Checking in to see what the norm is.
I spoke to Ray in December about purchasing a set of ported Edelbrock heads. He advised me that they are on eternal back order. It was agreed the best bet was to send in my Stage V heads for a max effort port job with push rod tubes installed.
He estimated the price and said 30 day turn around. I shipped the heads and the tracking showed that they were received Jan 2.
Ray called me last week to discuss replacing all the valves and
valve springs. I said to go ahead. He then said they would ship out Friday.
We are now at 60 days and since my card has not been debited I'm sure they have NOT been shipped.
I will call again tomorrow.

I have had good service from him. He usually picks up himself when you call him. When they sent the ARP studs for my heads, they sent the wrong inner studs. I called him and they sent out the right ones the next day.

Call him and ask about it.

Be patient, they were slow to bill my card also. Friday isn't here yet. Ray called you, that was a good sign, it was very hard to get them to call me back. I had to keep calling and bugging them and we did eventually get the project done. It's a race shop, strange, uncontrollable things happen to slow things down. I'm sure the 30 day turn around was an estimate too. You'll get a nice set of heads.

I always add 125% to any time frame I'm given. It's a pretty close rule of thumb.

Heads were supposed to ship out last Friday. After waiting 30 days, I called about every 10 days to get an update. Ray's answer was let me check, I will call you back. He finally called me more than two weeks later LAST week Wednesday to say they would ship out Friday the 24th.
I've learned with a Hemi that the price is what the price is and I'm not concerned about that. I do have a dead line that I made Ray aware of. I hope they are worth the wait.

Just feel fortunate that its only a set of heads your waiting on.

I haven't dealt w/ them much, but they have been good to me. Back when I was searching for another Barton 4500 intake, there were none to be found anywhere. Barton didn't have any b/c of an issue w/ the latest castings they got from the foundry being crap. He told me to hold on a few minutes, so I did, he came back and told me he had a couple on the back shelf he had forgotten about that were 4500 manifolds, but were mistakenly drilled w/ the 4150 pattern. Said he could plug and redrill the pattern and cut me a good deal on b/c he couldn't send a motor out of his shop w/ one done like that. So I got it, the work looks nice, works just fine, and he made me a really good deal on it.

Over the years, I've called Barton's dozens of times. I have never had a problem getting Ray on the phone and if for some reason he wasn't available at the time of my call, he would always call me back in prompt fashion.

Plus.......if you happen to be able to get down to the shop, you can shoot the shyte with Ray over breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

I have found talking to Ray on the phone that he must go home with a sore back. He sure does pat himself on the back a lot. A very helpful guy in my case.

Not making excuses but they are very busy up there. Racing season in full swing and about to begin on the East coast, A lot going on is an understatement.... I will say that I have seen a lot of things up at Rays shop, but one thing I never saw was a short cut. I will guarantee when you get your heads they will be worth the wait!

That call back schedule is exactly my experience! Even if they said they would call back within 15 minutes. They always answered the phone and were very helpful, but I had to keep calling. Maybe their phone bill is excessive if they don't get you to call them?

I dropped in at their shop unannounced a couple of years ago. I was having geometry problems with a Barton - T&D Rocker setup that I purchased from Jeff at MCH before he left us. Ray took the time to look over my heads and rockers and showed me where things were off. He then robbed the parts that I needed out of a complete rocker kit he had in stock. It was expensive for me but he got me sorted out. Plus, while I was waiting for Ray, they let me roam around the shop and look at things. They had some cool projects they were working on.

The heads arrived today. They look VERY nice! Port work was a cool $1000 more than quoted....Hmmm, Not complaining, if he would have told me that was the price, I would still have done it. I know Hemi pricing is what it is. Price on the valves, springs, lash caps and gaskets were right in line with every one else.
I will be dropping these off Sunday to get them flowed by a local who flowed them BEFORE Barton's port work (a flow sheet was not sent with my heads. They are supposed to e-mail me one on Monday)I definitely want before and after numbers from the same flow bench.
I will then go to the same chassis dyno to get before and after numbers.
A while back I posted that after switching from my Stage V intake with twin 770 cfm crossram carbs to the Barton single Dominator intake was worth 41 RWHP.
Anyone have an idea what this engine should pick up with head porting raising from 370 to over 450 CFM?
Engine last made 672 RWHP. 13.5:1 compression, 542 inches, .730 lift and 270 plus @.050 solid roller?

100

They have never done me wrong. Great customer service for me anyway.

Ray is extremely busy, and was looking for help to get caught up the last time I talked to him.

If he's answering the phone, who's doing the work?

R.

Here's what I'm curious about......

If your bread and butter work coming in the door is gen II hemi stuff........ The stuff you've been working on for like 40 years......... And you're also very well known for your head porting services on those same gen II hemi heads you've been specializing in for 40 years........ One would have to assume they have done enough of those heads to know what's involved with porting a set of them......right?
Sooooo, it would seem to me as though the estimate on the porting costs could be a little closer to the final actual cost than $1000 difference.

Or, is that just me not grasping the situation correctly.......

There you go again! Expectin' stuff to make sense...

I talked today with Ray. I had a few questions that the guy who answered the phone couldn't answer. He put Ray on the phone who explained how they do adjustments in the shop. Now I'll be calling him tomorrow and we'll see how their real customer service is.