Any recommendations on a machine shop?

[DanCouga]

The RB30 is slowly moving forward, parts are rolling in and it is approaching assembly time. I need to find a highly recommended shop to send the block off to and have it shot-peened, deck resurfaced and get a nice coat of high temp paint sprayed on, rotating assembly balanced, ceramic coat the crown of the piston, moly coat the skirt, and drill and tap for the head studs for the 26 head.

Does anyone have any suggestions? A shop that they have used that was quick, reliable and easy to deal with? The reason I am eager to send it off is that I don't think any of the shops around here have had a chance to do this kind of build and would rather leave my motor in the hands of a more trusted shop.

[Darius]

Anything you listed there should be done on a regular basis by any reputable automotive machine shop. The coatings may be a little over their heads as far as doing it in-house, but they can do everything else. One question...why are you having the block shot-peened? I'm confused. Do you mean sand blasted?

What I had them do to my block was hone the cylinders because they were in excellent shape, then resurface it and tank it. When it comes out of the tank, it's basically ready for paint as it removes grease/oil/etc. If you wanted to get a 100% solid paint job, then get it sand blasted. Otherwise, it should be good to go after the machine shop.

[DanCouga]

It's used after the hot tanking to not only remove built up crud but slightly compress the outside of the block to reduce the chance of stress fractures and cracking.

[Darius]

If you really think that is necessary, but I've never heard of anyone's RB block cracking. I would spend the money somewhere else as that will probably run you about $50-75.

[DanCouga]

I'm building it to be reliable. I'm not concerned with $50 if it protects my investment in the rest of the motor.

[rotorimp]

Do you mean shot peening the rods? ---- Reliablility comes form Very careful measurement, quality parts and clean assembly with verified accurate torque wrenches. What are your HP goals? the 25 head is more than capable why are you after the 26?

[Darius]

He's building an RB30 with RB26 head. I'm not sure if there are compatability issues with the RB25, but I'd be very interested to learn. Sounds like a sweet build project. Rotorimp is right-on about quality build. It's not all about spending money on expensive parts. There's a lot to be said for diligent micrometer measurements and double-checking them. Again, shot peening the block is overkill unless you're shooting for somewhere in the neighborhood of 800-1000+ hp.

[IronMonkey]

Hey....you from columbus? Let me know hows your project going. I got a GT35R RB25 S14.5 and is from Columbus as well.

I believe hes using for the manifolds?

[gawdzilla]

didnt you make this thread before? anyway i posted this on racebread to your thread,but i'll paste it here too...

if you have any local v8, supra, honda, or dsm forums, bring those up and see where people tend to go. any reputable machine shop will be able to do everything you listed there easily. none of that stuff is "RB specific" as long as you provide the shop with all of your requirements, bearing specs, tq'ing specs, etc.

i took mine to some regular machine shop w/ the shop manual and they took care of it, no questions asked. don't be hung up on the fact that they need to be "an import shop" or "dealt with RBs" before. definitely stay local so you can drop by easily, talk to them, drop parts off, and make your requirements clear.

a block is just a piece of metal, not really different than say a dodge caravan block. its nothing a machine shop is gonna crap their pants about and not know how to handle as long as they know what you want done and actually do the work they promise

[Stealth-Z]

if you have any local v8, supra, honda, or dsm forums, bring those up and see where people tend to go. any reputable machine shop will be able to do everything you listed there easily. none of that stuff is "RB specific" as long as you provide the shop with all of your requirements, bearing specs, tq'ing specs, etc.

i took mine to some regular machine shop w/ the shop manual and they took care of it, no questions asked. don't be hung up on the fact that they need to be "an import shop" or "dealt with RBs" before. definitely stay local so you can drop by easily, talk to them, drop parts off, and make your requirements clear.

a block is just a piece of metal, not really different than say a dodge caravan block. its nothing a machine shop is gonna crap their pants about and not know how to handle as long as they know what you want done and actually do the work they promise

What gawdzilla says about machine shops is true. Any reputible shop will do the work. If they are not able to, then they recommend someone who can. The shop I took my RB30 block had never even seen an RB before. But he had books there with all the Holden specs. They also did the valve job on my RB26 head. The shop sent out the internals to some one else for percision balancing and installation of the JUN crank collar. Plus it does help to have them close by so you can keep the fire burning underneath them to get the job done.

[DanCouga]

There is no question that I could have used the 25 head. But I chose to go with the 26 head.

Yeah, IronMonkey, I am from Columbus. Shoot me an e-mail. I'd like to meet up and check out your swap and measure hood clearance

Gawdzilla, most people around here take thier parts to a place in Auburn. If I am already making a trip out of state, I would like to know what other options are out there.

As for the local shops, I know of one that resurfaced a head past the valves. Should I take it there?

I'm not looking for a shop that knows imports or RBs, I am looking for a shop that others have used and trust enough to recommend.

Perhaps I should have just posted this in the regional forum asking for names of shops.

[IronMonkey]

I think there a few machine shops around here. Auburn aint that far man, I go there everyday to go school.

But I think I heard about you. I raced your friend with a Turbo cavalier in my rb convertible, and he said you were building this rb30 with rb26 head.

[DanCouga]

Ummm...Plenty of people in Columbus "know" me because I mistakenly told the wrong person what I was doing and it got blown out of proportion.

From what I have heard from people I am going to be going in excess of 200mph and run 8s. I have also heard that I am going to have Smoky Nagata tune it.

[gawdzilla]

hardly anyone on this forum builds RBs, or motors in general. you need to get a list of machine shops local to you, find out which one(s) are reputable via other more serious engine rebuild forums (torquecentral, ls1tech, etc.) where people actually touch bottom ends. when you get an idea, pay the decent ones a visit and ask them questions.

maybe i'm taking a shot in the dark here, but I don't think anyone here knows of one off hand within 50 miles of your area code if thats what you're looking to find...

[DanCouga]

Maybe my original post came off wrong, but I am not actually looking for one within 50 miles. I am actually not too concerned with distance.

I'll give some of those other forums a shot and see what turns up.

[gawdzilla]

i proposed 50 miles because you want to go somewhere within a reasonable distance so you can meet with them in person and see what kind of work they do. plus you probably want to see the expression on their face when you tell them you want your block shot peened