Engine builders...this machining cost sound excessive?

gregcon said

I work for a shop wherein we have tens of millions of dollars of machine tools - many, many times more than any automotive machine shop. Our shop rate is $145/hr and that is with a union workforce getting full benefits and pension. Don't tell me the average auto shop needs to hit $100/hour. And don't tell me a hole takes an hour to bore and hone. It doesn't. I do agree auto machine is a lousy way to make a living...your customer base is among the worst. Plenty of dope users and thieves and scumbags. And worst of all...it's essentially retail business. Anytime you have to deal with the general public, you're gonna hate life.

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I’m telling you a hundred bucks an hour is barely making it. I just went buy a local shop today to see about renting some shop time and he was finishing up the last of two engines that both lost cams. One was a customer at the track doing some testing (how he ever got the track to rent him test time I have no idea) but the engine was run in with single springs and 1.35 rockers. About 6 laps in, it lost 6 lobes.

The second engine the shop owner himself ran it it on his run in stand with single springs and 1.35 rockers. Never made it to even the inner springs and took out 4 lobes.

Comp is replacing the cams and lifters (which BTW had several lifters that were .080 short and Comp had no idea what happened there. So he is out all the parts to tear down two new engines, new bearings, all the cleaning and associated work, reassemble and break them in. All out of HIS pocket. 100 bucks an hour isn’t ****, and when guys start bitching bout what this costs, they need to re-evaluate what they are doing. Maybe take up golf.

I retired out of a job shop, that actually is run well enough to have gone through a pretty big expansion during the last recession. So I’m fully aware of that side of it as well.