Looking for Referral for Head Work in FL

[ProfChaos]

Hiya, folks!

I have finally resolved the issue of warranty labor (verbal agreement) on my recently rebuilt '96 Cobra engine. The person who oversaw the engine re-building project subcontracted the head work (valve seals and valve guides installed by an outside machine shop), and since either the valve seals or the valve guides were not installed properly by the subcontractor, the person overseeing the project has now agreed to provide warranty labor for dropping the K-member again and removing and then reinstalling the heads after the valve seals are installed again---but properly this time. The machine shop that originally replaced the valve guides and valve seals did a very poor job--twice. (The car smoked like neighborhood pest-control before the passenger's-side head was rebuilt for the second time, and, even after the second rebuilding of the passenger's-side head, the car burns a quart of oil every 1000 miles, and it did not burn a drop of oil between oil changes before the two heads were rebuilt. The heads had approximately 55,000 miles on them when the valve seals and valve guides were replaced for the first time, and since the car did not burn oil before the head refurbishing, the issue is likely either that one-or-more of the valve seals was not seated properly, or that one-or-more of the valve guides was installed backwards or is not seated properly.)

Since the person doing the warranty labor and I agree that it is a bad idea to deal with the company that has already messed-up the valve seal/valve guide installation two times on the same job, we are looking for a referral for a machine shop/Cobra 4.6L head specialist that is expert at installing DOHC Cobra valve seals and valve guides. Ideally, this person would be within a 100-mile radius of the Tampa Bay area (Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater/Sarasota, etc.). BTW, Clearwater Cylinder Head is out of the question!!! They have botched the job twice, and they will not stand behind their work. They obviously suck when it comes to work on new school DOHC Cobra heads.

The ideal situation would be a machine shop that deals exclusively--or almost exclusively--with 4.6L DOHC Cobra heads. Again, I'm willing to ship to various points in the Southeast, but, ideally, I would prefer that the shop be in FL, close to the Tampa Bay area. This way, I would not have to risk cam-gear movement during shipping: I could drive the heads to the shop and retrieve them myself. I might end-up dealing with the risk of shipping out-of-state but am now looking for the best option.

Thanks for all of the help on the last stage of rebuilding my cherry '96 Cobra.

cheers,
--Professor Chaos
____________
White '96 Coupe, freshly refurbished
FRPP 4.10 ring-and-pinion gear
FRPP Trac-Lok
Moser 31-spline axles
FRPP Aluminum flywheel (machined further to be 10% lighter)
FRPP Aluminum drive shaft
UPR 1-1/2" lowering springs (street performance, progressive rating)
UPR 4-way adjustable caster/camber plates
Tokico 5-way adjustable Lumina gas shocks and struts
Steeda weld-in sub-frame connectors
FRPP King Cobra clutch and pressure plate
Fluidyne performance radiator
SCT programmable chip
K&N filter charger
B&M short-throw shifter
Freshly rebuilt transmission
ARP head studs
New main and rod bearings (OEM)
New Speed-Pro rings
New OEM valve guides and valve seals (soon to be reworked)
New leather on front seats, much better than OEM
New driver's side armrest plastic insert panel
Lead-lined soundproofing with gray foam "egg-crate" material in trunk
Mid-length Bassani ceramic-coated headers
Bassani X-pipe with high-flow cats
Flowmaster dual-chamber mufflers
Mandrel-bent, stainless exhaust, from X-pipe back
Magnaflow chrome, bologna-cut exhaust tips

[cfradam]

I would highly recommend Kris Starnes.he's out of st. Augustine though.I would tell you that it may be out of your 100mi radius but he's worth it.kris has done the work on some of the baddest cars and trucks running around.this is the shop that does all Al P's head work.I passed the word to him through a good friend that you may be calling.

http://www.krisstarnesracing.com/
call him on the 904-814-7108 # and he'll call you back.

Adam

[ProfChaos]

Originally Posted by cfradam

I would highly recommend Kris Starnes.he's out of st. Augustine though.I would tell you that it may be out of your 100mi radius but he's worth it.kris has done the work on some of the baddest cars and trucks running around.this is the shop that does all Al P's head work.I passed the word to him through a good friend that you may be calling.

http://www.krisstarnesracing.com/
call him on the 904-814-7108 # and he'll call you back.

Adam

I realize it's been a while, but thanks for the information...I will look into that. (There is no problem with it being in St. Augustine: We are going to have to ship the cylinder heads anyway, since there are apparently no reputable Cobra head specialists within 100 miles of the Tampa Bay area.) I haven't been to the Forum for a few months because the car has been sitting for a while as a precautionary measure: There is now a leaky Fluidyne radiator, and I did not want to risk horking the freshly rebuilt engine in the Florida summer heat. I'll bookmark the Web site and then call him later this week.

cheers,
--Professor Chaos

[cfradam]