Muscle Motors, Michigan - Talked to Eric Budden there. Seems nice, got a good price on the rotating assembly. Research shows they went under 2 years ago. Is that true? The website is still up.

Maybe outside of 250 miles, but what about Best Machine?

Dennis

Hey there! Need some advice.

30 year Mopar veteran. Grew up in Chicago and used to have all of my engine work done through a local shop that has long been out of business.

I have a great shop (on 63rd and New England) that doesn't really do performance work per se, so mostly I have them prep the block, and I build the rest. Budget Engine (aka Chicago Engines, Call Glenn - $350 bore and hone - the work is the best price I've seen. Done 20 of them in as many years...

Here is the problem:

Called Hughes Engines (they build my last race motor 20 years ago) Best engine I ever ran....however...recently, I called to arrange labor bid/costing for my short block (400/512/270TF head) combo project suddenly became a 15K crate engine build with a totally different outcome. Great crew, but they don't take orders the way you want them, and they seem to choose what they want for work. And I don't want to refinance my house.

Muscle Motors, Michigan - Talked to Eric Budden there. Seems nice, got a good price on the rotating assembly. Research shows they went under 2 years ago. Is that true? The website is still up.

Indy Cylinder Head - absolute nightmare reviews. Would chance buying their long blocks, but they still sell everything via PDF catalog. What is this 2003?

Ray Barton - website is black-flagged for virus...no SSL on the site. Really? I expect more for a guy who builds the fastest Hemi's I'd heard of.

PER Race Engines, Plainfield - Drive by on a Friday at 2 p.m. to stop in and talk about the build. Not very friendly, guys points me to the front office....nobody there. Called them...Monday, guy who answers says "we don't do old Mopar" - which is good, given a friend also told me that he had them do a long block 540 Chevy...and when he got the engine back...changed the oil pan...and in the process, found 3 main bolts hand tight. Explanation? Hard times...we had some night crews working late. Scratch that one!

Built-rite engines - great guys...did some work with them in 2012. 3 weeks is actually 3-4 months...and I was still over budget because they didn't realize piston/rod assembly I used then would work. I was referred there from a Chevy friend...and that chevy friend has had his engine goto pieces 4 times. It has been sleeved twice, and its world products block from like 2005. So I'm gun shy

So who is within 250 miles of Chicago and still does decent Long block assembly for older Mopars.

Conclusion: What the hell is happening to these shops? No wonder my other plan is to dump the old [censored] and buy a Challenger like everyone else. Then at least I can call Arrington and build something modern.

Thanks for any insights you can provide.

chuck@tamrazs.com

I mean no offense by saying this, but the labor rate you must charge to keep smart, and capable guys dictates 15,000 dollar short blocks. 6 out of ten "race shops" shouldn't build law mower engines. Either they don't know, don't care, or they need to steal to support racing, or drugs/lifestyle.

IMO just find a GOOD MACHINE SHOP. Round is round, square is square, flat is flat.

When I first got into this, I asked my machinist if he knew Mopars. He said "It's a chunk of iron, it doesn't know what it is". I've never questioned him again, and never had a problem with his work.

That is true to some extent but it is nice to work with a shop that knows enough about Mopars to know where to buy stuff. A really good machinist who only works on Chevy engines probably won't know where to buy special Mopar parts and tools. He might not even know they exist. And he probably won't know little tricks like using AMC lifters for pushrod oiling or where to find billet rear main seals and stuff like that. Even Mopar guys don't know a lot of these tricks which is why there are about 100 questions a day posted to this board.

I already have the machined, heads, block, intake...Hughes wanted to start all over and go with an entirely "their" engine. Thats not what I wanted to do.

I already have the machined, heads, block, intake...Hughes wanted to start all over and go with an entirely "their" engine. Thats not what I wanted to do.

You could always assemble it yourself, It’s not brain surgery. Reading some of these posts makes it sound harder than it is.

Folks really seem to hate cleaning up someone else's mess more than anything else. They all prefer to start fresh, and I can't blame 'em.

It's probably going to be kind of tough to find anyone who will assemble/build it and assume responsibility for it at the same time....unless they machined it too.

I’m pretty sure Markz528 brought BES a pile of previously machined stuff that had issues, and they didn’t seem to have any qualms about going through it and making it work.

One major problem that is growing is that many shops are finding difficulty in keeping long-term machinists with experience... unless they pay well, then the people leave and find another career.... something other than machine-shop engine work. In fact, many shops have actually gone down to 2-3-4-5 ppl shops. They can afford to pick their work that comes to them.

Its also a growing industry problem teaching new machinists... many younger students would rather work on a keyboard/PC, making an easy $50-60-75K up etc... instead of in a machine shop building, measuring and machining an engine.... and getting their hands a little dirty. Just ask any long-term established shop... they'll tell you all about this issue. As well as finding good reliable workers that'll show up on established work days.. and be clean and sober, etc.

Might cost you a few specialty tools, but it's a learning experience. Although I can't do my own head & block machining, I do all the assembly now. Only way that I'll know how it went together, especially after an experience or two where "professional" engine builders really let me down.

Hell yes to the learning experience, agreed...
I also believe in doing this yourself wherever possible.

Gearheads are pretty diverse, myself I'd not push anyone in that kind of direction unless they were curious about it and had the desire.

...

Gearheads are pretty diverse, myself I'd not push anyone in that kind of direction unless they were curious about it and had the desire.

1. Cylinder bore to piston clearance was TWICE what Diamond recommended.
2. Valve to guide clearance was .006”! (At least one of the heads was brand new out to the box)! But worst of all, they had no means of measuring the actual rod length, compression height, or deck height. So, they cut the deck .050” too far.
Result, pistons contacting the heads!

You could always assemble it yourself, It’s not brain surgery. Reading some of these posts makes it sound harder than it is.