Engine builder recommendation

[Philliphastings]

Stories of good reliable engine rebuilders are becoming scarce. Good to know there are still some out there.

About 25 years ago when I was still restoring Model T and Model A Fords there was a company in Victoria, Egge machinery who were the go-to for poured babbit bearings etc.

I never used them myself but several fellow club members had their Tin Lizzies engines rebuilt by them.

Also, regarding Jeep engine builders - a good friend here in NSW has been waiting a similar length of time for a tradie to return his GPW Block and an early falcon motor as well. Plenty of excuses but not delivering any results.

I try to do absolutely everything I possibly can myself, even buying specialist tooling to avoid being let down by a third party, but line boring and block decking are beyond me.

Cheers

Phill

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Philliphastings

I try to do absolutely everything I possibly can myself, even buying specialist tooling to avoid being let down by a third party, but line boring and block decking are beyond me.

Cheers

Phill

I agree do it yourself and at least then you know if it's a bad job !

There was a guy with a engine block line boring demonstration set up at the Melbourne show grounds swap meet many years ago. He demonstrated how the cutter travels down the length of the block through the bearings, it was actually a simple setup and not beyond anybody with machining skills to do.

Egge machining were well known in vintage car circles , located at Dookie near Shepparton. It is now usually around $400 per bearing for poured bearings. They were still in business 7 years ago. Now ?

Egge Machining
2 Forer Street
03 58286250

George R. at the The Basin in the Dandenongs used to do line boring but he is long gone. George was a vintage car specialist , living just down the road from him I called in many times to see him at work i.e. surfacing a head from a 1915 Cadillac or similar car. He was an old school machinist , really knew his stuff.

Apparently the guys in the VMVC use a engine machining mob at Carrum Downs which is where I should have gone with my jeep engine block but it's a long drive through Melbourne's horrid traffic. The guy I went to does Ford Cleveland and Windsor blocks for the racing fraternity, I should have known he has nil experience with a WW2 jeep engine, he asked me for the jeep crank journal size which shows how little he knows about older engines.

[svdwal]

It seems i'm rather lucky with the machinist that i use for my business.
Depending on the work that has to be done it takes between 2 and 5 weeks before i can collect it to start the rebuild.

[Bob Carriere]

What do we have here in Canada that has a good reputation, skilled staff and fair prices???? Would be interesting to about Canadian experience in engine rebuilding.

For example in Ottawa, to my knowledge we have NO engine rebuilders, Babbitt or not, ......lots of shop will take on the job but apart from the optional local re-assembly all the dirty work is done in TO or Montreal........ the safety regulation for hot tanking blocks, special spill kits, the aging skill set and the low volume does not allow to keep experienced staff busy, and the fact that very few engines ever get rebuilt has killed the business. I have heard sad stories of engine returning from the BIG machine shops with mix parts from other engines and in my case the oil outlet and inlet of my 261 had been seriously plugged with sealer and painted over........ which would have killed the engine in the very first test runs.
......... or upon close examination the rods and caps had all been renumbered/stamped and rod cast numbers did not all match...... with dribbled red silicon inside the oil pan and side valve cover on a Dodge. However the engines did run.......

what do we have in Eastern Canada????? East Coast??? Western area and over the hill in BC......?

I can start from my experience and highly recommend the OAK Brothers in Toronto - Weston Ontario for Carburetor rebuilding......including racing and antiques..... they still have an old fashion flow bench tester that they use to preset the mixture which uses uses kerosene as fluid.... and a huge external Vacuum set up...... in every instant the vehicle starts on first try and only needs very minor adjustments. They will buy your good surplus vintage cores and credit for the rebuilding of your good one.

What else we got????

Cheers