I am in the process of swapping 68 barracuda with a rb from auto to manual. i pulled the drivetrain in order to do it. while the motor was out i noticed oil seepage from the oil pan between the block and the girlde. so i pulled it apart and resealed it and did new gaskets along with.
it sat a few weeks and i noticed its still seeping oil!!!!

so i pull it and after talking to few mopar guys they say to use a gasket between the girlde and the block, ok fine ill try it. When i get into it this time i notice my rear main seal has tiny bit of seepage... fine ill replace it. since the engine is out and i wont be driving it any time soon i decide might as well pull it all apart and do new gaskets throughout the engine. when i start pulling rods i do #1 first- spun rod bearing


I had no idea!!!!! the engine has a huge cam and 3.5 inch dyno max bullets on it i had never even heard it! the motor ran great and i could get it to idle at 800. and rev quickly to 7000...

the bearing looks burnt, and is loose inside the rod, the crank has some very minor scoring on it.
I need a reputable, honest, machine shop preferably in the north bay area of CA. from sacramento to sf, prefer to not have to go to san jose.

the motor has low-ish miles on it, and my best guess is the external oiling system drained out after letting it sit a week, if it sat any longer than one week i would pull the dist. and prime the system hit the starter to turn it over and re-primed.

so, whats the best honest, reasonable, accurate shop around.
yes its all 440 source stuff, but i had the crank polished when i got it, all rods were re-sized.... i spent close to 2000 on block prep and parts prep.

makes me wonder if that shop wasn't so good....

If there`s no one out your way, give Pettis a call..............it`d be worth the trip. 1-760-244-4415 tell em Dominic sent ya.

LJ's in Napa are good people.

http://napavalleyregister.com/business/article_9cc3e7aa-07e8-11df-98c4-001cc4c002e0.html

If you want to drive to the Central Valley, Valley Balancing In Ceres, CA are who did the machine work on my last 2 motors. They are AWESOME!

LJ's always treated me right..But IMO Jason Pettis at Pettis Performance is more than worht the trip to Hesperia.

Mopar Engines West in Newark.
510 796 4313

are any of these guys reasonable with prices? i know LJ's is far from reasonable. i had John do my first engine, about 13k for a very mild 383 rebuild. then he quoted me 400 bucks to put valve springs in my victor heads, about 3 years ago... I even bought the heads from him! That was the last time I talked to john.

I went to smaller machine (now out of business) and paid 120 for a him to surface my heads, install the springs and make sure they checked out.

so I'd like to stay away from guys like LJ's.

has anyone heard of S&S automotive in san leandro?

S&S is Rick Santos and he is one of the best guys around. I use Bailey Bros in American Canyon and Sam there is a perfectionist when it comes to machining. John at LJ's is buddys with the Napa Register news paper and some of those articles are bias!

Bailey brothers is a great place as well. Was just always a bit busy and slow for me. John at LJ's can be an interesting guy,. He has always done right ny me however. IMO everyone up in NorCal is a bit on the expensive side. Kind of why I recommend Jaons at Pettis. His prices are better and you will be hard pressed to fnd a guy with better knowledge on how to make power. Price is the reason I started using his servies and now he is my guy no matter where I live. Nice to have him a lot closer now though.

"Sorry to hear that. Do you think oil drainback after a week would lead to all that? Sounds like there might have been some dirt/metal in the oil passages, a rod knicked the crank when being assembled or something else along those lines.

Did you modify/ open up the block oil passages?

At this point, I'd take it to where Al and Jeepmon recommend."

after talking with a few fellow racers, i remember taking my crank and rods back to the machine shop b/c when i used plastigauge it showed that some of the clearances were a bit on the snug side, (i don't remember what they actually were). The machinist mic'd everything in front of me and we did the math, it all specced out. he claimed that plastigauge isn't accurate as his calipers. i believed him, now im being told it the exact opposite. so it has me wondering if my clearances were too tight...
either way it looks like im spending more money.


how are MEW prices? being they specialize in mopar i expect them to be very pricey, no?

who is pettis??

Who is Pettis is easy. He is one of the top engine builders on the west coast in my opinion. Attend any heads up event out here, PSCA SCSN or WCHRA and you will see his name on many of the fastest cars. He also has built a few Mopar stockers that work pretty well. As for how to get it touch here he is at

http://petisperformance.com

They are a small shop. The phone is usually answered by his mother or father. He is fairly busy as well but he is also ver meticulous and builds a few Mopars. My B1 in on his website when it was originally done. We have sincs had it freshened up and added some ponies. I have been very happy with Jason's work. He aslo comes by at the track to see if we need any help or if there is anything he can do for us.

Al, ... you sure Jason will just swing by Sears Point (yeah .. I know .. Infineon) or Sac Raceway anytime soon? Hesperia is a long way from Napa remember? Does this guy want a machine shop and/or an assembler? I'd stick with S&S in San Leandro,.. go talk to them or Mopar West in Newark. If this guy's underwear is getting tight over oil pan oil leaks he may not be happy with anyone regardless to cost?

Obviously he only comes by if he is at the track I am not a local track racer as most know we do travel and come across Jason at all the aforementioned associations. jason does do just machining as well. He has done a number of things for me. Still a three plus hour drive for me to his shop but worth the money.

i talked to Bailey Bros again, they blew me off when i told him big block mopar... he went from being able to do it to "well it'd probably be 3 or 4 months before i could touch it, I have real race engines to build" all i told him was i needed some info on rebuilding a engine and they came highly recommended. He talked fine to me for a few then flipped the switch when i said mopar!!!! whatever, same story last time i talked to them.

are there any other shops out there? I always see a guy on craigslist, with a built looking blue firebird, "clarks machine" maybe???