Being a life long gearhead and having college level mechanic training and some machining, I take reviews of places like machine shops pretty serious. From what I understand of their operations, they have different people on specific tasks. Boring and honing, facing, grinding ect. When I walk into a machine shop, it's because I have good references from other engine builders or experienced mechanics. In this case, a guy that did the porting work on my first Harley Twin Cam engine told me about them. I did some more research and found that a lot of dealerships send work to them. So, I gave them a go. That was about 5 years ago now. I will not that there are only 3 machine shops in the state that I will use. Each one has a specific talent that I use them for. Area gets all of my Harley jugs/pistons and head work. They also get head and block work on anything non race/high performance Chevy engine work. For that specific task, I have another shop that has been doing my high perf work for 30 years. The last shop only does my Harley race heads - CNC porting, polishing and valve work. Work and turnaround. These guys are machinists, not forensic mechanic scientists. If you bring them jacked up, Frankensteined parts. You will get the parts machined and replaced that are part of the specific task. Like a valve job. If I take a head in - Harley, SB Chevy, Kia ect. They are going to deal with the valves, seats, springs, retainers, umbrella seals and guides. If I take in a Kia head for a valve job and decking, that's what they do. So, I've been very happy with not having to worry about someone trying to sell me on extra services or parts. I like that... To that note, everything I have taken to them over the last 5 years has been done to top notch standards. I will say that from what I can tell, the guys in the back really know their stuff with Harleys. I can trust their advise on max overbores and such. As far as turnaround time, I have never had to wait more than a week to get jugs/pistons back or heads. That is pretty rare these days. My CNC race heads take almost 2 months to get back from the other shop. Overall, I have never had a single problem with them. I don't expect them to know every part off every engine manufacturer, nobody can specialize in everything. If I have a problem with an import part, I'll take it to an import specialist machine shop. If I have domestic parts or normal work, they will go here. In closing - My advise to anyone needing machine work done that has never experienced it is this: research what it is you are doing first, don't blindly expect someone to figure your problems out if you don't have a clue of what is going on. If you can't tear a part down to where they can take it the rest of the way, you need a qualified mechanic to fix your engine. Cheers yall. read more

Poor attention to detail and poor customer service! I called around to multiple Volvo specialty repair shops and they all recommended area Auto Machine for Machining Volvo engines. I brought my cylinder head for my Volvo to area Auto Parts complete with the cam cover and bolts. I clearly told area Auto Machine that I needed the cylinder head looked at closely since I don't have much Machining experience and rebuilt. It took them awhile to get the repairs done because they were backed up with other jobs. When I finally got the cylinder head back I put it on the vehicle and notice something odd about the cam and how difficult they were to turn. The vehicle also would not start so I had to take it all back apart and brought it back to area Auto Machine and after another long wait for them to get it back in the shop. They told me that the cam cover wasn't the correct cover for that engine and it didn't match up. This was something that they were supposed to look at when they were rebuilding it! They argued with me that it wasn't their fault and that it wasn't something that they normally look at even though I told them that I needed it to be looked at because I need a professional machinist experience to make sure everything was correct on this head. I asked if they would give me at least half of the expense that I paid returned to me since I paid $500 for the repairs and I would take it elsewhere to be machined. They would not give me anything in return for my troubles and continued to argue. It is very difficult to find a good machine shop that you can trust and Area auto machine is not trustworthy! read more

These guys and gals (Kelly) at AREA are highly-skilled machinists utilizing the lost art of old-school machining/ craftsmanship while charging very reasonable prices. Although this business model attracts all the local professional auto shops/mechanics in need of "value", it also attracts the amatuer mechanics who expect the same but: (i) don't have the knowledge and experience to know what machining work needs to be performed, what parts need replacing, diferences between various year engines for same model of car, etc; and (ii) don't have their OWN tools (micrometers, bore gauges, dial indicators, etc...), and/or can't properly utilize those tools if they have them. If these engine tuners had the proper knowledge/ experience and ACTUALLY CHECKED the machine work of AREA's (we all make mistakes), there would be substantially fewer problems. As for turn-around time, AREA performs machine work for many local professional shops who require stock/factory work, and this is AREA's "bread-and-butter" as these repair shops come to AREA weekly, if not daily. So despite your expensive, new, and shinny parts for a "one-off" custom rebuild--and your understandable desire to get machine work done quickly--please remember our custom engine builds are not AREA's "bread-and-butter." Despite this fact, I have never waited for more than two-weeks to get my "custom" machining done. Over many years, AREA has been performing the machine work on my various BMW track and street engines. Considering their high-quality old-school crafted machine work, AREA's prices are very reasonable, and provide outstanding value. read more

They do not do crank grinding any longer, very disappointing. Sold machine. Through the automotive grape vine have heard crank grinder is now at Doug's Balancing. read more

Absolutely top notch. For big twin machine work, Area is the very best.