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How long should it take to get a NOS head ported & built ?
2 Weeks 25%  25%  [ 8 ]
1 Month 41%  41%  [ 13 ]
3 Months 13%  13%  [ 4 ]
6 Months 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
9 Months 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
1 Year 6%  6%  [ 2 ]
15 months ! 16%  16%  [ 5 ]
Total votes : 32
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 10:37 am 
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Location: Sthrn HiLoLands, NSW, Australia
Besser wrote:
These days a 5axis CNC would probably have the porting done in half a day.


IF...it was told the correct stuff to do :idea:

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 6:22 pm 
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Oh dear, worry, worry...

Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2009 5:31 pm
Posts: 686
Location: North Rocks
Hi All
How long does it take to get a head done? well that depends on how big the shop is if it a shop with 3/4/5/6 people working for them then may be not to long, but if you are a 1 man band then it may take a little longer :shock:
In my case I work by my self, now let me tell you what I do I bore motors, reco heads modify heads, grind cams, modify cranks, lighten rods, build race motors,build road motors, sleeve motors machine manifolds,dyno motors and the list goes on.
Then there is the big one I answer the phone I have had up to 30 calls in one day but mainly around 10 calls a day, then people drop in to talk about their motors and what they want done, and of cause I have to have a cuppa.
So how many hours in a day do you think I really get to do work? so may be I am a little slow at times
Now on the next page some on said that $200 was a fair price for a head service, now lets brake it down.
Strip head $ ?
Get head acid or blasted clean $50 to $100
press guides out and replace $20
supply quality guides which have to be reamed to size to fit each valve $150 k lines using quality k lines not the cheap ones $150
Cut the seats $20 to $25 seat on a head machine cutting them to performance seat profile.
Fit unleaded seats $160 and cut the seats.
Deck the head most shops charge $60 to put it on the grinder and $10 per tho, I charge $50 no mater how much comes off.
Supply new valves,be it be race or std ones.
Now we have to assemble the head and because the heads are old all the spring heights have to be measured as the valves are sitting lower in the head and have to be shimmed up to get the spring pressures right.
Then there are springs and valve seals.
Then it all has to be assembled, and all this takes time.
SO YOU ONLY GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

Then there is the people that drop their motors and heads in and say NO HURRY just do it when you can I know your busy.
If people need them in a hurry I do them as quick as I can.

Now Bill B, 18 months to get inserts fitted who was that with? if it was me you could not have wanted it in a hurry and your a fool for leaving it there for so long, why did you not ring up and say you wanted it or come and get it.
Then there's the people that I send emails and leave messages telling them there job is ready and don't bother to reply,
Or they don't have the money till the end of the month when they get paid and don't turn up for a month or two.

Now lets brake up the cost of doing the machine work.
Head machine $50,000 to $120,000 to get $20 to $25 a seat
Valve machine to cut the seats on valves $12,000 to get $4.50 a valve
Surface grinder to do heads $50,000 to $80,000 to get $60
Or buy a mill for $12000
Oh and to get a CNC 5axis machine to machine the heads $500,000 and the heads are only as good as the guy that programed it it takes me 2 to 3 days to do a really good road head or a race head.
Why would you set up to reco engines for $100 an hour when the IT PEOPLE SPEND $3000 FOR A COMPUTER AND GET
$400 AN HOUR.
Graham Russell

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 7:05 pm 
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I can testify as a two man band small business and there are few of us left you will get heaps of work.So much so that you struggle to cope and people are very agresive nowadays Not like 20 years ago.The customer deserves what he requested and paid for.The fast turn around isnt always the best .We try and be fast and reliable but there are some rude and nasty people out there now that have forced me to make a list of no further work.For example you try and help some one with an intermittent tv issue and you sit on his lounge scrolling through logged errors in his TV and he says get of my effing lounge .Bye bye.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 7:07 pm 
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Location: Sthrn HiLoLands, NSW, Australia
Well said GR...please, keep on doing what you are doing :D

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 7:18 pm 
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Location: Kings Langley, NSW
Hi JR0000, you don't say how long the head has been at this workshop for? or what was the agreed time frame was, one thing a lot of people don't like is other people airing things like this on forums, if your have a problem with somebody, go & talk to them about it or ring them


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PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 6:18 am 
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Location: Sthrn HiLoLands, NSW, Australia
Ian_B wrote:
I can testify as a two man band small business and there are few of us left you will get heaps of work.So much so that you struggle to cope and people are very agresive nowadays Not like 20 years ago.The customer deserves what he requested and paid for.The fast turn around isnt always the best .We try and be fast and reliable but there are some rude and nasty people out there now that have forced me to make a list of no further work.For example you try and help some one with an intermittent tv issue and you sit on his lounge scrolling through logged errors in his TV and he says get of my effing lounge .Bye bye.


I sincerely hope the good and reasonable people far outweigh the oxygen thieves out there Ian :lol:

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PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 8:39 am 
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Location: Windsor, NSW
Bill B wrote:
18 months for unleaded inserts at a highly-respected (by some) and often-mentioned site here.


Hi Bill,
Are you still waiting for the head or have you got it back?
If you did get it back, I would also be interested in knowing if you
are satisfied with the workmanship

John

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PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 7:31 pm 
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A bloke working alone with no pressure can deliver excellent results particularly if they are talented.
Put that same person under stress and anxiety it can all go to crap Its human response.
Employ a couple of blokes and you cant relax sleep at night worried about wages super insurance Future work
Best mechanic in this town gets lots of work His workshop is not ultra modern or super clean but I wont go elsewhere as he is old school


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 4:12 pm 
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Location: Brisbane
if i had absolutely nothing else to do, i would probably have it done in about a month,,, but half of that would be waiting for machine-shop to do their part

good head takes good-time
bad head is quick-n-easy

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:16 am 
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Location: queensland
I think many people underestimate the time required to do a quality job. Machining will often involve custom tooling patterns as well as set-up time, CNC programming etc. Depends on the quality of the work and the familiarity of the machinist to the job. However I would not accept anything over a few weeks. IMHO you are better off buying a head pre-done from some of the tuning suppliers in the UK. Swift-tune do a nice job, MED (you need to specifically ask for what you want) but they also do pretty good work at a decent price.

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