Automotive machine shop

Chad Culbertson · **Posted:** Thu Oct 01, 2015 10:41 pm

Anybody have a good machine shop they use?

I managed to buy myself something I didn't really intend to. A '96 Jeep Cherokee that will be used to drive to the mountains and generally haul the dog and other stuff around. Possibly be a daily driver for some time as well while I sell the Camaro and find something cheaper and not financed to autox/track.

The only thing wrong I know of so far is a blown head gasket, or worst case a cracked head. Luckily refurb heads are around 400 bucks, but if this one is fine I just need to get it magnafluxed and maybe milled if need be. Possibly thinking about just having a valve job done too, new seals, springs, a re-grind the seats. It's got 161k miles so I figure if I just freshen up the head I should get at least another 100k from it, oil pressure is great so no bottom end issues, and it runs quietly, so no bad sounds.

The A/C even works, lol, for $500 I don't think I did too shabby. Luckily I used to work with the seller and knew he took decent care of his stuff and he was daily driving it but didn't have the time to mess with doing the head gasket.

BenjaminGuardiola · **Joined:** Wed May 14, 2014 8:31 am **Posts:** 84

http://www.boyettesmachineshop.com/

Old school shop. Definitely a good-ole-boy kinda place.
They have a general rule that they don't work on any imports.

Chad Culbertson · **Posted:** Fri Oct 02, 2015 9:28 am

Nice, I can drop my cylinder head off for work and get some BBQ at the Pit! lol

Thanks for the reference. I'm pretty used to working with good ol boy shops, I grew up out in the country. I also don't own any imports, lol. Except for my bike.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Fri Oct 02, 2015 9:52 am

If you are looking at head work, another recommendation is CHS "Cylinder Head Specialties" off Rt 1 in Wake Forest. I don't think they have a website, but here is the FB page...

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cylinder ... 6437018864

Richard

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Fri Oct 02, 2015 10:23 am

Richard Casto wrote:

If you are looking at head work, another recommendation is CHS "Cylinder Head Specialties" off Rt 1 in Wake Forest.

One footnote on CHS. Be sure *you* clean the head after they are done with it. One would assume (at least I did) if they did machining work on the head, they would clean it afterwards to be sure no loose metal bits were left behind. I found that *not* to be the case in the the one they did for our last Lemons car. Using compressed air, I found many sizable, and potentially damaging chunks that were left behind.

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Fri Oct 02, 2015 11:52 am

not sure how good they are at this type of work, but loop road auto parts in Garner has a machine shop.

George Bright · **Posted:** Fri Oct 02, 2015 12:19 pm

Walker Auto 705 E six Forks road Raleigh. Across from Costco.

They have been around a long time and have done a number of engines for Bob Kendrick and myself.

RobLupella · **Posted:** Fri Oct 02, 2015 7:01 pm

Chad Culbertson wrote:

Anybody have a good machine shop they use?

I managed to buy myself something I didn't really intend to. A '96 Jeep Cherokee that will be used to drive to the mountains and generally haul the dog and other stuff around. Possibly be a daily driver for some time as well while I sell the Camaro and find something cheaper and not financed to autox/track.

The only thing wrong I know of so far is a blown head gasket, or worst case a cracked head. Luckily refurb heads are around 400 bucks, but if this one is fine I just need to get it magnafluxed and maybe milled if need be. Possibly thinking about just having a valve job done too, new seals, springs, a re-grind the seats. It's got 161k miles so I figure if I just freshen up the head I should get at least another 100k from it, oil pressure is great so no bottom end issues, and it runs quietly, so no bad sounds.

The A/C even works, lol, for $500 I don't think I did too shabby. Luckily I used to work with the seller and knew he took decent care of his stuff and he was daily driving it but didn't have the time to mess with doing the head gasket.

Chump Truck?

Chad Culbertson · **Posted:** Sat Oct 03, 2015 1:59 am

RobLupella wrote:

Chad Culbertson wrote:

Anybody have a good machine shop they use?

I managed to buy myself something I didn't really intend to. A '96 Jeep Cherokee that will be used to drive to the mountains and generally haul the dog and other stuff around. Possibly be a daily driver for some time as well while I sell the Camaro and find something cheaper and not financed to autox/track.

The only thing wrong I know of so far is a blown head gasket, or worst case a cracked head. Luckily refurb heads are around 400 bucks, but if this one is fine I just need to get it magnafluxed and maybe milled if need be. Possibly thinking about just having a valve job done too, new seals, springs, a re-grind the seats. It's got 161k miles so I figure if I just freshen up the head I should get at least another 100k from it, oil pressure is great so no bottom end issues, and it runs quietly, so no bad sounds.

The A/C even works, lol, for $500 I don't think I did too shabby. Luckily I used to work with the seller and knew he took decent care of his stuff and he was daily driving it but didn't have the time to mess with doing the head gasket.

Chump Truck?

lol, it is 2wd, we'd probably have to find some kind of manual transmission to go in it. Also not sure the 4.0L inline six would be up to the task of continued high rpm. It's known for it's high torque peaking around 3k rpm. I'm pretty sure the solid front axle with control arms and a track bar would handle terribly on track also.

However, with enough redneck ingenuity anything can be accomplished!

George Bright · **Posted:** Sat Oct 03, 2015 8:13 am

Bob Kendrick has a stroker 396 LT-1 in his Cherokee. Snug fit

Chad Culbertson · **Posted:** Sat Oct 03, 2015 1:06 pm

Just need the Camaro to get totaled, hopefully from a rear end hit. Maybe then it would have an LS3 in it, lol.

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