Shipping parts to a machine shop

[jgparker]

I'm ready to ship my case, heads, rods, crank rockers across the country to a machine shop in California. Does anyone have any advice or lessons learned on this? Pictures would be great.

Do I put everything on a pallet or in separate boxes? UPS or truck freight? How do you crate or box a crank? Pull all external studs on the case? Mate the case halves? Any advice would be appreciated.


By the way, am I the only one to get a upside-down copy of a Christmas letter at the very end of chapter 5 section 10 in the preview copy of Wayne's book? It's in the middle of the illustrations.

Thanks,

[dean]

I would go UPS, I would ship stuff separately. And stuff like the crank that can turn into a torpedo I would double box so it can't torpedo. I also heard that they treat 3 day select packages better. It is much more money though.

[Jim Sims]

I have successfully shipped two 911 engine cases, a connecting rod set, a crankshaft, an intermdiate shaft, a set of six heads and flywheel round trip from northern New Mexixo to Ted Robinson's shop (German Precision) in Sunnyvale, California. I used UPS ground and packed the parts very well in appropriately sized cardboard boxes. Pack the boxes assuming they will be kicked out of the back of the truck while it's moving . I bolted the two case halves together with just a few nuts on a few of the center line seam studs and left the the head studs in place (this means a big box). I secured layers of heavy cardboard or pieces of thin wood over the ends of the studs to keep them from punching through the sides and bottom of the box. Don't forget to protect the sump plate studs, the console studs and the starter mounting stud (in one instance I removed the starter mounting stud). When I talked with Competition Engineering they said when they ship a 911 case overseas they typically remove the head studs. Then they use a cardboard box called a "dish barrel" in the moving and storage industry; they put the studs in the bottom, cover them with packing and then ship the case in a vertical position in the "barrel" with lots of padding.
I packed the crankshaft securely in a box with pieces of foam sheeting around it and a heavy pieces of cardboard over to ends to keep it from punching through the box. The other parts were similarly protected; the important principle is to use big enough boxes with plenty of padding so the parts cannot shift around or bang into to each other during transport and handling. Ted Robinson used the packing and boxes I had prepared to return the engine components to me. I insured the parts for their full value. Good luck! Cheers, Jim