How to choose a head machine shop?
 

I've spoke to 2 shops about machining my SOHC M103 12 valves. I remove the cam. These are shops in the San Francisco Bay Area.

shop 1: Cylinder Heads Unlimited, found in local automotive listing
$175 hot tank, bead blast, check valve guides, springs, valve grind
$6 ea x 12 = $72 to replace valve guides
$50 to plane if needed
=$297 plus parts (valve guides, seals, springs if needed)

shop 2: Bay Area Cylinder Head, highly reputable, about 40 minute drive one way
=$300 "everything" plus parts

I'm considering the more local shop because I'll may need to source the valve guides after they work on it and I don't want to make 3 trips to the further place. On the other hand, another Mercedes enthusiast said the further shop is known to do good work on Mercedes heads.

1. Does the M103 head need special machining or expertise?
   
2. What other questions should I ask?
   
3. Anyone know good machine shops in San Jose?

I used a place here in San Rafael that cleaned and resurfaced my M102 head for $90. They removed the valve train and temp sensors and reinstalled everything after the resurface. I put 15k trouble free miles on it since. I can look up the contact info if you're interested.

About the hot tank, be careful. If they don't know what they're doing, they can warp the head further. Find a place that will use a different cleaning method.

Thanks but that's further than the shop in Oakland, over an hour for me.

Good to know about the hot tank...

pifcat2, check with the Service Manager at your local MB dealer for recommendations of local machine shops.

That's what I was going to suggest as well.
Gilly

I send all my machining to a fellow in NY that does all the work for the dealers in the tri state area. He's been @ it for about 30 years now.

Picture Perfect.

Jonathan

rrrriiiight, but this guy is in San Jose, CA, how cost-effective would it be to ship items that need machining to the other side of the country...

So?
How much cost/effort is it to re-do a job after the machining wasn't completed properly??

I'm shipping everything 1000 miles, @ that point the costs involved don't increase but so much for the added part of trip.

Jonathan

Ehh, there is plenty of local competent machine shops. No point in shipping it cross country.

That's what I was thinking, I mean it's NICE to know where the good shops are and I have no doubt the shop mentioned is good, but you shouldn't have to ship from coast to coast to find a competent machine shop. I know, I know, you use a BAD local machine shop and you'd wished you sent it to the place on the opposite coast! Point is, find a GOOD local shop.

I can't find one here in GA that's worth a **** when it comes to Benz.. the last engine we got that had been rebuilt had it's clearances All over the board in the bores...

So what might work OK and what's Right are two different things....

Jonathan


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What makes a "good" shop? Most machinists should be competent, I'm just concerned there are specifics to these heads they can screw up if they aren't familiar with them...

Why not use Metric Motors down in LA, they have a great reputation for both the work they do and their service. I'm not certain but I think all they do is Mercedes engines.

i've worked on 3 Metric engines, they all showed up @ the shop having died prematurely.

two were major failures, one was minor.."just" a wiped cam..
thx but no thx.

Jonathan




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Hey, I would certainly defer to your experience, mine is limited to a couple diesel cylinder heads, one on a engine of mine and a couple installed on other folks engines. My experience is they answer the phone and get back to you with any question, everything was shipped well and on time without a hassle, and they are upfront about costs. I can’t offer much about the quality control other than I’ve got about 50 K on my 603 remanufactured head without any problem so far.

But I for one appreciate you weighing in on the issue as I don’t recall others having any problems with Metric, but most people would never get a chance to ever know anything more than their own experience with their own engine I’d suppose. You obviously have a much broader perspective particularly with the gasoline engines based on your business dealing with them.

Thoughts or recommendations on a shop that you do use wouldn’t be ignored by most and certainly not by me. I’m in complete agreement with your philosophy of paying more to have fewer problems in the long run, I do work on other folk’s vehicles at times and the hassle of having a major problem to save a few dollars is a very poor business practice.