My good buddy owns AEPM in Fremont, the SF bay area is a pretty tough area to own a auto machine shop. Lots of government Nazis around to step on your toes. My buddies shop is quite capable and he owns a Sunnen VGS20 seat and guide machine which is one of the best for precision high performance work. The business is tough! My buddy does builds for outfits like 034 Motorsports he just finished a 700+HP Audi 5 cylinder build for those guys, I often tell him he is not charging enough for his time and expertise in doing these exotic builds. His shop rate is $90/HR the local car dealers get 120/HR for their Wyo Tech parts swappers...a good machine ship should bring that in too. I've seen him warranty so many customer screw ups for goodwill, I would have told the idiot how he screwed up and what it was going to cost him to fix it! I'd sell the equipment off if I were you.....too many stupid people on this planet to try and make a shop successful today. If my buddy closed shop I would use S&S in San Leandro....some of the nicest equipment around.....Rottler F65 CNC engine machining center. Best motor developer in SF bay area....probably west of the Mississippi is Bob Wirth in Hayward...ask Mike Maier where he took his ex NASCAR Roush Yates motor after it "popped" my friend Dan worked for Bob for about 5 years before opening his shop.
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