C & M Auto Machine Shop

Very happy.
I started out calling a couple other shops asking for a quote on prep for me to rebuild a motor. The other shops all wouldn’t even talk to me — no one wanted to do the prep work and let me rebuild. Afraid and want to cover their a$$ if something goes wrong with the motor.
Then I found larry just down the road from me, and called him. larry and i discussed what i wanted to do and he sounded excited to help. He asked for an hour to come up with a plan. He called back with a list of things he thought we should do to the motor — i started writing and after about 15 minutes and a full page, he was still talking. Quote for the labor was about 500 less than i was expecting, and there were a lot of steps I didn’t even know needed to be taken.
The motor was out of a 1970 TR6. Larry walked a total newbie through the whole process and made me feel very involved and let me learn as we went.
My work was quoted at a rate when we started — it wound up being within a couple hundred of accurate. And larry let me throw in some extra parts for clean up in his tank for no charge.
Larry also ordered all the parts for the rebuild for me — I know there was a slight markup on all parts as opposed to what I could have ordered them for myself, but it sure was easier having the man that did the prep work order the stuff and make sure all of the right parts are ordered. He also test fitted the parts and made sure everything that was shipped to him was in spec.
I learned a lot, and was thoroughly impressed by the whole process. They clearly take a lot of pride in their work — everything they worked on looked absolutely brand new when they were through, and this was a 40 year old motor.
The other comments about the building being old and falling down — it comes down to taste. I think it is perfect. And the shop does engine work, not exhaust work. I did ask him about brake rotors, and he sounded fine doing that work for me, too.

Place has an VA old world feel to it. Very dated and run down. Building looks like it could be shut down by the county. My grandfather and great grandfather were machine workes and always swear by the quality and knowledge that machine shop guys have. This place the opposite. I went down and asked about a simple repair. Remove a bold, and re-​tap. Also asked about modifying a small aluminum muffler pipe for an engine. To be honest, the person I talked to played dumb with me and said that he had never really worked with exhaust metals. C’mon… He then said that he wasn’t sure if he coud re-​tap the item I needed tapped. C’mon. With an odd grin, laughing he said, «well I can’t gurantee anything, I work for $ 80 an hour, but I could try to figure it out»… Dissapointing.