That's the second one that I know about in my area, 2 high performance machine shops have gone under in the last year. This one was a CorvetteForum supporting vendor. The only reason I know about these two was I had some machine work done on my 406 at both of them.

What is going on here, the high performance car hobby is bigger than it ever has been and people are throwing millions at their pride and joys for amongst other things engine rebuilds and crate engines. So there should be more shops opening not closing.

I hope it is not what i think that people are just so beligerant these days and so hard to get along with that these guys are throwing in the towel ?
I mean blaming cam failures, rocker noise, and every other mistake bubba makes on the engine builder so he just says it isn't worth it anymore build motors for idiots, what do you think or is there even a problem ?

 

Well judging from how slow my builder is, I would probably consider a crate engine in the future. I figured the 1st engine kept getting delayed because I paid up front. My second engine took over a year before the block was even touched. Now I dropped my heads off 5 weeks ago and still need to call & bug to get my stuff back

 

, crate engines have become so inxpensive (relatively speaking) with warranties etc. You can order your package online from a reputable builder and only have to have your vette off the road for a couple of days. Which local builder closed shop this time Wayne? A guy I met a few weeks ago picked up a low mileage Z06 engine and tranny and his price installed was $6500 cash. Pretty hard to beat prices like those. Seems there is more $ to be made in the tuner mkt these days than old muscle as the "kids" are spending a lot more than us.

 

Pretty tough business to be in small time. For example, when the 4L60E transmission failed in my Suburban, I was able to buy a GM reman. with all the latest upgrades and a 3 year/50K warranty for LESS than the parts were going to cost me to fix the one I had myself. That, and if I had any problems, I'd be doing it again on my dime. Pretty easy choice for me.

Hans

 

Well one was a mom and pop shop and the other was a pretty big shop up here that was shipping expensive newer style small blocks all over North America and Australia etc. Don't want to mention their name right at the moment Greg in case there are any legalaties going on.

What I don't understand is the market should be the biggest it has ever been including the early '70s. The tuner crowd was mentioned but that only makes it bigger, they need motors machined too. There should be more shops opening not closing.

 

Businesses go under all the time for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with the market. Running a business is tough stuff and not everyone can do it. Just being good at what you do isn't good enough, there are TONS of other things to do when you run your own place.

Check the municipal web pages... don't be surprised to see a divorce listed for the owner.....

 

Well I agree with you on that and in all fairness the oringinal owner of the second ( bigger ) shop threw in the towel for one reason or another a couple of years ago and the guy who took over just couldn't make a go of it I guess

 

That is sooo true in our shop. Our company was barely hanging on for the longest time (I've been working here less than a year). However a few months ago we acquired a new part-owner. The original owner has an encyclopedic memory, great diagnosis skills, and is an awesome race driver, but he couldn't account his way out of a wet paper sack. Our new part-owner has the master plan and has turned our gaping debt into profits, however he's not the world's best mechanic. The two others who do most of the actual mechanicing (one primarily street, one primarily race/fabrication) are both extremely talented in their areas as well. I'm just the lowly "apprentice", gathering some real-world experience as I seek a Mechanical Engineering degree, but damned if those floors have ever been that clean before That's the well rounded team: business, sales, street, and race departments. ...and "other"

We build some engines but machine work and dyno are at the engine shop one door down. They do lots of Mazda and other modern racing engines also, I think they're doing okay. We/they have just completed the engine for a '49 Healey Silverstone! 4 cyl, 2 cam, xxxx pound monstrosity, way to go UK.

-Chris
www.krauseandengland.com

 

Another concideration, or perhaps more evidence that points in the direction of gdh's comment about the tuner market. I'm sure we've all seen and participated in the never endin "Paint Job-How Much" threads, perhaps the predicted truly is becoming fact, and "Packaging " is all there is. I was just commenting the other day in the Auto Zone how they have isle after isle of rediculious neon plug into the ciggerette lighter shifter **** junk. Even though the majority of us would never concider or even understand the calling of a flashing blue valve stem cap, it IS the HOT item at the Zone. When we were young we hung out in garages and watched the valve grinders and piston popers of the 60's and 70's these kids spent their youth playing "Tomb Raider". Don't get me wrong , I'm a Big Laura Croft fan but I allready had a solid electro / mechanical bacground. How it works is not realy important to the Bling Bling generation , only how it looks, if it fails, they can't fix it. There by they don't realy concider an engine replacement, just "Oh Boy, I get to buy a NEW car!" And I think all the big bucks in the antiqe car market is realy a small thing compared to what it used to be, don't let Barrett fool ya.

 

Good point, and I think a large portion of that market is willing to pay someone to fix/mod their car for them rather than DIY. They can't talk the talk but just want to walk the walk.

 

there are a few here in houston, that are going under also, that are long timers

 

may not be exactly as you might think. I am now looking in to buying a brand new engine for the wifes 1973 Corvette. The engine in it - is just fine, but I will be pulling the engine sometime next year to detail the engine compartment.

While the engine will be out, I contacted two local engine shops and asked what it would take to have the engine looked over and routine work done. One was $1400, the other said $1500.

I can buy a brand new GM crate engine (modern clone to the L82 she has in there now) with a warranty - for $1600.

Something is amiss here; and it's not the price of the GM crate engine.

 

i can agree and disagree with you at the same time. i am 28 and haven't figured out which generation i am in, yet. i enjoy working on all of my vettes and jeeps. heck i would swap their motors all day long. now my wife's car......its a 2000 camaro. that thing sucks. i am paying someone to replace it's motor. its half way under the windshield!!!! it should be done next week.

chris

 

I can recall this company in Tennessee i think called Magum Motors was somehow associated with Comp Cams and would build motors to order for an decent price. They had some basic rebuilt motors but the sky was the limit for options. They gave alot of respectabilty to "crate motors" as i always read good of them. Built all makes of custom motors too - Ford, Dodge, Chevy, etc.. They had a great product and i got to see one of there sb Chevys - came with lifter valley painted and sitting on a nice little metal motor dolley/stand. All mtrs came balanced and u knew thew were - not just an added charge. If u paid for an option u knew u got it with them. I recall they were pre-run and could be dyno'd with the printed results if requested/paid for.
Anyways that was one of the best crate motor companys but just faded away and i haven't seen much like them except for maybe Golens up in the NE (too far from CA). I need to get over to PAW in LA as they offer tours of they're shop during busieness hours and still sell the machined parts for build ur own motors. The small orders i've made with PAW the customer service has been excellent.
Truthfully, i would like to see most other mail-order crate mtr shops here in LA close as they should not be selling the junk mtrs that they do. I try to warn others as much as possible but low prices are just enough baite to sell to outstate enthusiests hoping on the best deal.
As far as small business longevity, too many variables involved like divorce, theft, health/injury, lawsuits sometimes not related to the business but seek the assets of owner. Hey, if u were a financal scoundrul why not just file bankrupt to keep ur assests (equipment), close up shop and look to open else where/different name every 7 yrs? I knew a couple twins from N.J. (i think) that jumped from coast to coast opening and closing small repair shops - they always drove a brand new car (Z28) and did all the managing (rarely picked up a wrench).
Ok i'll shut up now but if u find a good busieness please post it here for ur friends to use. cardo0

 

The crate engine option has to be hurting these guys more than they would like to admit. If Joe brings his car to the mechanic and he says you're motor is junk and tells him we can rebuild it for $1500 or you can get a new engine with warranty for $1500 what's he gonna do? I have a cousin with a machine shop who does great work (although his parts may be suspect at times) and I still went crate. Why? Warranty, less wait, less hassle, modern heads, and about the same money.
Another factor has to be the longevity of modern engines. 200K is no big deal anymore and diesels routinely hit a million.

 

this right here is what made me start looking at new GM crate engines... over a same dollar rebuild. GM's track record on crate engines is damned near perfect (mainly due to the high degree of automation).

If I take the risk with a local machinest, it better be significantly less money than purchasing a new GM crate engine.

 

i had a few things done to my engine at greg's head in riverview michigan...i think... i got a perfomer aluminum intake, a new mild cam, new valves/springs, heads and intake was ported, for about 800...... i thought that wasn't too bad...he was a friend of my dads when they used to work at Parts and Equipment (p and e) in rouge...... i would recommend him since the turn around time was like 2 days and he has a nice shop .......

b

 

I agree with you guys about how the market is shifting to appeal more to the new flashy and disposable generation. I think you guys might find my story interesting...

I'm 19 and live in NJ. As you can imagine, there's more rice than a chinese buffet around here. I bought a low mileage 78 Vett back in November because I wanted weekend car that was genuinely beautiful, powerful from stock and a hobby on the side. Long story short, it owns the road. I no longer have to put up with a tricked out Honda or Ford Focus (Yea, you read that right...) or similar car pulling up along side me wanting to race at a light. I mean, it still happens but it's not like I have to watch it going down the road... you just tilt the rear view mirror down

If they did go under due to market changes/loss of business, that's sad news...

 

Compare labor costs in a USA shop vs the costs in Mexico. That is where the GM crate engines are made?

 

Good topic. Remember, there is one thing that a rebuilder must do that GM doesn't have to do. That's take the original engine apart and assess the parts. We've all struggled with fasteners that break and parts that are worn. This is the initial step in a rebuilders job. They must disassemble the engine, clean, bake or hot tank everything, measure all the parts, determine what is needed for the rebuild and then begin. Since each engine is probably unique in what it needs all the machinery used must be set up on an engine by engine basis whereas GM machines to tolerance for thousands of engines. GM basically automatically machines everything up front and then does an assembly. If it takes 2 days to do the initial work at $40 an hour (16x$40) that's $640 (or almost half of what a crate engine costs) in labor that GM doesn't have to support. For a custom built high performance engine this isn't a problem but if all you're looking for is the average engine at low cost it's a significant factor.