Hi listers, I have not used a machine shop for anything but turning brake drums, rotors or flywheels, until friday November 15, black friday. I asked a guy that has some race cars, what was the nearest machine shop that could line bore mains and balance all the rotating parts of my Spitfire. I took my '73 Spitfire motor to the shop he recommended, after talking by phone. The phone conversation was like; Have you ever worked on a Spitfire motor? Sort of, we did a MG and we have a British Victoria catalog. I got there just before they closed friday. I gave them my Spitbits catalog and said I would prefer to use Spitbits, because they were cheaper than Victoria British on the 9 to 1 pistons mainly and other things in general. I had second thoughts Saturday, while taking apart the '77 Spit. I called the owner of the shop Sunday and told him to hold off on the '73 motor, I would bring him the '77 motor and keep the '73, because the '73 ran fine and the '77 was unknown and funky looking. He told me the guy working Saturday didn't have much to do so he had disassembled the motor. Monday I find out the motor had standard bore and only needed a hone and the crank was standard and only needed polished. The parts girl, I talked to acted as if they would only rebuild the motor to stock specs using Victoria British parts! I called the owner of the shop and told him how I felt about the situation. He said Hey we can do anything you want and use any parts source you want. The next day I went to the shop, with my spare block and spare head. I listened to the parts girl, talking fast and blinking ever other word, explain that they had a discount with VB and if they ordered parts from Spitbits, they would have to add a surcharge and the price would be about the same as VB, but she would see if Spitbits would give them a discount and if not I would be getting screwed so I might as well order the parts myself, but she would check to see if they could get a discount. I told her I had no problem with ordering and paying for the parts from Spitbits. I said look I have a spare block, would you measure the bore and I have a spare head, that is supposed to have been ported and polished, would you check them out? The spare block had standard bore, but needed more than a hone, and the head was ported and polished, but the machinist called it halfassed and said he could do it better. I asked what it cost for a port and polish. He said 75 or 80 bucks. While waiting to see if the parts girl could get a discount with Spitbits and checking to see where we were at, I realized she wanted to sell me the VB parts at list price, not sell price, as if only machine shops could get the lower price. I must say I am astonished. I thought the mark up on parts was a thing of the past. Hell anyone can get parts from several places nowadays!!!! Thats my rant. Larry
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