Good machine shop in Melbourne/Victoria?

booki89 · Postby **booki89** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 10:23 am

Hey all doing some motor out work on my na8 and wanting to know a good machinist to have my head and potentially my block done

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 11:23 am

Custom stuff, or standard?

I've had work done by BNB Engines http://www.bnbengines.com.au/

Price was good, and the machining came back looking spot on (measured right on the plastigauge too)

It was a reco of the block and head of a Holden red motor to standard specs.

Custom work they should be able to do, but i've got no experience there.

edit:
shoudl add that I only had the parts machined by them, the engine assembly was done by my GF.
BNB assembled the head for us though and converted the seats etc for unleaded fuel use.

booki89 · Postby **booki89** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 12:00 pm

All standard specs, not looking for a race motor.

I took the motor out for a head gasket repair, but found a few other issues so am doing pistons, rings and bearings as well.

Figured might as well do it properly and be done with it.

Only upgrade will be using nb8a pistons.

Do you have any prices on the work you got done? PM me if you prefer

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 3:24 pm

go to the local Bursons or a known mechanic and ask them who they are using or around your area. The only quote that is any good to you is the co that is doing the work. The quote is actually very important because a full rebuild of an engine can be very costly. A mate told me the other day that he is currently rebuilding a 4 cylinder engine for a club member ( older one) which amongst other things has wet liners and he found the crankcase had been welded a number of times and it was a vexing mess. It had been rebuilt by a so called expect and it had cost the guy $10,000 - I was staggered at the cost. Unless you are really keeping the car longer term then think about a used engine.

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 3:46 pm

Mr Morlock wrote: It had been rebuilt by a so called expect and it had cost the guy $10,000 - I was staggered at the cost. Unless you are really keeping the car longer term then think about a used engine.

Engine rebuilds are never cheap unfortunately.

This is mainly because they are pretty labour intensive, and you need some fairly specialised tools to do it right.

The machining is very specialised, and needs extremely expensive, and accurate, tools, and also takes wuite a bit of labour.
Then the actual engine assembly takes even more labour, with the constant measuring of tolerances, the checking of torques, the actual putting together of bits, the making sure each part moves as it should, etc, etc.

The big plus in a reco engine is that you usually get a warranty of some form, where a secondhand engine is often sold "as-is"

manga_blue · Postby **manga_blue** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 4:53 pm

Reflex Engineering at Campbellfield. Good for both recon and race work. Very popular with the Alfa fraternity. They should know. :wink:

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 5:59 pm

engine rebuilds were once just standard practice. You could buy short motors for Holden's simply as a matter of course and co's like Perfectune and Lukeys ( exhausts) were out there fixing and repairing and renovating and hotting up our Holden's , Fords and Valiants. My guess is that many engine rebuilders have gone the way of the dodo. Much of the skills are gone. Few engine rebuilders will actually buy state of the art machinery because they don't get pay back. The theory today is that engines are well made and to tighter tolerances and often superior materials and they may last the life of the car and hence rebuilding is well in decline.The old engines were lucky to make 100,000 kms unless you had perhaps a Toyota.

stuart1 · Postby **stuart1** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 8:16 pm

Mr Morlock wrote:engine rebuilds were once just standard practice. You could buy short motors for Holden's simply as a matter of course and co's like Perfectune and Lukeys ( exhausts) were out there fixing and repairing and renovating and hotting up our Holden's , Fords and Valiants. My guess is that many engine rebuilders have gone the way of the dodo. Much of the skills are gone. Few engine rebuilders will actually buy state of the art machinery because they don't get pay back. The theory today is that engines are well made and to tighter tolerances and often superior materials and they may last the life of the car and hence rebuilding is well in decline.The old engines were lucky to make 100,000 kms unless you had perhaps a Toyota.

Yes,it is not uncommon to get up to 400K KM on a regularly serviced "reliable" daily drive these days.

Better manufacturing and superior lubricants have played a part in that....

davekmoore · Postby **davekmoore** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 9:24 pm

Top Torque in Vermont rebuilt my motor. All good so far after 10 track days and 15,000kms.

manga_blue · Postby **manga_blue** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 11:38 pm

Mr Morlock wrote:My guess is that many engine rebuilders have gone the way of the dodo. Much of the skills are gone. Few engine rebuilders will actually buy state of the art machinery because they don't get pay back.

Not so, there's a smaller number of engine reconditioning workshops than there used to be, say, in the sixties but they're far better skilled and equipped now. Race and performance engines and the work on classics keep them going.