a bit expensive?
Turbo Mini Forums

i dropped my block off at rob walkers 4 weeks ago to get machined up, i had rang before i took it up to get a quote and it was £171 the block is now ready but have been told today the bill is £350

i had the following done overbore and hone, core plugs, centre strap, paint, chemical clean, 11 stud prob a few little other bits but thats the jist of it, is £350 about right? its just that its just over double what i was quoted and although i have had work done in the past by them and its all top notch machining i dont think i will be able to go back if im getting my budget blown away like this

Edited by wolfie on 27th Jan, 2006.

I don't think it's right that he quoted you one thing then billed double but £350 is about the going rate for the work you had done. It's mostly labour costs. As for there bore finish......................

http://photobucket.com/albums/y139/Skinns46/

i think he's taking the piss personnelly.

bore and hone about £80,
beck the block £30 max.
2 extra studs tapped out, £25 max,
strap again if its surface ground faces £50 ,and thats expensive..

core plugs are pennies each and about 1/2 hr tops to clean holes and fit .
you could have had it lins bored for the sort of money he wants,
fuck him off , what about the quote???, as him how he managed to double it , better still ask for a breakdown,
i know its awkward for you to have to pull him ,but 350,!! bollocks. !!!!!

carl

WWW.FORCE-RACING.CO.UK PLEASE CLICK HERE

i just ahd a thought ,he hasn't moved to Monte Carlo has he , ??

skin if you pay that for you block prepping bring them to me please , i'll have some of that!!!!!! ,

carl

WWW.FORCE-RACING.CO.UK PLEASE CLICK HERE

to be fair i did ask for it to be painted orange .... but i supplied the paint lol

dids you also ask to be shafted from behind .lol.

carl

WWW.FORCE-RACING.CO.UK PLEASE CLICK HERE

Id expect a figure like you were originally quoted to be fair. seems about right. £350 seems waaay to steep.

tell him, if he dosn't get it nearer the origional quote, you will pay the money but you are going to fucking rip him to shreads on the old internet ,you wont be liabling him as if what you say is right ,it will all be the truth.
fucking annoys me people asking for more after giving a price ,and double at that, BACBAC.BAC.BAC.BAC.
an dfor jims benefit ,blokes a cunt.

carl
carl

WWW.FORCE-RACING.CO.UK PLEASE CLICK HERE

Just fuck him off........

Hmm...Just done a few sums. It should be more like £250 max and that would be supply and fit cam bearings and supply center strap aswell. Did he do this??

http://photobucket.com/albums/y139/Skinns46/

yes

Well which ever way you look at it. It's to much!

http://photobucket.com/albums/y139/Skinns46/

ill have a chat monday with them get a breakdown and go from there

cheers for the feedback chaps

A tad steep I think?

I'd expect to pay £200 and no more, especially if you have given the place good business in the past.

I`d be looking a round £200/£250 for the block work

1293 Turbo mini

wolfie i would challenge him, i had my crank reground, and pollished at smiles engineering, they were trying to charge me 100 for big end shells... i rang my mini supplies dude, and the stock turbo ones were 17 quid.... i got full race shells for 24 quid !!!! the main strap would have been pennies, and the extra studs drilled takes about 15 minutes tops to do chemical clean is nowt, they just steam clean the block with an additive, you supplied the paint..... fuck him right off, by law he quoted you a price ...when he realised it was going to be more he should have notified you prior to doing the work offer him the agreed price, if he threatens with the cops let him call, its a civil matter that you will win !!!! if he keeps the block (which he wont) i have a spare 4 u ! but you got to come to the toon to get it !

Richie

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MikeRace, Mini13

I think morspeed charge £195 for the same as i have been looking into getting mine done.

i dont fink what people would expect is the question fact is the man quoted you a price, it should be around about that price and he should have contacted you earlier to say its going to be more.

and also as hes a well experienced engineer surely he knows exactly whats involved how long it takes and how much it costs.

id contact him and say and do what peeps have advised already.

good luck.

no longer a series, but still 1.3 turbo.

Yes, that is a good point, he must have done more than enough mini engine blocks in the past to know exactly how long it would take and what would be required. Unless there was some substantial amount of unforseen work required (in which case he should have spoken to yourself to agree to it before continuing) then I do not think he is justified in increasing the price by that amount.

simon is indeed less than 200 for that work, if you pay cash and its not much work it'll be even less.

£350 i could get the block line bored and the gallery plugs tapped etc at my local place. Another friend got his block squared up, line bored and the whole works done for only a couple of hundred more. Thats just an insane price and sounds like hes a bit short on work and is passing the buck onto you.

Edited by andeh on 28th Jan, 2006.

I've seen the future and tbh its Pie

Rob probably didn't hear what you wanted doing on the phone first time round, after being an engineer all his life hes a little deaf. I understand where you are coming from though, but like you say if you don't like the price, don't go there, Rob certianly isn't short of work, he does lots for prodrive, all local garages use him, quite a few classic car places (somerford still do I think) as well as a contract he has for some nascar bits and bobs (mainly blocks and cranks).

I have used Rob for the last 5 years, he built the engine for my moke, my astra LET, my mini turbo I used to have as well as machining and making odds and sods for me.

Just my viewpoint, but bearing in mind virtually none of his business comes from the internet, I doubt he will care to much about people slating him online.

Rich

I lie to make friends

rick old been, unless theres something wolfie isn't telling us ,rob walker would have to be stone deaf .and spoke a cpmpletely different laungage to get it so far out ,
whilst i appreciate your loyalty , a business is only as good as its last job so to speek,
if wolfie gets a reasonable result all's well , but i'd be f--ked if somone priced me one amount and then tried to bouble it for whatever reason,
surely when wolfie dropped the block off he recaped on work to be done so if there was any confusion about previous comunication it would have been picked up there and then.

obviously i don't know rob as you do but on the apparent evidence before us i wont be using him .
if someone ever tries to shaft me i'm finished with them , no second chances i'm afraid.

carl

WWW.FORCE-RACING.CO.UK PLEASE CLICK HERE

well we will see tomorrow

i do like rob hes a really nice bloke and i am not sure where the confusion on pricing has happened, i had a conversation on the phone and as we were going though what was needed i wrote it down as a shopping list and took that list with me and left t with the block

Dont get me wrong rich i am not and have never slated rob or his work far from it, there are a number of posts on here where i have told people what nice work hes done on my engines in the past

what i wanted was honest feedback from people on here about the price i have been told as i am trying to keep to a strict budget there is only me with one wage coming in so if the price gets cocked up i end up living on bread and water

Unfortunately I have never been anywhere else for engineering work, ever since I was 17/able to drive I have used robwalker for engines and engineering, and AC dodd for mini gearboxes.

He just says a price at the end of the job and I pay it.

Well for example, he rebuilt the XE head for my astra van:

8 new guides
8 new valves
recut all 16 valves and valve seats
faced 4 thou off it
gave it a little flow both sides
16 new guide seals
and reassembled it for £290 + VAT

that was the last job he did for me, although I have an SPI cooper lump there at the moment having everything done to it.

I just always paid the bill, never questioned it, and I always will, even if someone else opened up closer, I would still go there becuase I know him. Plus I completely rebuilt and repainted the body of his demo car, a 1985 mini 25, runs a 1460 with MBE etc, will be around in the summer. I did that in exchange for him doing my LET engine for my estate. (just head and block).

wolfie when you go and see him, hes a reasonable old boy just say what he said on the phone and ask him why the bill was double...

Rich

I lie to make friends

right just got back!

picked up block yesterday and i am over the moon with the work thats been done and gone into it, there has been some additional work done that i originally had not budgeted for like line boring, rob had remembered my conversation with him and what i wanted to use the engine for there was something wrong with one or more of the end caps and so the block had to be line bored, i fully excepted this extra works and did not quibble when it came to the bill, i did not really raise the issue as again i was happy

unfortunately someone and i can only presume who it is went to rob and told him i was being nasty to him about him and about his work, i have never been as far as i am aware ever been nasty to anyone, rob has rung me this morning understandably upset, i think this is now been blown way out of proportion and im not sure why someone would say im be nasty to him when i have never been and up untill this one post have always recommended him where i can

again i think this is blown out of proportion but i am publicly apologising to rob on here as this is where its all started, i doubt now if they will do any work for me in the future and i can undertstand this to a point, and after hearing how unpset he was this morning i dont think i could go back anyway and this is all because i wanted to know if something was expensive and what others paid for works, just want to say thanks to the lieing moron that went to him and said i was being nasty and i would like you to go to the search button and search every one of my posts and find a post where i have been nasty to rob or slated his work

Edited by wolfie on 31st Jan, 2006.