Machine shop woes.

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MerlinsMopar

MerlinsMopar

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Location
Middletown Pa
I dropped off a # matching motor to have freshened up towards the end of January. It did need bored and I asked to have freeze plugs put in along with cam bearings. Crank needed polished only. I bought new pistons and rods for and asked to press them on, balance the assembly. Gave them the cam for fitment. Dist bushing to be installed and clean up the heads. Nothing major. I provided new springs for the cam. I've used this company before with good results and quick turnaround. It's been 3 months now and I call every 2 weeks to see the progress. 2 weeks ago he said block and crank was done and he said about 2 more weeks to finish up. Called this week and he said the same thing so I said I would pick up those parts and he asked to call me back. Hasn't called me tho and I understand this lockdown thing but im starting to lose my cool. I dont want to do that tho. What should I say to be respectful? The words I come up with are not gonna be nice. I just cant see why I keep getting put off. Only other option is to just show up and take it and pay him for whats done. Im sure i will get a wide variety of info here so I will take what I can get.
Thanks!!!!
 
Unfortunately a business owner that has family issues or has taken on more work than they can do acts just like a owner that is going out of business, they don’t deliver when promised and don’t call back. Since the guy did good work for you in the past I would call or show up and ask him for an explanation because you are concerned. Based on your gut feeling from that is how I would determine what I would do. Give the guy an opportunity to explain and or make it rite before bad mouthing him or burning your bridge with him. He could have had a death in the family or could be blowing you off.
 
Its almost race season, if there is going to be one.
Most shops are over-flowing with work.
 
I waited almost 9 weeks for pistons this year which delayed getting my block sleeved, bored and honed. And now my camshaft blank is on backorder due to the supplier working at half throttle due to this crazy virus.
 
I think you should go there, with a good attitude, and ask what the holdup is. That way, he can't bs you, and you can see what was done. If not to your satisfaction, take your parts,pay him, and leave.
I had a machine shop promise me my engine would be ready, so I could make a big show. When I went to speak to him, he said " If you don't like it, you can take it "
I replied "If you don't get it done on time, you can keep it, and I'll get a reman from Jasper ". He did complete it on time, but I never used him again.
 
Something just doesn't seem right tho. He did say he got backed up some, and a guy short. It's like I am a different kind of the customer on the back burner and whenever they get an hr or 2 then they do something on it.
What threw me off was that he stated the block and crank was done and balanced so I said I would pick that up a while and then he said he would call me back but didn't. That leads me to think he is bs'ing me and its not done. I am going there this friday to see what's done or not. I talked to another shop which was backed up in Jan that said they can knock it out quickly for me so thats a good backup. The new shop is the 1 I prefer anyhow but they do a lot of race engines and were backed up at the time. Most of them would be at the track by now. Plus the current shop said they couldn't do any pocket porting anyhow. Being my 1st # matching car, I just have run out of patience and the covid crap isn't helping either but I think I can approach this issue with some upward attitude now without losing my temper. Born qith a short fuse. Lol
Thanks for the replies!!!
 
I would not delay in going to pick your stuff up, better safe than sorry. You can not replace your #’s matching parts, and if you wait til who knows what due to economic conditions, you may be out of luck. Key is no matter what, if someone starts lying it’s time to part ways.
 
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Your situation sounds similar to an incident I ran into years ago. I took a set of heads to a machine shop recommended by a good friend & dealt directly with the owner. I dropped them off, asked about a time frame & was told 30 to 45 days. This was agreeable with my build schedule so I left the heads with the row he had. I went by 30 days later & nicely asked about my heads & was told maybe another 30 to 45 days. As we were walking back towards the door, I glanced over & the line of heads was about 15 feet longer than when I was there before & my heads were at the very back of the line. His excuse was, all of his steady paying race customers needed their stuff done & mine got pushed to the end of the line. I told him to have one if his guys put the heads in the trunk of my car because I was going to the same race that his steady customers were going to attend. I guess the thought of losing a race customer & getting bad word of mouth changed his mind & he said OKAY, I'll stay late & have them done in 3 days. True to his word, he had them completed in 3 days & called to tell me to come pick them up. I went to the shop that afternoon & sure enough, they were down, & "painted" which I wasn't expecting. They worked well on my combination & were on the engine when I sold the car 3 years later. Although he finally did what he said he would do, I never took anything else to him. Fast forward 15 years, I run into him at another shop & was asked why I wasn't a return customer. I just looked him in the eye & said "I wonder that myself after I was lied to", I turned & walked away.
 
MerlinsMopar said:
Something just doesn't seem right tho. He did say he got backed up some, and a guy short. It's like I am a different kind of the customer on the back burner and whenever they get an hr or 2 then they do something on it.
What threw me off was that he stated the block and crank was done and balanced so I said I would pick that up a while and then he said he would call me back but didn't. That leads me to think he is bs'ing me and its not done. I am going there this friday to see what's done or not. I talked to another shop which was backed up in Jan that said they can knock it out quickly for me so thats a good backup. The new shop is the 1 I prefer anyhow but they do a lot of race engines and were backed up at the time. Most of them would be at the track by now. Plus the current shop said they couldn't do any pocket porting anyhow. Being my 1st # matching car, I just have run out of patience and the covid crap isn't helping either but I think I can approach this issue with some upward attitude now without losing my temper. Born qith a short fuse. Lol
Thanks for the replies!!!
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Trust your instinct. The moment during the conversation something immediately feels wrong, strange, off-that is when it is time to pull the plug.

I have lost tens of thousands of dollars trusting reputations, paying upfront.-Something to consider.

if you pay attention to the details like the shop’s work load, maybe cleanliness, attitude (are they smooth talking salesmen? Tell you what you want to hear? Red flag)
Usually your instinct and paying attention during the conversation should tell you when to hold out, fold up, and when to run!
 
greymouser7 said:
Trust your instinct. The moment during the conversation something immediately feels wrong, strange, off-that is when it is time to pull the plug.

I have lost tens of thousands of dollars trusting reputations, paying upfront.-Something to consider.

if you pay attention to the details like the shop’s work load, maybe cleanliness, attitude (are they smooth talking salesmen? Tell you what you want to hear? Red flag)
Usually your instinct and paying attention during the conversation should tell you when to hold out, fold up, and when to run!
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Never let the them have the last drink of your whiskey either.
 
MerlinsMopar said:
I dropped off a # matching motor to have freshened up towards the end of January. It did need bored and I asked to have freeze plugs put in along with cam bearings. Crank needed polished only. I bought new pistons and rods for and asked to press them on, balance the assembly. Gave them the cam for fitment. Dist bushing to be installed and clean up the heads. Nothing major. I provided new springs for the cam. I've used this company before with good results and quick turnaround. It's been 3 months now and I call every 2 weeks to see the progress. 2 weeks ago he said block and crank was done and he said about 2 more weeks to finish up. Called this week and he said the same thing so I said I would pick up those parts and he asked to call me back. Hasn't called me tho and I understand this lockdown thing but im starting to lose my cool. I dont want to do that tho. What should I say to be respectful? The words I come up with are not gonna be nice. I just cant see why I keep getting put off. Only other option is to just show up and take it and pay him for whats done. Im sure i will get a wide variety of info here so I will take what I can get.
Thanks!!!!
Click to expand...
Have patience a lot of people are putting **** in the shop right now and these guys are getting busy. That same shop probably wouldn't have leaned your stuff if you left it in there for 8 or 12 months either... in other words you've had stuff done there before and you guys have a business relationship established.
I understand though sometimes it's quick sometimes it takes for ******* ever LOL
 
I would go get my stuff that sounds shady to me. I understand that race season guys take priority over street engines but I agree the fact he told you the block was done and when you said you would pick it up he ghosted you is shady. I live in a small town not many Machine shops are local we have 2 or 3 big shops and probably 2 or 3 little backyard shops. I called around to get prices on my 360 and the 3 big shops wouldn't even talk to me when they found out it was a street car and this was in October race season was over. One guy was moving and the other guy gave me some ridiculous quote. I found a guy that does the machine work for the same company I work for and he is gonna do it for me I talked to him last week and he is buried with race stuff so I'm sure I will get pushed to the back of the line.
 
Screw that excuse bullcrap! Someone owns the place and has the big chair. Suck it up and put the work in and quit being "that shop" who likes to not follow through..... Even if that means going in on Sunday when you should get your Jesus on...

I would go get my parts, pay for what was done, and go from there....

JW
 
Your gut is telling you to pickup your block and take it to your original machine shop, follow your gut.
 
If you are from Pa, not sure, as you know some parts of our state got hit pretty good with Coronavirus and some didn’t. These are crazy times right now. That amount of work would take my local shop 7-10 days at most during normal times. Some shops are closing and some are working limited hours. I know Harlan Sharp closed for at least a week as I ordered something. Goodluck with your build and I hope all goes well. Maybe talk to him and politely say hey give me the truth, I can handle it.
 
Years ago I needed a motor built for a DD. Took it to the shop that did simple, production rebuilds. Steve pulled it apart, had several spun cam bearings and was told he did not want to deal with it. Went and talked with the race shop that my damn near everyone at Island Dragway used. When I initially talked with him he told me that he could help me out. Dropped it off, not asking about time. Went buy a week later and he was slammed. Blocks were stacked 2 deep along one wall, there had to be 60 sets of cylinder heads. Race season was 6-7 weeks out, the racers stuff had to come first as he was there sponsor...Got a bit bent out of shape....best thing I ever did was wait for him. He charged me $100 more than Steve would have. But I got a balanced/blueprinted/port matched DD that he spent 20 or so hours dealing with the spun cam bearings. Point is...just ask the guy how many irons he has in the fire....cop an attitude...and well.....
 
pittsburghracer said:
If you are from Pa, not sure, as you know some parts of our state got hit pretty good with Coronavirus and some didn’t. These are crazy times right now. That amount of work would take my local shop 7-10 days at most during normal times. Some shops are closing and some are working limited hours. I know Harlan Sharp closed for at least a week as I ordered something. Goodluck with your build and I hope all goes well. Maybe talk to him and politely say hey give me the truth, I can handle it.
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Then there is THIS. A local racer needed custom pistons...last he said anything JE had 2 employees....
 
Called them today and just got to the point and said, I know that you guy's are busy however, I have decided to just pay for the work thats completed and please gather my parts together for pick up tomorrow. The secretary said " no problem" so now all I am worried about is getting the same parts back. Block and heads Have #s and I don't think there will be any issues. They probably are just backed up but It has me stressed. Like the covid thing isn't enough. Uggh! Not gonna sleep well tonite. Once I have it in the van and on my way home, the stress will reside. I trusted them enough to take it there but my gut is saying enough.
 
You did what was right, odds are very high all will be good.

When I have had similar situations, I do not give a warning and just show up, and do not leave without my parts. Not allowing them time to contemplate anything others than doing the necessary to rid their shop of me as soon as they can.

The better shops mark/tag the items with a job number as they check jobs in to avoid loss of parts. I ask for a receipt with itemized list and quoted pricing, so I have evidence of what I left behind. Where it gets tough is they cannot give you an exact pricing/cost until after they have initially checked the parts, after which point you have to ask for an updated complete quote for the finished job cost. Some shops will not put up with this, and will just turn the job away, so you have to accept the risk or go elsewhere.

Oh and the other thing I have been doing is taking pictures of all my parts at the shop when I drop them off, as evidence I left them there, as well as to help identify them afterwards. If a part does not have stampings or unique features, I have also marked them.

Might sound paranoid, but bad past personal experiences and other people I have heard of, have made me more cautious.
 
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Good on you OP.... For all the sorry *** owners who make claims of date promises and missing them by a mile go find clients who are OK with it....

If you can make the drive call Magnum Machine in Chesapeake, VA. Kurt don't play and does great work.

JW
 
MerlinsMopar said:
Called them today and just got to the point and said, I know that you guy's are busy however, I have decided to just pay for the work thats completed and please gather my parts together for pick up tomorrow. The secretary said " no problem" so now all I am worried about is getting the same parts back. Block and heads Have #s and I don't think there will be any issues. They probably are just backed up but It has me stressed. Like the covid thing isn't enough. Uggh! Not gonna sleep well tonite. Once I have it in the van and on my way home, the stress will reside. I trusted them enough to take it there but my gut is saying enough.
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So how did things work out, hopefully all your parts are safely back in your possession now?
 
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