Choosing a Machine Shop

[Titan5]

Just curious to where some of you guys go locally to have your machine work done and why..
What services do they offer? Good Stock, Good Modified Performance, Good Race, do they have Dyno's? Engine, Chassis?... Thank's T5

[old vette dog]

Have used Randy w Competition Engines in Eagan before w good luck.

[Titan5]

Who is at R&R these days???

[Z28SSMAN]

I'm out of the loop because the only shop that's ever touched my Chevelle's engine is Ken and Bruce at Total Engine in Bloomington.

Ever since I saw Ken run 11.60's back in the 70's at Northstar with his '68 442 4-speed (olds engine), he's done my machine work.

Dyno Dan Zrust has his done there too.

I also had them do the engine in Jon's Typhoon.

I don't recall them having an engine dyno though. I've never had the Chevelle's engine or chassis on a dyno.

Jack Machula has done some basic cyl head work for one of my projects.

[5-door]

Just curious to where some of you guys go locally to have your machine work done and why..
What services do they offer? Good Stock, Good Modified Performance, Good Race, do they have Dyno's? Engine, Chassis?... Thank's T5

Gary @ Wheeler Racing Engines
Brian @ R&R Racing Engines
Gene Pearson @ Performance Concepts


Reason: They are the best.

'Nuff said.

[grey1]

I second Brian @ R&R. They are in Blaine. Off of old Co. Rd. J.

(warm-up road to Twin City Speedway)......Northstar

[prostang92]

OR you could have it all done @ hitech :)

full machine shop w/ v30 cnc machine and and a superflow engine dyno

[orange88]

i use myself drunk in the garage

[orange88]

shit looked mint after 1000hp and two years of use so i must of did somthing right
:lol:

[Morvo]

Ken and Bruce at Total Engine (952) 888-3841. They have no Dyno (they use R&R) and do only limited head work. Their pricing is competitive and I have had no problems in over 20 years. No ego, no bullshit, just precision, honest work of the highest quality.

[GrandmaGold]

Everyone has their own opinion. All the big guys in the Twin City area are all good. I know them all, personally. Only because, I was in the machine shop business for 13 years. I'm getting back into building engines, but not until this summer.

My personal vote for a shop? Aarons Performance in St. Paul. http://www.get-ap.com/index.html Frank is the best cylinder head porter in the area, by far. Yes, Brian is good, but I've had Brian done a set of heads and then sent them to Frank at Aarons and he actually picked up airflow without anymore porting. He actually put Devcon in the port and in a sense, made the port smaller. Last I have seen, Brian only uses a flow bench. Frank uses a bench in combination with a volocity probe. Porting is more than just shoving some air through a port. It's more of a science and in HOW the air gets through there and reshaping the port for that air.

[Red Rocket]

I use Sputs Racing Engines in Owatonna. Clean, well equipped shop. Reasonable labor rates, and very knowledgeable people working there. They have an in house dyno.

[MR.hp]

I just have various people do the basic machining and I do the rest. If it goes it goes and if it blows..... well you can figure out the rest. Only lost one engine in the last 12 years.

[Guest]

Everyone has their own opinion. All the big guys in the Twin City area are all good. I know them all, personally. Only because, I was in the machine shop business for 13 years. I'm getting back into building engines, but not until this summer.

My personal vote for a shop? Aarons Performance in St. Paul. http://www.get-ap.com/index.html Frank is the best cylinder head porter in the area, by far. Yes, Brian is good, but I've had Brian done a set of heads and then sent them to Frank at Aarons and he actually picked up airflow without anymore porting. He actually put Devcon in the port and in a sense, made the port smaller. Last I have seen, Brian only uses a flow bench. Frank uses a bench in combination with a volocity probe. Porting is more than just shoving some air through a port. It's more of a science and in HOW the air gets through there and reshaping the port for that air.

Dave Storlein gets my vote as the best cylinder head guy in the state. Hell of a nice guy too.

http://www.chiheads.com/articles_2_e..._challenge.php

[Titan5]

The reason I asked this question is, to see just what has changed out there in a few years.

The first engine that I had machine work done on was at Performance Concepts, Gene Pearson's shop, and I have worked with many other shops through the years,
Mike @ Tesar Engineering (Racing Engines) W/Dyno & Porting
Ron and Brian @ R & R Performance W/Dyno & Porting
Bruce and Kenny @ Total Engine
Gary @ Wheeler's W/Dyno & Porting
Randy, Randy & Matt @ Competition Engine W/Dyno
M & L in St. Paul
Red Rooster in Bloomington

It's been a few years sense I have had any work done, but I will be putting together a few projects in the near future, and it is good to know that all of the shops I have had good luck in the past with are still around and well with the exception of a couple that are not around anymore or do not do machine work any longer.

There are some mentioned here that I have never heard of and I will probably check them out just for future reference.

Thank's for the responses, I'm sure there will be more and I will be looking forward to seeing who they are... T5