New Engine

lol..Unfortunately, I've never been to CA. I have sent stuff there, wonderrring if there was a decent place closer, but I cant help you there. I would ask around your local cruise nights. Not the staock engine cars, the street racers, and fast looking/sounding cars. Where did they go? Then, go look at t he place, and talk to the guys. If they have a clean, well lit, well equiped shop, and dont look like they just rolled out from under something, there's a good chance they can do a nice job. Your looking for valve seat cutting equipment, a block machine that uses a BHJ plate, or similar. They dont have to be CNC, but they need to be up to date. A boring bar is old school. A deck miller that is using a level to set the block is old school. A guy witha power washer outside to clean the engine block (I saw that on the Boyd's TV show..lol. that was a huge EPA violation for a business here in the East...) is just plain cheap. Questions like "how long will it take?" and Do you have usable cores here?" should be asked. Also, you should be honest with the money you have to spend. Starting a project with 1/2 the money of the estimate leads to long drawn out and painful times, assuming it gets done at all.