Good Pontiac machine shop in the Houston, Texas area.

[61-63]

Can someone recommend a machine shop in the Houston, Texas area that is familiar with Pontiac engines. Ken (Pontiac Dude) recommended Steve Coombs (spelling?) who posts on this board but I can't find him in the members list.

I need a '69 428 crank turned down to fit a '62 389 block + additional work.

Thanks,

John

[blown 68]

his name is Steve Coombes, and i think he goes by SteveC on here, very knowledgable pontiac guy.
davey

[61-63]

Thank you.

John

[Walter Lansing]

I have very good things to say about Dan Barton at Westside machine, he also built Lloyd Coulsons ( LloydTX) motor.
Walter

[69*Goat]

Stay away from G&G in Tomball.

[SWEETJUDGE]

DONT KID YOURSELF, Im gonna say this once, a good machine shop is a good machine shop. An engine is an air pump, no more no less. machining is machining, you do it right or you do it wrong! the PONTIAC motor doesnt know its a pontiac. The machinst MUST know how to read & machine parts. the only machining difference is the valve seat angles in the head.
CONTACT: NORTH EAST RACING ENGINES or School of automotive Machinists. I graduated from there in HOUSTON TX. JUDSON the owner, is an old time NHRA RECORD HOLDER with pontiacs. He forgets more than we can remember, he knows soooo much. THE MOST KNOWLEDGABLE GUY I EVER MET, with engines, THEORY & RACING. If you contact him tell him PONTIAC SCOTT referred you i graduated in 94.
615 HP ram air iv 440 all steel

[SWEETJUDGE]

THE BEST HEAD GUY in houston if he is still there is GREGG GOODE CYLINDER HEADS

[61-63]

Thank you for the responses I've written it all down.

I got in touch with Steeve Coombes who is actually near Austin and not Houston. He referred me to two guys from Houston both Pontiac racers. They recommended G&G of Tomball for block work and Flanakin Crankshaft for the crank, who they said did most cranks in Houston anyway no matter where you took it. I called Flanakin and he said he could turn down my crank and do whatever else it needed.

I will look for NE Racing Engines and a person named Judson and call him if I can find him. I may also call Westside machine.

I have since also found JT Automotive in Beaumont which is closer to me than Houston and more convenient. They are highly recommended in Beaumont and said they can turn down my crank. They are boiling out a block for me as I write this. Does anyone have any experience with them?

I was seriously considering G&G but now? What did they do wrong to get the negative feedback above?

[Walter Lansing]

I had heard good things about G&G and found Chris Giles to be a stand up guy. The Guy I mentioned Dan Barton used to be in charge of the cylinder head department at SAM and left to open his own shop. I have know Chris and Dan for twenty years and have good things to say about booth of them. I have personally seen Gregg Goodes work, had a set of his heads on a LS7 and have been told by sevral people that are more knoledgeable about this than me he gets too argesive with enlargeing the port size and did not improve flow. But mind you this was a set of heads he did many years back, I do not have any comments on his current work.
Walter

[Lloyd-TX]

Call Dan Barton, you won't find anyone better around here!

I could NOT be happier with the way the 467 (455HO) in my blue Formula turned out! He performed his magic on my 7F6 heads, recommended the cam, pistons and most of the other parts and machine work which was done on my engine.

Dan's philosophies differ from many others, but I'm telling you - IT WORKS!

Contact Dan @ Westside Performance @ (713) 465-7996. Tell him that Lloyd and Walter sent you.

[Larry Navarro]

Also would recommend Owens Racing engines in Pearland Texas, just south of Houston.
I know a guy there that can give a Pontiac the attention it needs.

I too have had work performed by Chris at G & G but lately he has been "forgetting" about doing things where traditional Pontiacs need attention.

[69*Goat]

I have had 2 Pontiacs built by G&G. I will say that Joe Ported and Polished the S*** out of the heads that are on my 462. He got them flowing pretty good. I had a couple of issues with both of my builds however, the first long block build had 2 valves stick and cause a a whole lot of crap to domino which required a valve train rebuild(new cam,push rod, lifters, and I think a couple of rocker arms). The second issue was them not checking pushrod clearance through the heads when using 1.65 rockers on my 462. Yes, Chris came to my house and fixed both issues, BUT!! these issues were not caused by me, and you don't tell a paying customer that everything is hard when he deals with you, just because you want it done right.


Chris is a stand up guy, I just won't be taking my Pontiac stuff to them anymore.

[61-63]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I appreciate it.