time, space, and equipment to help me and to satisfy my curiosity. I feel like I've learned a lot just knowing the guy.

All he needs is an engine dyno room and a chasis dyno and I really won't need to go anywhere else. Well, he still outsources block sleeving...to ERL (see below).

1) Indiana - Indianapolis (east-side of town)
2) Schmidt Racing
3) http://www.steveschmidtracing.com
4) Full service machine shop,engine building, engine dyno room, flowbench
5) They build cars for and race NHRA Pro Stock (duh!). Before I knew of Stewart Racing Engines, I used Schmidt a few times. They've got a beautiful race engine machine shop at the new building as well as their original shop across the street for non-racing customers. They do all the crank work and balancing at the older shop, but they still hand polish crank journals instead of moving to machine polished. Prices are typical and they're not really import specialists like Jim.

1) Indiana - New Albany
2) ERL Performance
3) http://www.erlperformance.com
4) Machine shop, block sleeving, engine parts prep/blueprinting/assembly, custom parts design and production, CNC machining
5) None yet, and I have yet to visit their facilities. They have an exceptional reputation tho.

I also use a local automotive machine shop for simple things that I don't feel like dropping off to Indianapolis. Things like: flywheel resurfacing, hot tanking, and use of a hydraulic press.


OREGON

1) Hood River, Oregon
2) E&L Auto, Machine shop
3) Don *** and Kevin 1 541 386 1404
4) Machine shop.
5) several valve jobs, surfacing heads, machining parts flat, polishing journals, balancing rotating assemblies, lightening pistons, boring, honing, cleaning etc.
^The shop has the BEST attention to detail. Combined they have approx 60 years racing experience. Renowned for valve grinds and Ford Flathead work.


1) Gresham Oregon
2) Eastco Machine
3) East of 202nd on Burnside
4) Machine work
5) Craig just ground a crank for me...and holy jebus..nice ****. - RTErnie

TEXAS

1) Texas - Houston
2) Westside Performance
3) Jeff, (713) 465-7996
4) Machine Shop
5) i have had several bore/hone jobs done by them and the quality is top notch and well priced. they offer honest advice and their turnaround times are great...

I pretty much wont go anywhere else and I'm in Austin... it's a 2hr drive for me but I dont mind the drive if i dont have to worry about it.


Modified by KeyserSoze at 1:37 PM 12/19/2005


Modified by KeyserSoze at 7:23 AM 12/20/2005


Modified by KeyserSoze at 10:23 PM 1/4/2006

 

No input from anyone?

 

I guess this wasn't such a good idea after all.

 

i think it is a great idea. on another forum i'm on they have a sub forum called "local shop talk" with regards to experiences with local shops. it is a good heads up for people so they can find what they need.

i'd put myself in there, but i don't do it full time.

 

id also say its a great idea too - just might take some time to build momentum, it may also be the aspect of volunteer work as well - in general, folks would rather complain than take time to build a data base.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by weirRacing &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i think it is a great idea. on another forum i'm on they have a sub forum called "local shop talk" with regards to experiences with local shops. it is a good heads up for people so they can find what they need.

i'd put myself in there, but i don't do it full time. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Well put yourself in there and if you need a side job this might be some good downtime work.

Thanks for the feedback. I was beginning to think that it was a retarded idea. Thought maybe I was the only one left who was looking for a good machine shop.

 

bump

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KeyserSoze &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">bump</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Are you looking for straight up machine shops or Honda/import engine builders with machining equipment? You mentioned tuning in your original post, so I'm assuming you meant the latter. A directory of just machine shops would also turn out incredibly long.

 

Either would actually be fine. The point is to have a list of shops who will do honest work for a fair price. If the shop is geared toward honda engines then that is a plus. A good machine shop should be able to do general machining of a block (not including things like sleeving) to your specs regardless of what kind of engine it is. If they specialize in honda's/imports then that would be even better.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by daveG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">A directory of just machine shops would also turn out incredibly long.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Unfortunately, I see only two entries in this post (both added by myself) regardless of the seeming ambiguity of the original post. Help out a little.....add some machine shops that you like to do business with either honda specific or not. Then we won't have to read the frequently posted "Whats a good machine shop in my area" post.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KeyserSoze &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Either would actually be fine. The point is to have a list of shops who will do honest work for a fair price. If the shop is geared toward honda engines then that is a plus. A good machine shop should be able to do general machining of a block (not including things like sleeving) to your specs regardless of what kind of engine it is. If they specialize in honda's/imports then that would be even better.

Unfortunately, I see only two entries in this post (both added by myself) regardless of the seeming ambiguity of the original post. Help out a little.....add some machine shops that you like to do business with either honda specific or not. Then we won't have to read the frequently posted "Whats a good machine shop in my area" post. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm have a few that I'm getting the contact info together for. I'll post it up sometime later this weekend or weekend.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by daveG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm have a few that I'm getting the contact info together for. I'll post it up sometime later this weekend or weekend.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Cool deal, thanks.

 

1) Hood River, Oregon
2) E&L Auto, Machine shop
3) Don *** and Kevin 1 541 386 1404
4) Machine shop.
5) several valve jobs, surfacing heads, machining parts flat, polishing journals, balancing rotating assemblies, lightening pistons, boring, honing, cleaning etc.

^The shop has the BEST attention to detail. Combined they have approx 60 years racing experience. Renowned for valve grinds and Ford Flathead work.

 

Added, thanks Ernie.

Wow, my spelling sux!!


Modified by KeyserSoze at 4:43 AM 12/7/2005

 

ttt

keep em commin.....

 

ILLINOIS

1)near ohare airport (bensonville?)
2) APEX.
3) Bill, (630) 766 7168
4)machine shop, engine building, etc. -HAS HONDA ENGINE EXPERIENCE, and even stocks some factory seals, etc.
5) had them rebuild/mill/clean a head for me...and a good buddy has had Bill assemble an engine, and do a couple of heads.

-AWESOME experience here...owner has over 30 yrs experience, and makes most of his dough building race engines. tiny shop, but PACKED full of tools. seems like his priority is doing the work, NOT banking big time off people.

1) frankfurt (south west side of chicago)
2)Book Racing Engines
3)(815) 464 7200
4)machine shop, engine building, engine dyno, carb tuning, full general repair and tow service too
5)best friend spent almost 10K here on a built engine. i had them do some general machine work, and rebuild a head.

- buddy wishes he wouldnt have had them do the work sometimes. (took 2 years to get a running engine out of them, first dropped sleeves, had o-ring problem...second is good). owners son went the extra mile to get it done finally, and the running engine seems great(DART block, worked head, etc). they SPECIALIZE in V8's(are nationally known), not hondas, but i'm sure they would do good work now...they have some good experience now(owners son is kind of a honda-head).

Modified by redzcstandardhatch at 2:29 PM 12/15/2005


Modified by redzcstandardhatch at 2:30 PM 12/15/2005

 

TEXAS

1) Texas - Houston
2) Westside Performance
3) Jeff, (713) 465-7996
4) Machine Shop
5) i have had several bore/hone jobs done by them and the quality is top notch and well priced. they offer honest advice and their turnaround times are great...

I pretty much wont go anywhere else and I'm in Austin... it's a 2hr drive for me but I dont mind the drive if i dont have to worry about it.

this is a great thread, thanks for posting it!

 

Added.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 93preludes &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">this is a great thread, thanks for posting it!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Np. thanks for adding to it.

 

Upland, California
Graves Machine Shop
Jodie (909) 982-1856
Full machine shop doing everything except head porting. Many of the big name shops in the area secretely use them.

Usually have really long wait times, but will definately work with you through your build, with suggestions and years of knowledge.

 

^^^ Thanks man, added them.

 

1) Indiana - Indianapolis (Gasoline Alley)
2) Stewart Racing Engines
3) Jim Stewart - owner, head porter, R&D, engine builder, etc. etc. etc.
http://www.stewartengines.com
4) Head porting, flowbench, custom valve jobs, engine building & parts prep & assembly, custom-spec parts for race applications, general automotive machining, machine polishing crank journals, precision measuring of various automotive clearances and parts, retailer for serious race parts...pretty much everything you'd need if you were a serious racer
5) Jim can pretty much do it all, but he's primarily a head porter. He's probably most well-known for his involvement with Joe Demaree and at least one other team racing NDRA and NHRA SC series, and building IRL engines.

But, I know him as a guy who gives a lot of himself to his customers. He's helped my friends and I a great deal when it comes to engine building, racing, making power, services/advice/parts for fixing stuff we've broken, divulging his thoughts of what works and what doesn't, shooting the ****, and letting me make use of some his time, space, and equipment to help me and to satisfy my curiosity. I feel like I've learned a lot just knowing the guy.

All he needs is an engine dyno room and a chasis dyno and I really won't need to go anywhere else. Well, he still outsources block sleeving...to ERL (see below).

1) Indiana - Indianapolis (east-side of town)
2) Schmidt Racing
3) http://www.steveschmidtracing.com
4) Full service machine shop,engine building, engine dyno room, flowbench
5) They build cars for and race NHRA Pro Stock (duh!). Before I knew of Stewart Racing Engines, I used Schmidt a few times. They've got a beautiful race engine machine shop at the new building as well as their original shop across the street for non-racing customers. They do all the crank work and balancing at the older shop, but they still hand polish crank journals instead of moving to machine polished. Prices are typical and they're not really import specialists like Jim.

1) Indiana - New Albany
2) ERL Performance
3) http://www.erlperformance.com
4) Machine shop, block sleeving, engine parts prep/blueprinting/assembly, custom parts design and production, CNC machining
5) None yet, and I have yet to visit their facilities. They have an exceptional reputation tho.

I also use a local automotive machine shop for simple things that I don't feel like dropping off to Indianapolis. Things like: flywheel resurfacing, hot tanking, and use of a hydraulic press.

 

^^^ Added, thanks!

 

bump i wanna see some in PA

 

ttt

 

BUMP some pa or jersey shops...i need pistons swapped to different rods HELP