Blair’s Speed Shop

After learning my lesson and being ripped off by
US Precision Machine in Truckee, California, I decided to go w/​Blair’s Speed Shop (a local shop in the SGV). Met with Phil and discussed the complete rebuilding of my 454 Big Block for my 21′ Hawaiian Jet boat. Now as you probably already know, BOAT stands for Bring Out Another Thousand. I ended up bringing the boat to Phil and they went to work. Phil recommended a few extra things and installed an oil cooler to help extend the life of the engine. Long Story short. .It did take longer than what he had told me, but was worth the wait. Three Summers later and the Big Block/​Jet Boat is still roaring at high RPM’s. No Engine Problems whatsoever. Phil and the crew at Blair’s are top notch… Keep up the good work fellas!

If You Own a Muscle Car, This Is Where You Want to Be
Yeah, they are slow, but it’s essentially a two man shop with some backlog. So you have to be patient. It honestly might take a month. But they are detail oriented.
They know classic muscle cars inside and out. The technology is not strange to them.
They’ve redone my engine, tranny, front end, and rear end.
Bottom Line: Best mechanic for muscle cars in the area.

I am currently a customer at Blair’s, they are installing a 427BBC and a 5spd tremec trans in my 66 chevelle. Now after asking around, i had heard good things about Blair’s, but time progresses on this job, i am losing patience and beginning to question my choice. That doesn’t go to say they aren’t good at what they do, but here’s the break down:
Originally Phil told me he could install my engine and get the car running within 3 weeks, i explained to him what the job entailed and he even took a look at the car before we began. We are now closing in on THREE months, and hes telling me he needs more time. I find this very frustrating as I had plans for the car to be elsewhere but was unable to pull through because the car was sitting at Blair’s. Now i will admit, we did have to buy a lot of parts here and there for the build, and i do understand that that takes time. But what I did not understand, is that Phil would tell me what parts he needed to order one day, and a week later i would come in again and he still hadn’t ordered them, why? No idea, he just kept telling me, «oh yea, ill get to it». He then started new jobs while my car was sidelined, pushing my build back even further, what the deal is on that, i am unclear on. But i found that extremely frustrating that my car was now put on hold and was told he didn’t have time to work on for weeks on end because of another job he had now started.
Well now he finally tells me we are in the final stages of the build, and that we are close to finishing, yet he cant tell me (even a ballpark) how long we have left, how much work there is still to do, or how much this might cost. I AM BLIND and this is getting to be an open checkbook and i DO NOT APPRECIATE his lack of determination to figure that out for me. I have asked on multiple accounts to please get me some numbers, something in writing, some records of his time he has spent so far, or an itemized list of the parts hes bought, and he is UNABLE TO PROVIDE ANYTHING OF THE SORT. It has become quite frustrating to work with him, and now i am coming in EVERYDAY to check on progress hes made. Now in the past two days, they managed to install my: Headers, Starter, Radiator, alternator, power steering hoses, and get some wiring done. Now to me that means, hes spent a total of 16 hours doing all the above, which doesn’t make any sense, That should all be a days work at LONGEST. And the fact he is unable to provide record of the hours spent on what, is very daunting… He could theoretically «install my alternator» and charge me 4 hours of labor and I would never know.
I will post an edit after this build is complete to see how Phil works with me on this frustrating matter. I have lost my patience, I do not want to be that customer who is a pain to work with, but this is unacceptable by my standard and i will not be disrespected and taken advantage of because he may feel i am not knowledgeable on the matter.
EDIT 5÷11÷15:
Blair’s finally got the car back to me a few weeks ago, so it took them about 3 ½ months to complete the work they originally told me would take 3 weeks. Phil did work with me a little. He gave me 25% off his labor, but the cost was still well over what we originally anticipated and was not revealed to me until the day i picked up the car. Now that same day i took the car home, i realized the power steering pump was leaking pretty bad; very frustrating as i had waited 3 ½ month to get my car back only to find out that it must go back. Phil said he would fix the issue at no cost, BUT i also noticed the motor was sputtering and felt as if it was losing power at higher rpms. The motor was built by Pacific Performance Products out in Anaheim and was dyno’d and broken in by them; i witnessed the motor running at idle and high rpms myself and knew that at the time of delivery it was in optimal running condition. Phil said they «tuned» my engine, i don’t know why that was necessary but now it must be fixed as it obviously does not run properly. BUT Phil says that he may have to charge me for the fix… I am extremely frustrated at this point and am very disappointed with Blair’s business ethics and professionalism. I WILL NOT BE COMING BACK.

Nice guys. I passed by this place for years since high school and never really even thought to go in until today really helpful easy-​going and boy did they help me out on my 64 Corvair today big time. He could’ve easily have gouged me on a couple parts that I needed to make a repair any didn’t at all highly recommend them.

To All this may Concern, this is in regards to getting NOS Bottles filled at this Merchant. I was a new customer frequenting this establishment for Nos Refills. I had 4 separate occasion fills done. I am very experienced working with NOS. I noticed inconsistent performance after getting fills. If a NOS pumping station is not maintained, or the Large fill bottles changed before they reach empty, you can get a partial liquid air and or water and contamination in the fill, by looking at the cleanliness and store display of this facility, which is very dirty and unorganized, this NOS problem is highly likely. Also I noticed my bottle fills did not feel weight correct, 3 weeks prior to this report I went in with an Edelbrock 10lb bottle with 5lb Nos partial filled. I wanted the bottle to be filled to full capacity, an Empty 10lb bottle whether it is NOS, Edelbrock, NX or any major brand weighs 14 pounds 12 ounces empty. A young guy approached me, I asked him to preweigh, tell me the amount, then fill to capacity. He returned saying it had 5lb, He then supposedly filled it up, returned it to me, saying it was full at 10lb Nos, I picked it up, and noticed it felt the same. I said“are you sure you filled this?“He hesitated and said yes, He then Charged me 5.50 per lb x 5. I knew it was not full. I then came home, then took the bottle to my Friends new digital scale at World Gym, I first put a 10 pound weight on scale, it was perfect reading. I then weighed the bottle. The bottle weighed 22.2 lb, a full bottle weighs 24.12lb, this was 2lb 10oz short, this was not only a lot short, this also results in less bottle pressure which is important for correct performance. The next day I called and asked for PHIL the owner, I had to call back half hour later because he would not come to phone. He answered, I said very nicely, thank you for discount on case of oil, he said your welcome, Then very nicely I said, however we have a problem with the NOS fill, that it was short almost 3lb, he became very defensive and rude, just come get your money back and I will not fill for you again! I said, I am a 53 year old man, this is not how you treat your customers. I was hoping he would just, say come back in and I will check it, if so I will fill it correct, however not the case. I am doing this report now because earlier today I took the bottle to a more reputable facility, ORME BROS, as it was to see how much more NOS it would truly take. I chilled it first, The bottle received 4lb and now weighs 26lb. My Main concern is correcting issues as no business can be perfect all the time, but when you become combative and self right about transaction dispute it results in unfair disatisfaction.

Blair’s Speed Shop rocks!!!
I have a 1965 Ford Thunderbird that I wanted to replace a couple of items in the engine:
— exhaust manifold
— intake manifold
— carburetor
— distributor
I asked a couple of friends at work and they recommended to me that I take my car to Blair’s Speed Shop in Pasadena. BEST choice I made for the car.
Phil the owner was great on the subject matter of what I wanted to do with the engine. He recommended parts and things that would help with the performance of the engine.
THUMBS UP for Blair’s Speed Shop.
If you need any engine work or anything for the engine I recommend Blair’s Speed Shop.

Owner operated– nice guy. They almost always have methanol on hand although I usually call ahead to make sure before I head over there. They are great about loading my 5 gallon jug into my car after filling it.