Block's in worse shape than I thought

Ok, so Carquest of Upland has my block for 5 weeks giving me every excuse under the sun as to why they haven't done anything to it yet. Then last week Jody promises me to have it done by Friday and that he'll call me with an update. The call never comes so I call yesterday morning (Monday) and he says that there's an issue with one of the exhaust port, it's got a crack. REALLY, and he couldn't call me and tell me...I have to call him? He's never called me with an update!

Anyway, I'm ranting...

So I pick up the block and check it out. (see photo with arrows) It definitely has another crack that only showed up after he machines the valve seat. He tells me that they (Carquest machine shop) don't do crack repairs and he doesn't know anyone (used to but not any more) who does...REALLY? So I ask him if I can take it and try to repair it myself. He says that repairs are usually done by drilling and tapping and then screwing in a plug that can be machined flat when the deck (top) of the block is machined. He tells me he'll give me some leads on who to purchase a repair kit from...he doesn't!

So now I will get some advise from friends in my Model A club (Art and Steven) as to what can and should be done now.

I probably wouldn't worry too much under normal circumstances except that I want to install a high compression head and Model B cam shaft which will place extra stress on the engine and potentially cause a failure....ARGH!

I've gotta fix it, no other way around it!

PS: You'll note that there are two other cracks in the block deck that are referred to by the arrows in the photo...these I knew about and was told by Art and Steven that they need no repair as they are minor...only going from water jacket to water jacket. Makes sense to me.

Fenders almost ready

I finally got the call from Gongora's Auto Body that my fenders will be ready to pick up today. They are putting the final touches on them and so I dropped by to take a few photos. The top photo shows color sanding them before buffing. I must admit that it's tough to watch as they sand away a beautiful finish only to (hopefully) buff out a beatiful shine...I hope they turn out. More photos of the finished product on Monday!

Progress? Frustrating!

Not making progress the way I'd like. The fenders have been at Gongora's in Pomona for over 5 weeks and the engine block has been at the machine shop for almost four...still NOT finished. (in spite of the promise that they would be) Sooo frustrating as every time I call to check on progress I hear comments like "There's a lot more involved than we anticipated" or "There are some un-forseen issues with the block". Why even get quotes...every time I hear these words I think "Great, how much will that cost me?".

So the latest is: from David at Gongora's Auto Body "The fenders will be painted today and ready to pick up next week" and from Jody at Carquest in Upland "keep calling to remind us".

Everything hinges on the work now being done, or not done, as the case may be!

It's getting harder and harder to even think about referring anyone to these guys for future work. Now I know why I couldn't find anybody in the Model A Club who had used Gongora's, even though he advertises in our club newsletter....Argh!