Does anyone know what may be going on at Houston Engine and Balancing.
I took my block and heads to Jeff back in August, I have called to check on it a couple of times since the beginning of the month and he doesn't answer the phone. Voicemail is full.

Thanks
Dave

DC: Last month he told me he was finishing up on a couple of engines and would be getting to mine next.

Sounds like a road trip is in order

quote:

Originally posted by Big Steve:
Sounds like a road trip is in order

Yep. Machine shop jail or bodyshop jail. I don't think transmission shops get backed up enough for transmission jail. Take care. Tom Worthington

quote:

Originally posted by Tom396:

quote:

Originally posted by Big Steve:
Sounds like a road trip is in order

Yep. Machine shop jail or bodyshop jail. I don't think transmission shops get backed up enough for transmission jail. Take care. Tom Worthington

Don'/t forget chassis shop jail.

Anything from Houston Engine yet?

quote:

Originally posted by Curly1:
Anything from Houston Engine yet?

Yes, finally talked to him this morning. Naturally he hasn't started on my stuff, even started to get pissed that I was asking about it.
He said he was very busy, since I left my stuff there in August, but he was going to get to my stuff verrrry soon..
Wants me to check back in a month..

Dave

Grab your stuff and move on.

6 months, now going on 7 and nothing has been done is one reason, but the attitude is a much greater concern.

That alone would be the end for me.

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by RPROGAS:
Grab your stuff and move on.

6 months, now going on 7 and nothing has been done is one reason, but the attitude is a much greater concern.

That alone would be the end for me.

Bob

^^^This^^^

quote:

Originally posted by Big Steve:

quote:

Originally posted by RPROGAS:
Grab your stuff and move on.

6 months, now going on 7 and nothing has been done is one reason, but the attitude is a much greater concern.

That alone would be the end for me.

Bob

^^^This^^^

Shoot guy's, I've been trying to get this stuff fixed for three (3) years in 4 different shops. All recommended to me, saying they were good..
Trying to get it done in state.

Dave

quote:

Originally posted by RPROGAS:
Grab your stuff and move on.

6 months, now going on 7 and nothing has been done is one reason, but the attitude is a much greater concern.

That alone would be the end for me.

Bob

I think the attitude came from Steve Hughes or one of his more well known customers calling him and telling him to call me..lol

Dave

Dave, Have you talked to Mike Murray or Jake Pitt on who they use?

Is this for an LA or RB?

I checked with my contact in Houston. He currently has a Dart Block at Late Model Engines with zero movement and a G3Hemi at Ultimate Engine Solutions (Henrik Puetz) that is getting a little love, not very fast, but extremely detailed.

He used to take his LA and Magnum stuff to Willard Buff, but the last longblock he got was missing a ton of details and had mismatched parts. For machining-only, he might be acceptable. "Troy really needs to take over"

He says that 9-12 months has been his experience for anything non-GM at HEB.

Mike just replied to me. He used USA Racing Engines this last time. He said his last three from HEB were all 2-year ordeals and he finally looked elsewhere.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Magnethead,

quote:

Originally posted by Magnethead:
Dave, Have you talked to Mike Murray or Jake Pitt on who they use?

Is this for an LA or RB?

I checked with my contact in Houston. He currently has a Dart Block at Late Model Engines with zero movement and a G3Hemi at Ultimate Engine Solutions (Henrik Puetz) that is getting a little love, not very fast, but extremely detailed.

He used to take his LA and Magnum stuff to Willard Buff, but the last longblock he got was missing a ton of details and had mismatched parts. For machining-only, he might be acceptable. "Troy really needs to take over"

He says that 9-12 months has been his experience for anything non-GM at HEB.

Mike just replied to me. He used USA Racing Engines this last time. He said his last three from HEB were all 2-year ordeals and he finally looked elsewhere.

I don't know Mike Murry and I haven't seen or talked to Pitt in years. To be honest I never thought of him.
Seems all the machinist I use have gone way beyond the 12 month time frame. What makes me mad about it all is the ones I attempted to work with used to be fairly quick. Up until this block everything used to get done within a couple of months. Shoot I had the cam tunnel bored to 55 mm and that only took 6 weeks in and out.
HEB is the 4th shop that this block as been in and sat for 8 months to 16 months shuffled from one corner to the next. It wouldn't be so bad except I go to the shop and see stuff that came in the door after mine and is being worked on.

Good to know this. I will be looking for another new shop again soon. I did talk to Jeff and again was told a couple of weeks. I told him I would call again at the end of this month. Most likely I will be going down and picking it up..

Thanks
Dave

What is their problem getting your stuff out the door? Is there something other than it's not the normal that causes them a problem?

quote:

Originally posted by CURTIS REED:
What is their problem getting your stuff out the door? Is there something other than it's not the normal that causes them a problem?

Only thing abnormal about this engine is it is a Indy Maxx aluminum block. That seems to cause issues because it's not a chevy I guess. I have my own torque plates but two of the shops have their own.
Only thing I can figure is the keep pushing mine back to do other stuff.

It dropped a valve seat on the dyno.
Messed up the one head and took out a cylinder wall. the sleeves on both sides of the busted one had to come out to weld up the broken one. I had the block at a machine shop to get it welded up and it wasn't touched for a year. Then second shop had it for another 8 months and wasn't touched. So I brought it home and welded the damage up myself. Then took it to a third shop where it sat for 14 months. Went and picked it up and took it to Houston. It has been there since last August where it was promised to be finished in a couple of months.
Houston checked it out while I was there. I had ordered 3 sleeves from Indy Heads for the first machine shop but we measured the bore and decided that at least 2 of the sleeves would need to be reordered because the OD wasn't big enough for the press fit he wanted.

So what I decided to have him do was bore block to accept 3 sleeves, bore the 3 sleeves, check block and square/deck after all the welding, pull cam bearings and ensure cam tunnel was correct. On the heads (which he said would be done a week after I dropped it off) I wanted all of the seats replaced and a valve job.

This engine was fresh when I put it on the dyno originally.

I bought a new Indy block after it sat for the first year. Just want to get this one fixed for a spare. I could buy another block but can't see a reason to waste this one.

Dave

Let me add Houston has a CNC machine so the block would need to be set up and a button pushed (lol). He has the program.

Dave

That's kind of what I thought. It will take a little longer because it won't be done on fixturing that is kept set up. I run a manufacturing facility with many cnc machines so I understand the value of production machining and that stopping to change the set up is money spent in time.

Here is the thing though, don't take in the work if you aren't going to do the work. I'm sure it gets quoted at a higher cost to cover the man hours so do what you said you were going to do. I can not stand guys not manning up and getting it done as they said they would. It's pervasive in machine shops, body shops and chassis builders. Simple easy jobs pay the bills so turn down anything you can't get done in a reasonable time frame.

Okay, I'm off my soap box. Sorry you have to deal with this Dave.

quote:

Originally posted by CURTIS REED:
That's kind of what I thought. It will take a little longer because it won't be done on fixturing that is kept set up. I run a manufacturing facility with many cnc machines so I understand the value of production machining and that stopping to change the set up is money spent in time.

Here is the thing though, don't take in the work if you aren't going to do the work. I'm sure it gets quoted at a higher cost to cover the man hours so do what you said you were going to do. I can not stand guys not manning up and getting it done as they said they would. It's pervasive in machine shops, body shops and chassis builders. Simple easy jobs pay the bills so turn down anything you can't get done in a reasonable time frame.

Okay, I'm off my soap box. Sorry you have to deal with this Dave.

To be honest I hadn't thought of the set up time.
After I told him the history trying to get it fixed I asked approximately when he would get to it. At that time he said the heads would be done in a week, and he would get the block within a couple of months at most.
I'm pretty patient and can understand when issues come up.

Dave

Dave, I caught Jake Pitt in the lanes here at Motorplex. He says that Reher-Morrison did his most recent RB block cleanup and balance rotating assembly, but it didn't come cheap. Said he hasn't found any options down here that will touch Mopar, when he was doing S/Stock he was shipping stuff all over the country to get it done faster.

Curtis is right, do not take in work if you can not get to it. Why have all that stuff sitting in the shop for years rusting? Why are they tripping over all that stuff and not moving it?

I do not understand it but it seems most of the machine shops operate that way. They spend more time moving the stuff around than it would have took to do the work.

The problem out here is the good shops are aging out. Nobody stepping up to carry the torch! And they are busy! Take a number!
It sucks that our youth aren’t interested in doing what we did. Maybe I’m getting old? I’ll just have to deal with the new generations..