Yesterday I dropped by the local machine shop who's been doing my bottom end work over the years, while PRH has been handling my cylinder heads.

It's down to just the owner now and all he's doing is basic block and head machine work:
- he doesn't do assembly any longer
- his balancing work was done by an older guy who has stopped working due to health issues
- and the local crank specialist to whom he'd farm out his crank grinding has also retired

My purpose for stopping by was to introduce him to a long-time friend about an hour west of me who was looking for someone to do some basic block & head machine work, so he's still good to cover that. I'd also wanted to check with him about balancing my backup engine's rotating assembly, only to find out I'll need to find someone else.

These guys are the last of a dying breed and replacing them is gonna be tough.

Get ready, it only get's worse, i know to !

The market for engine rebuilds is shrinking over time so the number of engine shops is going to decline also. The biggest shop in town here used to rebuild fleet engines but that work has all gone away since new cars are so much more reliable now. So they switched to rebuilding fork lift motors and they stay busy with those.

There are a few guys who still want to build race motors so that brings in some money but the market for guys rebuilding daily driver engines has basically dried up. A full rebuild on a V8 these days is going to be around $10,000 and it just doesn't make sense to put that much money into most cars. There are a few die hards still building engines but the number has dropped way off from what it used to be.

I was in high school when I had my first engine rebuilt. A 351C out of a Mustang that I had rebuilt so I could swap it into my '56 F100. These days you won't find many high school kids getting engines rebuilt so they can do an engine swap.

Our local Line-bore guy retired and no one knows how to do them now, and my engine/trans builder is 74 and semi-retired. Probably his last year doing this.. Yeah, this is the end of an era for me too.

But there are engines all over the shop in need of all kinds of stuff. Flat Heads seem to be the high light lately.

Yes it is a sign if the times these guys are getting older . Both of the machine shops I have used recently have stated they are going to be scaling back and not taking in any new work except special circumstances or work for really good past customers .

Machine shops here are so jambed up you'd be better off buying a crate engine if your in a hurry. When you drop your parts off know that they will likely sit there untouched for weeks, or months.

Don't see any youth enthusiasm for this type of work as the entry pay is low so and everyone wants to sit in a cubicle for a living vs using their hands. A kid can work in a busy restaurant right now and make more money most likely.

My machinist is "retired". His shop is so full he is no longer taking in new customers. He asked if I will be assembling my own engine, as he doesn't really have time. No big deal to me, as I like doing that part. He will also tell current customers that if you bring him something now, it will be at least a year and a half. He turns down work daily. I have no clue where I'll go, when he decides he's had enough.

I have two local guys that do it out of their home shops. Everything except crank turning. Both very busy and reliable.
Doug

I am 66 and semi retired, build a few performance engines to keep from being bored. I can do most of the head work in house, I have two machine shops that I farm out the rest, both are my age, one has health problems. When they are gone I will have to be gone nobody else close to do the work. I have more to do than I want at this point in my life. So yes as the baby boomer generation retires who will take over? For a lot of traditional jobs nobody.

I'm in the process of opening a machine shop, south central Wisconsin. Trying to capture some of that knowledge before the old geezers all die off More or less directly instigated by nobody being able to grind a crank for **** unless you want to ship it to Moldex/Crankshaft Specialists/Marine crank/Winberg/etc. I'm 46 and pretty much the "young guy."

Unfortunately a lot of these old shops have equipment just as used up and tired as the people operating them. It's hard to justify spending $50k+ on new machines, and especially tooling and fixturing when the break even on the investment is going to be years and years. And that was when it was available, with the Brandon/COVID shutdown of everything, everyone is monthes and years to delivery. Sunnen flat out tells you it'll be a year before you can get a honing machine from them. All this for a hobby industry. S/F....Ken M

I have been buying old machines for years. Ever since my go to guy started talking about closing Early 2000's. He's gone now (from business). I have some of his stuff and luckily he's just a phone call away. Once you learn the machine you can produce very nice stuff.I have an old Van norman 905, and a Peterson HC-1 with a friction feed and produce bores with .0005 or better. Check some of the high end stuff. You'll know that's pretty good.

This what I see in the industry also. Most of the "old time" shops have worn out equipment. There isn't enough money in the business for shops to buy new equipment every 10 years so the equipment just wears out. The owner's plan is to retire when the equipment all wears out since he can't afford to replace it all. It would cost $1M to set up a new engine shop with all new equipment and it would take forever to pay it off.

Crate motors make more sense economically since they can be produced in a factory setting with lower prices, but cheaper crate motors killed off a lot of "mom and pop" machine shops since they couldn't compete.

i live in st.louis.use to be a ton of good machine shops.now theres none.yes its a end of a era.when you have a era of throw away engines now.why do you need machine shops.wish i had the money to open my own machine shop

The guy who owns the only performance-oriented machine shop near me is 79. He can out work 2 men half his age, but he's pretty much a one man show, so he is understandably a little slow on delivery. I'm pretty lucky that he and I are pretty good friends, and he will shuffle my stuff though a little quicker. I just hope I can get a 340, 273, 451, and a 400 Poncho motor thru his shop before he decides to click off the lights and go to the house.

I tried a new shop last winter for getting a crank cleaned and prepped. The guy that owns the shop is 3rd generation and a racer. Hopefully he'll be around a while.

I use Keith Long for transmissions. He's the same age as me, so hopefully he lasts as long as me too.

There might be more than you realize if you start asking the Locals. There is a few around here that are pretty much no sign and no advertising.

My R1 block was done by Shady Dell in 2015, the work is excellent and it sucks that place ended like it did. It was well worth the freight to send it to someone who knew small block Mopars. When that engine needs work I don't know where we will take it.

Yeah, cause crate engines have great machining reputations. Some of the worst taper/tolerances/roundness, I've seen came from state of the art equip shops. It's not the machine it the operator 9/10. just my

Back in 2003, etc. when I lived in Maryland; I used this shop for crankshaft work (including my first offset grind of a factory steel crank) and I was happy.
They had a few crank grinding machines, and did lots of different crankshaft work (tractors, truck diesel, race, etc.)

I don't know if they are still doing crankshaft work.

Martin & Otterback Shop: 301-277-4166
Upshure Ave, Bladensburg, MD
Art crankshaft grinding. Rt 50, Rt 201, Kenilworth, Left on Upshure between 48th and 49th

I'm doing the same thing, trying to collect all of the machinery to do it myself. Then it gets done my schedule.

My guy did my heads. He really likes the lighter work of doing them.
Farms out all crank work grinding now. Balances
He does the block work but is covered up.
Always has something no okne else will do. Was working on a late 40s FORD flat head when my wife and I was there last.
Just him now and a helper.
Just finished my 4" stroke 340 street motor