Hey all,
So I’ve got a bit of a situation here, and I just wanted to gather some information from the masses to see if what I’m experiencing is normal.
Right now, I am in the process of having my entire motor rebuilt. I took the motor out myself, took the head and block apart and dropped it off at a very well know shop around the los angeles area(for now, I’m going to leave out the name of the shop.). I dropped it off on June 1st to have the both head and block fully dissembled and cleaned, block maintenance to include: polished crank journals, new main bearing and rod bearings, and cp pistons( stock cr). After they clean and hone the block, they will reinstall the above stated parts in the short block. As for the head, they are doing their entry service, which is a clean, resurface, valve job, and reassembly of rocker assembly.
Here is where I’m beginning to have issues…
I was originally told by the owner of the business, turnaround time would be about 4 weeks, I wasnt going to hold him exactly to that time line, because I wasn’t really in a rush. After 4 and a half weeks of not hearing anything from them, I called just to get a status update, at which point all they had done was disassemble the block and head, and was told maybe another 3 weeks. A little surprised it took that long, but i kept my feelings to myself and just went along with my day. Fast forward, 3 weeks, still no word from them, so I again called. They state, “we just dropped of the block and head last week”. Again, I kept my mouth shut, and didnt express any disappointment. After another 2 weeks, I received no updates, so I gave another friendly call. They had received the block back, and were waiting on the head. Cool, I thought, we are getting somewhere now! After a brief convo, I also asked if he could send me a picture of my old rod bearings which were sitting right in front of him, can you guess what they never sent me??(shocker). Another 2 weeks go by, still no calls, I call again. This time they say they have received the head, and have started working on main bearing clearances. I asked how long until everything might be done, this was monday, August 30th. He said maybe by middle of next week. No issues here. I spent labor day weekend in Vegas, came back Tuesday and gave them a call to see if it would be ready for pick up this week, he said to call back later in the week for a check up.
finally, here we are, Friday morning, September 10th. I call to ask if its ready, he said the block is all done, still waiting on the head. I live in san diego, so i asked if I was to plan my trip towards 5pm arrival(when they close) if it would be ready. He said he would ask he machinist if that was possible and get back with me. 3 hours pass, no phone call. I give them a call back, and the gentleman tell me my head is still at the machine shop waiting to be worked on!!
At this point, I finally questioned why there are so many hold ups, and why every step of this process has taken so excruciatingly long. Its been at the machine shop since July 15th, and it has been over 3 months since I gave them the motor. When I expressed this to him over the phone, he said unfortunately “your motor never got put in the que, so nobody got to it until they had some free time”. Pretty inexcusable if you ask me, especially after I prepaid the $5k for the service.
my question for M3forum:
1: Is this a normal timeline for a rebuild?
2: do machine shops actually take this long?
3: considering their builder works part time, would it actually take 2-3 to build a bottom end, when all the parts are already available?
4: which shops did yall take your motors or cars to for similar work, and what was your overall experience with the customer service?
Essentially, I’m just trying to figure out if I’m being rational about this situation or not. This is my first time building a motor, so ive never been through anything like this before. I also weighed my options between well known shops that people talk alot about on instagram and this forum, and I made my decision accordingly.
thank you in advance!
So I’ve got a bit of a situation here, and I just wanted to gather some information from the masses to see if what I’m experiencing is normal.
Right now, I am in the process of having my entire motor rebuilt. I took the motor out myself, took the head and block apart and dropped it off at a very well know shop around the los angeles area(for now, I’m going to leave out the name of the shop.). I dropped it off on June 1st to have the both head and block fully dissembled and cleaned, block maintenance to include: polished crank journals, new main bearing and rod bearings, and cp pistons( stock cr). After they clean and hone the block, they will reinstall the above stated parts in the short block. As for the head, they are doing their entry service, which is a clean, resurface, valve job, and reassembly of rocker assembly.
Here is where I’m beginning to have issues…
I was originally told by the owner of the business, turnaround time would be about 4 weeks, I wasnt going to hold him exactly to that time line, because I wasn’t really in a rush. After 4 and a half weeks of not hearing anything from them, I called just to get a status update, at which point all they had done was disassemble the block and head, and was told maybe another 3 weeks. A little surprised it took that long, but i kept my feelings to myself and just went along with my day. Fast forward, 3 weeks, still no word from them, so I again called. They state, “we just dropped of the block and head last week”. Again, I kept my mouth shut, and didnt express any disappointment. After another 2 weeks, I received no updates, so I gave another friendly call. They had received the block back, and were waiting on the head. Cool, I thought, we are getting somewhere now! After a brief convo, I also asked if he could send me a picture of my old rod bearings which were sitting right in front of him, can you guess what they never sent me??(shocker). Another 2 weeks go by, still no calls, I call again. This time they say they have received the head, and have started working on main bearing clearances. I asked how long until everything might be done, this was monday, August 30th. He said maybe by middle of next week. No issues here. I spent labor day weekend in Vegas, came back Tuesday and gave them a call to see if it would be ready for pick up this week, he said to call back later in the week for a check up.
finally, here we are, Friday morning, September 10th. I call to ask if its ready, he said the block is all done, still waiting on the head. I live in san diego, so i asked if I was to plan my trip towards 5pm arrival(when they close) if it would be ready. He said he would ask he machinist if that was possible and get back with me. 3 hours pass, no phone call. I give them a call back, and the gentleman tell me my head is still at the machine shop waiting to be worked on!!
At this point, I finally questioned why there are so many hold ups, and why every step of this process has taken so excruciatingly long. Its been at the machine shop since July 15th, and it has been over 3 months since I gave them the motor. When I expressed this to him over the phone, he said unfortunately “your motor never got put in the que, so nobody got to it until they had some free time”. Pretty inexcusable if you ask me, especially after I prepaid the $5k for the service.
my question for M3forum:
1: Is this a normal timeline for a rebuild?
2: do machine shops actually take this long?
3: considering their builder works part time, would it actually take 2-3 to build a bottom end, when all the parts are already available?
4: which shops did yall take your motors or cars to for similar work, and what was your overall experience with the customer service?
Essentially, I’m just trying to figure out if I’m being rational about this situation or not. This is my first time building a motor, so ive never been through anything like this before. I also weighed my options between well known shops that people talk alot about on instagram and this forum, and I made my decision accordingly.
thank you in advance!
Comment