For those of you watching my build thread http://www.n-e-c-c.com/beta/showthread.php?t=13159 you will know I am having difficulty with the machine shop. Basically, unless I am a drag racer competing for points the shop keeps bumping my engine to the back of the line…they’ve had it nearly two months.
I don’t care where but I need the contact for a GOOD shop here in Alberta that will actually work on my engine and get it done properly on or before May 10th!
I’ve been burning up the phone here for Edmonton shops and no one seems to have any time.
I contacted Cam Koole (owns Lightspeed) by email very early yesterday morning. He called me right away. He was pissed that my engine was being bumped. He said he wanted to help.
I picked up everything from Bel and drive down to Red Deer last night. I sent Cam an email around 7:30 last night just letting him know I would meet him Wednesday morning. He called me back while I was on the highway (around 9:30) and offered to meet me at his shop at 7:15 this morning which he did.
We unpacked everything and got into the details on the build, etc. Long story short, Cam is an awesome guy and it doesn’t surprise me why his shop (and it is huge if anyone hasn’t seen it) is full!
He is going to deliver for me within an amazingly tight timeline!
I can’t say enough great things about Lightspeed and Cameron. I didn’t even think of Lightspeed originally because I didn’t know they had access to machining equipment, which they do.
He has an awesome system too:
He gives each customer a log in to their system. The customer can follow the progress of their project each day tracking what has been done. They contact their customers each Friday and the customer pays each week so there are no major price surprises at the end.
Bell engines is a quality shop and their main focus is all out drag motors. If you dont get your engine in before December then your gonna be waiting for them to finish it. Im sure if you would have told Les that you need the engine on a specific date he would have refused the work anyway… My engine sat there for 6 months too…who cares things take time.
I gave him the due date. He accepted the engine. He said he wasn’t sure if he could do it or not. We agreed to see how it would go and make a decision as the due date approached BUT I did not agree, nor did he state, that whenever another engine he preferred to work on came along mine would be bumped to the back of the line. Had my engine remained “in line” it would have been done. Had I known that whenever a big block v8 came into the shop mine would get bumped I wouldn’t have even bothered to take it to him.
He could have been honest about that. He wasn’t. I know he does good work and they have a well deserved reputation for quality…but he’d actually have to touch the engine to prove it.
When everything was picked up this week, including two heads I had provided, a crack was made about my engine having two heads “like a real engine”.
D & W I know the builder personally ROD, His brother is a tool amd die maker that balences the engines. I saw a 350 SB the balenced and blue printed, You could set a glass of water on the engine and not hardly see a ripple.
I can vouch for them.
The other shop in Calgary would be MOORE’s don’t go there. I speak from experience.