Friend's engine has been in rebuild shop for 2 years. Is this normal?

[sugarwood]

A friend mentioned this the other day and it seemed crazy to me.
I would not be comfortable having all my engine bits scattered in some shop for that long.
Seems like a great way to get stuff lost or mixed up.

How long is an acceptable time frame for a shop to rebuild your engine?
For the sake of this discussion, let's just talk about a stock rebuild, not a performance track upgrade.

Is there a ballpark confidence interval time frame that most shops fall under?
For example, "80% of rebuilds are completed within 3 to 6 months"

[gshiwota]

Mine was rebuilt in a week.

[ted]

2 weeks to disassemble and clean.
2 months with parts at a busy machine shop.
(shop should order required bearings and parts during this delay)
3 weeks to build it and reinstall it?
I'd say 3 or 4 months.

Add a few weeks if customer needs to make decisions on replacing found worn items.

2 years is a good time frame for restoring a complete car.

I had a V8 rebuilt that took 6 months, but it was a one man shop and my V8 was number 10 in line when I dropped my mine off to be put in the waiting line.

[75 911s]

Top end or split case? And it all depends on the relationship with the builder. Is this "get to it when you can for a discount" situation? Sounds like it.

[NYNick]

I have a sneaking suspicion where this engine might be. If I'm correct, the shop is somewhat renowned for taking forever on builds and restorations. As a result of recent developments, it might take even longer now.

As you can see from the other responses, the actual work itself on a standard rebuild shouldn't take that much time. It's where your friend stands on the list of the shops' priorities that matters. The shop I'm referring to gets to things as they see fit. It's just the way it is there.

After 2 years, I might just go settle up, take my engine and move on to another shop. 2 years is nuts.

[NY65912]

Wow. 2 weeks IMHO in/out

[Dan J]

With current machine shops turn around times I would expect it to take 6-8 weeks.
Because of the rise in value of these cars all of the machinist' that are familiar with air cooled engines are currently swamped with work
2 years seems a bit long

[onevoice]

Two years is criminal.
One year is rediculous.
Six months is way too long.

Anyone that does it for a living should be able to turn around a stock rebuild in less than a month, with several others going at the same time. The only unpredictable time is how long the shop is backed up before they start.

[mreid]

My 930 engine was done in 10 days. Two years is criminal.

[Techno Duck]

Time frame expectations should always be discussed before hand.

I just had a split case done on my 3.2L which was bumped up to 3.4L. Initial estimate was 5-6 weeks. Engine was completed at 7.5 weeks. Everything was handled by the shop i used including removal and install. The crank and rods came back within a week, the heads took about 2.5 weeks. I thought this was pretty reasonable, mind you he had atleast 2 other engine builds being done at the same time. Some minor setbacks regarding compression ratio requiring machining of the pistons added time. If he was 100% focused on my car i think under a month isnt unreasonable.

[sugarwood]

Thanks for the perspective. It sounds like a few months is perfectly normal, but once you get over 6 months, you are encroaching into raised eyebrow territory.

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by gshiwota

Mine was rebuilt in a week.

Originally Posted by NY65912

Wow. 2 weeks IMHO in/out

Originally Posted by onevoice

should be able to turn around a stock rebuild in less than a month

Originally Posted by mreid

My 930 engine was done in 10 days.

vs.

Originally Posted by ted

2 weeks to disassemble and clean.
2 months with parts at a busy machine shop.
(shop should order required bearings and parts during this delay)
3 weeks to build it and reinstall it?
I'd say 3 or 4 months.

I know nothing about rebuilds. What are the main themes involving a machine shop?
When do you need to send stuff out to a machine shop, and when do you not?
For the guys that came in under 2 weeks, did you send anything to a machine shop?

[sugarwood]

This thread has got me thinking.

We try to do small repair jobs at home (Brakes, etc)

I'm thinking small shops are best suited for medium jobs (alignment, suspension, etc)

But, based on your experiences, if one ever needs major work done (tranny rebuild, engine rebuild, etc), does it make more sense taking your car to a major "corporate" type of big racing shop? Sure, I bet they cost a lot more with their larger overhead/staff, but those places may run more efficiently on a schedule (vis a vis 2 bay shops that have stuff lying around that is months or years backlogged) For a major project, is it worth paying more to ensure avoiding a small shop quagmire that can't handle the volume?

[Evans, Marv]

There should be plenty of shops around that can get it done in a reasonable time without taking it to a major "corporate" type of business. I don't like those kinds of places in the first place and prefer a place I can talk directly to the person doing the work. The last engine I had done took six weeks total with me taking the engine in in pieces and parts, since I did the disassembly and farmed out work like ceramic & dry film lubricant coatings before taking it in. He should go pick up his stuff and find a better place to finish it. I even shipped a 915 trans from SoCal to Seattle to JW years ago for rebuild. I had it back in about three weeks.

[onevoice]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

?...... Sure, I bet they cost a lot more with their larger overhead/staff, but those places may run more efficiently on a schedule (vis a vis 2 bay shops that have stuff lying around that is months or years backlogged) For a major project, is it worth paying more to ensure avoiding a small shop quagmire that can't handle the volume?

NOTHING should ever sit around in a shop that long, unless the customer can't pay, and even in that case the shop should have sold it for what is owed. Big or small, there is no excuse for running a business like that. I did a split case rebuilt on my engine in less than three months, and I have a full time other business that required my attention 50+ hours a week. That also included heads, crank and rods going to a quality Porsche machine shop, and waiting on several orders of parts from pelican. I would kick my own butt if I was in a business and couldn't have done the job in 3-4 weeks

[RarlyL8]

2 years is not anywhere close to acceptable unless there are circumstances that have not been exposed. You are now into the danger zone of never getting the job done, never getting the engine back, or parts being lost.

Here is the reality for the builds we do in the shop I use:
> 930 engine rebuild is 40hrs shop time plus parts. Deliver engine to us, typical rebuild, no busted parts = 2 weeks with machine work.
> Engine Restoration - full disassemble, rebuild, clean and paint everything, replace all hoses, recondition all worn externals = 3-4 weeks.
> Bring us the car - 6hr shop time engine in/out. Rebuild then back in and tune = time and materials.
None of these scenarios take longer than one month unless the "while you are in there" bug hits or parts get hung up on back order. Key is you don't bring the car or engine until the shop is ready to do the work.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by RarlyL8

2 years is not anywhere close to acceptable unless there are circumstances that have not been exposed.

+1

There is something wrong.

Call the dude with a non-offensive front. Get to the bottom of the delay. Force him to state why two years is "ok".

I sense he knows you are "flexible" and he is leveraging on that.

If you want to expedite, I can call him.

[86 ssinit]

Sugar I am looking into this now. My Indy shop is great I've had no problems with him. But I've watched him rebuild 2 engines since I've been using him. It takes him at least a year an engine and he tells you that up front. He's got a room for engine rebuilding so nothing gets lost. He does a lot of work and gets to the engines when he can. He sends all parts out that need to be machined. I also have a few race shops near me and have been told anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months on a rebuild. They all rebuild engines on a regular basis and do there own machine work. All are around the same price. For me it's going to be the race shop I just can't see laying up the car for a year.
If your buddy wasn't told from the beginning how long it could take and is upset with the time he needs to send it somewhere else. The 2 guys at my Indy shop knew what they were getting into and own other cars. Both are very happy with the work done I just can't wait that long.
Here in New York there is not enough business for Porsche engine rebuilding so the smaller shops are not geared up for it.

[sugarwood]

I agree to skip the Indy for this one.
If doing something this big, I wouldn't even limit your options to LI.
I'd explore CT & NJ and find the place I feel best about.
A longer tow is a drop in the bucket of the final cost.

Are you rebuilding your blown engine?
Can a cracked case be saved?
What did you conclude about sourcing a replacement engine?

[JacobS911]

I would have gone and got my engine back after a couple months.. Hope your friend gets it figured out asap at this point since it's been 2 years already!!