Machine shops in upstate NY

Ken Henry

Ken Henry

Senior Member
I'm looking for a machine shop within a a few hours of Rochester, NY with experience in flatheads. This would be for a 276+ ci engine - I'm still deciding on some of the details, e.g., whether to go with a readily available stroker kit (e.g., 296 ci) or perhaps a 4" crank and stock rods...

I spoke with Mark Moriarti and he said he uses Carl McQuillen Engines near me in Le Roy, NY for some machining operations. Carl says he builds a few flatheads per year. Any other options I should check out?
 
I'll 2nd Go Devil. Al runs a small shop near Albany. He works on a lot of 4cyl, V8's and Trannys.
 
Thanks, I'm trying to get in touch with Al at Go Devil. It's 3 1/2 hours from here but would be worth it for the right shop. Carl McQuillen does not use a deck plate for honing which may be an issue??

Jack: do you have experience with Drake Engines? They made a couple of minor (fixable) mistakes on one of my non-flathead projects...
 
Hmmm....Mark Moriarty builds all my flathead short blocks...just finished a 286 8BA.
I know he has a couple trusted guys for crank grinding.
Charlie ny
 
Maybe I misunderstood Mark - he definitely sends out blocks for cleaning to McQuillen and mentioned the same for crankshaft balancing. The other operations may be done in house. I'll check back with him... Thanks! Ken
 
Hi Everyone, Ken Henry, here's my two cents.

Moriarty is one of the old timers with flatheads. If he thinks a shop is worthy that carries weight IMHO. Same with Charlie NY.
 
I just spoke with Mark and he does boring, honing, rod reconditioning, etc, in house. McQuillen does his cranks and block cleaning. He's a little backed up right now but it might be worth the wait to have him do it as he definitely knows his flatheads.
 
My hometown. But they came after my flathead time there so no direct experience except hearsay/reputation. Arguably the last competent city shop that'll take on just about any flathead flavor. Don't know what kind of minor fixable non-flathead issues you ran into with them. But if they made it right by you, their Ridgeway location seems unbeatable. Prolly should give them another shot to make things flathead perfect. 8^) Jack E/NJ
 
Other end of the state, I had my LB done at a shop in Mayville that does local dirt track motors but dad had flathead experience. Boiled clean, line hone and bore + 3 sleeves
Johnson race engines
Also a shop on the opposite end of town, a fellow enthusiast I swapped parts with and had small stuff done.
Varidatum inc, don’t know if has boring tools but innovative for custom.
Now retired I don’t have immediate access in north Fla. so am looking for tools to do same here.
 
I can strongly recommend Mark Moriarty. He is well experienced, honest, and lives flatheads. He is also very dependable and very good to deal with. He built me a great motor and he will for you too. PHIL
 
Just picked up some fun stuff from Go Devil Garage in Albany, NY. Al Clarke set me up with a 4" reground crankshaft and 1/8" overbore on this 8BA engine. He also reconditioned the connecting rods, ground the seats, and lapped in the valves. I'm really happy with how everything came out and can't wait to put it together and run it in my 51! Al relocated his shop down the street during this time and still had everything completed according to our schedule.



51314378127_b7340772b7_b.jpg139DF037-6067-4E90-8744-784740563E76 by kenhenry_06268, on Flickr


51315113731_2d8733ae21_b.jpg33FC7F49-6E22-4E1A-BDD7-9B65C15ECA4E by kenhenry_06268, on Flickr


51314378157_d09e2b45cb_b.jpgC2D04025-68A6-4448-8790-4CAFC65365DE by kenhenry_06268, on Flickr
 
Stickney Garage, Potsdam, NY. Has done thousands of cranks. He did 6 cranks for me about 6-7 years ago. He cleaned out the sludge traps and then threaded in the caps after turning the cranks.

Lefty Rodan
 
Big thanks to Al Clarke at Go Devil Garage (near Albany, NY) for his good work on my 276ci engine. Al did all the block machining and set me up with most of the parts needed to put it together. I finally fired up the 276 motor yesterday and it runs fantastic!! A huge power difference over the stock 239 block I was running. Let's see:


Ross 3 5/16 pistons with moly metric rings
4" stroke stock mercury crankshaft and stock 8BA rods
EAB heads milled and machined in the domes for 0.050" piston clearance and 69-70cc chambers
Schneider 248F 0.350" lift camshaft
Dual Holley 94s modified for fuel injection
Electronic distributorless ignition system.
10" clutch and diaphram style pressure plate.
Full(ish) flow oil filter conversion



52278622548_d9387572ba_h.jpg6829D0A4-C70F-45BB-AFCF-F49F4305BE06 by kenhenry_06268, on Flickr
 
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