tips for machining

[ttsupra2503]

So I wanted to do an update and I am smacking my head against a wall right now. The block that I was going to use might not be usable unless I machine it for another set of pistons all together now. I went to the new machine shop that was suggested by an out of town machine shop that knew what they were talking about. That guy had me hand a list of questions for the original machine shop that I took over and the guy filled out. Unless he was lying the guy told me that unless I got lucky I will be re-boring every cylinder and re-decking the block. He informed me that one of the reasons was that the guy had no idea what a torque plate was..... I F*(@ing (leaving many more curse words out for my own sanity) asked him specifically if he had one or had access to one and he assured me he had everything I asked for. I want to teach this guy a lesson now... how can I teach a machinist a lesson without literally taking him to court for a blown/seized block.

To see if the guy was actually just pissed at me he sent one of his workers over and had the guy inspect a block for him and the guy quoted a full rebuild even though there was nothing wrong with the block. He again didn't know about the torque plates or that a metal block could be pulled out of dimension by anything torqued onto the unit.

How am I this lucky to find the one guy who lies to me about who he is and has no bad references to tell me ahead of time.... I am feeling very good about getting the 1jz in the summer.

 

[Grandavi]

I know the feeling. Dealing with shit parts from "wont mention who it is yet... " has cost me about 1400.00 in wasted labor costs and shipping... and any time I talk to this "community respected company" (again.. not mentioning the name), I get told things like... "it only takes 15 minutes to swap in a turbo... " and "I'm not responsible fo the part quality, I am just a distributor"...

The sad thing is... people who dont stand behind their shit only cost us money... and time.. and frustration . Imagine that this also extends to the medical community.. because life aint just in a bottle... lol.

Personally, I am getting to the point that if anything happens again, I am just going to start pulling in my lawyer and start suing people for the hell of it. I dont mind mistakes, but please dont try to screw me over or lie to me. Especially... dont lie. Nothing pisses me off more.

15 minutes to R&R a turbo...


now that I did my personal rant... lol... I dont know of any good machinists in your area, but I believe there are some closer to Vancouver. (There are 3 or 4 members here that could point you that way). I would personally travel a great distance for quality.

 

[ttsupra2503]

The shop closer to Vancouver referred me to the shop I am using now in kelowna here. I dont know how this guy would actually defend his work though. After putting together the engine it would have squeaked the #1 cylinder and I would have taken it to another shop to have it checked out and sued his ass for the cost of the new shop fully rebuilding my motor with new parts lol. I should have had him put the bottom end back together but I was too cheap to pay the 600 bucks he wanted to do that for me lol.

My father is a snowmobile mechanic that actually proved that a shop was adjusting his customers snowmobiles during a tuneup to blow up by going lean at full throttle. They hid a camera and took it into the shop and showed the main mechanic adjusting the screw. The shop had to recall every customers sled to inspect and reset the screw (thousands of dollars) as well as pay for hundreds of rebuilds when the damage was already done to the motor. That shop sold to someone else after all that basically shut them down even in the sales department. New management isn't that good with sleds but they are great with bikes so it was a win-win lol

 

[Grandavi]

I took my car to RCTS here in Calgary simply because I have had too many bad experiences with other shops. (or.. in other words... no good experiences with ANY shops)

After spending untold thousands on idiotic work (over a 10 year period), I really dont care what they charge me... its done right and thats all I worry about. Its funny when I see a car in their shop with Texas plates... lol.
They didn't do it as pretty as I would have liked, but that was solely because I was impatient and didn't want to let the car sit for a couple years while I amassed all the powder coat, zinc plating, ceramic coating, stainless steel.. etc.. etc...

And as for machining, I couldn't find anyone nearby that I knew or trusted, so I bought my shortblock complete from Canadian Cylinder head in Ontario on advice from George at Raptor Racing. Crank and rods were polished and I went with Wiseco pistons, but everything (other than 2 small little things I didn't like but were simple to correct) was built nicely and he included a new oil pan (chemical bathed to ensure the underside of the pan plate was clean) and a new oil pump shimmed 5mm. Graeme also did some small things I never thought of like doing the small shave of the piston, doing a little tweak to the timing cover, etc..

Rebuilt head, MHG, ARP studs torqued properly and I dont think I can throw enough at my car now to kill the engine. Done once, done right and no headaches now (other than watching out for how fast the damn car likes to cruise at on the highway... )

If you have a good shop near Vancouver, I would go there, your not that far away. The shortblock cost me about 2650.00 fully built and 300.00 to ship. So far, Im happy. Hopefully things pan out with your block.

 

[ttsupra2503]

GOOD NEWS UPDATE

So I saved the block by taking it to another machine shop. It only took 15 phone calls, this forum and a long conversation with the main head machinist (who gave me an hours free labor due to being proven wrong) He was able to bring the bore on the #1 cylinder to be round while the tensioner bolt was done to specs. He now knows of 5 motors locally that he is going to phone up and check on since he never had the bolt in on those engines. The will be doing blow by tests and fixing the mistake. I appreciate the honor of this guy from actually saying that he will fix the blocks if they bring him the motor to repair.

Now... once I get this stupid motor back together I get to decide if Its going back in the car. I feel like it has been too long and its gonna take me a couple days if not a couple weeks to get all the bolts and items back on the motor with the proper bolts lol. Is there anything on the TSM that says a description of what the bolt is? arg.... makes me want my next motor already.