well, i’ve cracked the first 100 miles on my new engine in the Dakota, and did a few pulls and everything and all is well. i have been waiting to write this for a while, but i figured i should wait untill i got things up and running smooth.
anyway, i heard about R V Engines thought a friend. Richard (the owner) is an absolute genius with Fords and knows everything there is to know about them. He runs a small shop (where he is pretty much the only employee) out of a very well equipped ‘barn’ in his back yard outsie of Batavia. the place is litterally in the middle of nowhere (and by that i mean u nearly have to take dirt roads to get there), but he has a fully equipped machine shop and engine building facility as well as a chasis dyno and all of the capabilities to tune (again, he specializes in Fords, but can do almost anything). He is one of the few authorized Frod Racing distriubters on NYS, and he is also a distrubter for almost anything you could get through Summit, and he also has some connections to get the stuff that no one else can. his prices are also VERY reasonable, and heres what i got when i took him my disassembled engine:
-milled heads down 20 thousandths
-rebult heads with new valves, valve seats, springs
-checked bore and honed block
-turned crank
-new timing chain and gear set
-disassembled all lifted and inspected them and reassembled them
-check each individual lobe on cam for spec
-reconditioned pistons and installed new rings
-installed new oil pump and oil pan
-checked all rods and repalced 4 that were SLIGHTLY out of round
-completel gasket set, painted and reassmebled the motor to the point where it was ready to be bolted to the transmission and dropped in
BOTTOM LINE: $1300
i think thats a pretty damn good deal, and he is a very respected builder in the area. he also did 2 of my friends engines (both fords). like i said, he does mostly Fords, but he did mine (Dodge) and when i was there one time, he was putting together a Honda engine (wasnt too happy about it, but he was still doing it) and he also did all the machining work on a friend of a friend’s 3000GT block. when it comes down to the machining and assembly and all that, engines are pretty similar and he deffinately is an expert in this.
as far as customer support goes, i had a very good experience. he called me as soon as he took everything apart and gave me a ballpark figure of what it was going to cost and explained everything in detail to me and made sure i understood everything. he also ended up coming in a lot cheaper than his original quote, so that was a plus for me (and my wallet) too. when i picked up the engine, he talked to me for about an hour and explied to me all of the tips and trick of what i had to do when putting it in as well as a very detailed break in procedure, and didnt let me leave untill i made sure i knew all of this. I had a problem with getting it started, and i called him up and EXTREMELY helpful and solving the porblem, and gave em a few things to try and was actually ready to hop in his truck and drive here from Batavia to look at it himself. he said if i had any other problems please give him a call and he also said i was more than welcome to bring the truck by when i got it running and he would be happy to look at it to check everything over and see if there was anything he coud fine tune for me to get it running better. I plan on doing that one day next week.
overall i give Richard and R V Engines a HUGE :tup: if you have a Ford, i would highly recomend this shop if you need any motor work done.
Richard J Vania
R V Eingines
10163 Brookville Rd
Alexander, NY 14005
(585) 344-0784