Midwest machine shop?

JKarow08 · 11-16-2024, 07:47 AM

Hola,

Any suggestions on a reputable machine shop for 911 case work in the Midwest, Wisconsin in particular? I'm planning on rebuilding the engine for my '73 911t this winter and I got a quote from Ollie's, but they are about 4 months out and I was hoping to start sooner. I still may send it to them, but if there is a good option I could drive to from WI that would save on the hassle of shipping it. Thanks in advance for the info!

shoooo32 · shoooo32's Garage

I haven't found anyone local for case work. For a mag case I'd just ship it to Ollie's. Four months goes by fast and you'll sleep better knowing it was done right.

GG Allin · GG Allin's Garage

You could try Eurosport Midwest in Bensenville. They bored out my crank case a couple years ago. But I'm not sure to what extent they go with case work.

PeteKz · PeteKz's Garage

I was watching an auction on BaT this morning, a 1970 911T with a 2.7 engine and other mods. It looked like pretty good work. It was done by a place called Joe's Garage in Milwaukee. Several commenters highly recommended them. I have no idea how good they are, but at least that's someone relatively local to you, and if they don't do case work, you can ask them who they use. Another recommendation was Accumoto Motorsport in Madison who built the 2.7 engine in the car.

I have no personal interests, yada, yada...

JKarow08 · 11-17-2024, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shoooo32

I haven't found anyone local for case work. For a mag case I'd just ship it to Ollie's. Four months goes by fast and you'll sleep better knowing it was done right.

That may still happen, just wanted to explore all reputable options. I've been chatting with another shop owner that reached out to me from this thread, definitely looks/sounds like they know what they are doing and have a much quicker turnaround time (2 weeks), but looks like they may be more expensive. But as they say...good, fast, and cheap...pick two.

JKarow08 · 11-17-2024, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GG Allin

You could try Eurosport Midwest in Bensenville. They bored out my crank case a couple years ago. But I'm not sure to what extent they go with case work.

I saw this shop in my research, wasn't sure if they did their machining in house or sent it out, good to hear an account from someone that had them do some machining. I'm going to reach out to them and see what they can do. Thanks!

JKarow08 · 11-17-2024, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeteKz

I was watching an auction on BaT this morning, a 1970 911T with a 2.7 engine and other mods. It looked like pretty good work. It was done by a place called Joe's Garage in Milwaukee. Several commenters highly recommended them. I have no idea how good they are, but at least that's someone relatively local to you, and if they don't do case work, you can ask them who they use. Another recommendation was Accumoto Motorsport in Madison who built the 2.7 engine in the car.

I have no personal interests, yada, yada...

I watched that BAT auction too, looked like a very nice build! It was good to see a good comp of how mine should end up to see what the market looks like currently. I've also heard good things about Joe's and Accumoto is one of the best in the country with 911 builds. I don't think Accumoto does their machining in-house but I'm going to reach out to them to verify and find out who they use if they outsource. Thanks!

Emo993 · 11-18-2024, 05:10 AM

JK, pm sent. Madison WI, Mark

Emo993 · 11-18-2024, 05:11 AM

FYI, Accumoto is part of Kelly-moss racing.

Emo993 · 11-19-2024, 08:42 AM

JK, just read the post on this engine forum about Craig Garret (Cgarr). In Grand Rapid, sounds like great service and price.

JKarow08 · 11-19-2024, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emo993

JK, just read the post on this engine forum about Craig Garret (Cgarr). In Grand Rapid, sounds like great service and price.

I saw a few posts that indicated he did great head work, wasn't sure about cases/etc. I'll reach out to him to check though, thanks!

shoooo32 · shoooo32's Garage

Accumoto is done - was absorbed by Kelly-Moss. Kelly-Moss is focused on full builds for street cars. If they have any machining abilities it will be focused on turnkey engines.

Joe's garage is awesome (I was one of the commenters on Ryan's 2.7 auction) but they're only assembling engines as far as I know. No machining capabilities.

JKarow08 · 11-21-2024, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shoooo32

Accumoto is done - was absorbed by Kelly-Moss. Kelly-Moss is focused on full builds for street cars. If they have any machining abilities it will be focused on turnkey engines.

Joe's garage is awesome (I was one of the commenters on Ryan's 2.7 auction) but they're only assembling engines as far as I know. No machining capabilities.

Interesting...and too bad, can never have too many options when it comes to good local shops and the bigger they get, the less personal they become. Kelly Moss obviously does great work, but so did Accumoto and it's nice to have options. I did reach out to Kelly Moss a few days ago and haven't heard back...as you alluded to, I'm probably too small of a fish for them to waste time on.

I've heard good things about Joe's too, but I'm going to save the money and build this one myself with the help of a good machinist or two.

JKarow08 · 02-08-2025, 02:18 PM

As an FYI, it sounds like Don's Machine Shop in Kenosha WI has experience machining our motors. It sounds like they do a lot of 911 head work, but also have experience restoring cases. He said they can't align bore, but said in his experience not many of them need it. He said they send them out to another shop they have a relationship with if they need an align bore though. The gentleman I talked to definitely sounded knowledgeable, I'm likely going to go with them and will report back with my experience.

JKarow08 · 02-08-2025, 02:18 PM

https://dons-auto.com/machine-shop/

Richey · 07:10 PM

JK , stop it ! just send your case to Ollies , You want it align bored back to standard - Ollies is the best , and they once told me this , over 30 years and they have received only 3 mag cases that did not need align boring back to standard because of the magnesium being warped . Unfortunately , I think some people don't know enough to appreciate their work .

JKarow08 · 02-11-2025, 05:13 AM

I definitely know Ollie's has the best reputation when it comes to machining these cases, that's why I contacted them first. But after talking with a lot of different "experts" in building these motors, it sounds like there are a lot of ways to skin the cat. Neil Harvey seems to disagree with Ollie's align bore process, and another member on here I've been chatting with said he has built 100s of Porsche motors and has never had to have an align bore on the mains. I definitely appreciate Ollie's capabilities, just question if I truly need their expertise or if I can keep it local.

Mr. Merk · 02-11-2025, 05:33 AM

Reach out to JP Werks in KC. He's been doing some stuff for the Porsche Classic Center in Atlanta and is REALLY good with cylinder heads.

JKarow08 · 02-11-2025, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Merk

Reach out to JP Werks in KC. He's been doing some stuff for the Porsche Classic Center in Atlanta and is REALLY good with cylinder heads.

Thanks! I had never heard of them, just checked out their website and the owner sounds very knowledgeable, cool story. I'm going to give him a call today and get more info. Thanks again!

Neil Harvey · 02-11-2025, 10:45 AM

I saw my name mentioned here. I never find fault with other places as there are many ways to achieve the result.

I did speak to JKarow and I would have suggested to him, it is my opinion that narrowing the cases is never my first choice. We always cut the cases oversize once we know we can obtain the necessary bearing shells. Narrowing the case opens up a lot of other potential issues.

But we have done this narrowing before when we had no choice. If fact we have even cut the main housing a lot larger and inserted an insert that was then cut to the standard size. As I said, there are a lot of ways to achieve the result. I just favor limiting all of the other potential issues whenever possible.

We do this line bore work but not at the volume that Ollies do. We are not a production machine shop. We do all of our machine work inhouse and for those that want a lot quicker turnaround we can accommodate.

Bearings are hard to find as we struggle with this as well. We have found ways around this, re cutting the tang grooves on the opposite side of the main so an earlier shell can be fitted. We are also in the first stages of having main and rod bearings made.

All of this takes time, so in the meantime, go with whatever achieves the result you are looking for.