Finding A Good Machine Shop

[SlapFish]

Hey I just tore down a pretty good looking block to stroke, and now I'm sending it off to get properly machined. I've never had to send an engine out to get machined, so I'm a bit new at knowing where the good places are. I live in Charlotte, NC.

Now I know this is a very limited question since not everyone lives anywhere near me, but maybe you guys know a better way of finding these places than google. Google just returns Yellowbook pages and stuff. Not that it doesn't help, I just don't know of a way of finding a good place.

[Muad'Dib]

Do you know anyone in your area that has had any kind of machine work done? Anyone that enjoys working on engines?

Word of mouth is going to be the best thing here. If you have friends / family that have experience with anyone then hopefully they can give you a recommendation.

If not, does your area have a local community forum? Craigslist? Make a post on there asking about decent machine shops in that area and see what they say. Then maybe you can narrow the responses you get down to just a couple and make a better informed decision.


Hope that helps.

[yuppiexj]

My take on the "find a good machine shop" quest.

Go to the local racetrack (mud bog, drag strip, road course) doesn't matter.
Ask the top 4 finishers in the not sponsored class (sportsman/street stock/whatever )

At least 3 of them will use the same shop.

In my hick town, it's a tiny shop off of a hidden little road in the depressed downtown section.
They beat the big shop in town by 40% on fees.