I'll start this review by saying Steve is a super nice guy that always seems to be under a lot of stress. I will also say in his defense that the cylinder head sat for a year before the motor was started and I didn't thoroughly inspect it for missing parts prior to install. I trusted him completely as this is his specialty and didn't think to question the quality of his work. Gave him the cylinder head from a BMW S54 that I needed cleaned and inspected. He pulled it apart, cleaned it and found a broken valve spring which was great. He was also nice enough to replace the valve guides at no extra charge. Being a friend of a friend (several, actually) I was given a very fair price on the work. Without going into details, I'll just say it was between $300-$500. After I got the motor assembled and running it seemed fine. Flooded the head with oil before giving the motor fuel and then did an oil change after 30 miles. I won't even complain about the two head plugs at the back of the head he completely forgot to re-install (this was a red flag, but I had to get the car done and didn't have time to pull the head apart and inspect it for what's to follow) which dumped oil all over the back of the motor and onto my garage floor. I found two oil drain plugs from the hardware store that were the right thread/pitch and installed them so I could continue. When I called him about this, he was accusatory and defensive, saying he re-installed everything as it was delivered and he has been rebuilding heads for years. Well, things got ugly after I got the car to LA (I drove it straight there after the 30 mile break-in of the rings). It appears that Steve forgot to re-install the exhaust camshaft set screw for the rockers. The shaft slid forward, blocking oil pressure to the shaft which lubes the exhaust cam side. Without lubrication, all cam followers got worn to a point of allowing the shims to jump off from the valves. At that point, all followers were flattened by the camshaft hammering them against the valve spring retainers. Needless to say, Steve forgetting to re-install a single tiny fastener will now cost me about $8k in repairs. I'll gladly update this review if Steve ever decides to reach out and come to a compromise. It's a shame this business relationship had to end this way, as I really liked him as a person. Caveat emptor! EDIT: You can see the motor blow up here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgGVR529syk read more

See all

edit : changing freeze plugs on head, head was left filthy and behind rear freeze plug had a pile of glass beads. very poorly cleaned would definitely not recommend. take the drive tech machine shop in livermore. read more

Patience is rewarded with quality. Being a one man shop is the only downside to Cardelli's read more

Cardelli Motorsports - Auto Repair Near Me - San Mateo, California

See all

Steve rebuilt the head of a 1978 Fiat 124 for me. He did great work. It's like brand new again! It's nice to find a craftsman in a trade like machining in the Bay Area. Anyone with an Italian car should see Steve if you have needs for your engine! read more

Steve hands does great work. Couldn't be happier with choosing him to help me with my project. Had my 3.6 pentastar heads off my Jeep cleaned up and new guides. Steve's knocked it out read more

Found out about this place through Audi forums, checked it out and met Steve on my first visit. He's like a mad scientist, he knows his stuff and can go on about builds, brand parts, clearances, tolerances, etc. Got my engine block machined by him with an overbore, clean, hone, and resurface. Took awhile to get back, but can't blame the guy since he works by himself and has lots of people going to him. Overall worth the wait for quality work. read more

Cardelli Motorsports - Freshly machined engine block for my Audi 1.8T 06A - Auto Repair Near Me - San Mateo, California

Finding an actual machine shop in the bay area is becoming more of a rare sight. So to my surprise, it was so nice to find Cardelli! I was frantic to get my nearly new 2015 Audi A3 back up and running as the engine decided to spin a rod bearing at 49608 of the 50K warranty. Of course, it was not covered by the stealership. So I got some ridiculous quotes to put a used engine back in the car with huge uncertainty and said screw it, let's just build a bulletproof one since I plan on keeping this car forever. Back to Cardelli, end up meeting Steve, which is the most down to earth cool person you'll meet! We talked about what I needed to be done and he gave me estimates on increasing my bore, balancing my crank, porting my head, etc... Long story short, I was incredibly impressed with the level of detail and care he took to get it all done and especially on my expedited rush schedule. He even helped me with putting in my valve spring retainers since I had the wrong tools to get it done. His prices are very reasonable and I've been sending everyone I know to him. You'll be happy you found him! - THANK YOU STEVE! read more

I want to share Steve (owner) is a great machinist and very knowledgable about Porsches. He resurfaced my Porsche 964RS LWFW (light weight flywheel) for my rare 3.8L 993 air cooled motor. Many mechanics replace these $1100 flywheels as they don't know how to resurface them correctly back to factory tolerances. The Porsche flywheel is stepped so he not only machined the main surface the clutch uses, but also the step where the pressure plate attaches so that when you resurface the flywheel the clutch "catch point" does not change. These details are what separates a job done right versus cheaply and having you to go back and redo the job later. Great work and reasonably priced. I highly recommend him. read more

See all

I was a little skeptical going here at first because of the lack of a yelp review, but I was pleasantly suprised as soon as met the owner of the shop Stefan to discuss some delicate work that I needed done on an exhaust manifold for a jet ski. I knew it was not going to be easy because of it being water jacketed and had a threads close to the area that needed to be taken off to give additional clearance for an exhaust pipe. I had did a similiar modification to another manifold in the past and it was more costly and was done wrong initially. Stefan took a considerable amount of time to determine the exact specifications of which I needed. Asked me when I needed it by and he then called me the day before to let me know it was ready and even had a further suggestion on it. I came down that night to check in with him about it and we determined we could even do better than we initially thought in terms of clearance. Back on the machine it went for some final touches. Once he finished it, I witnessed his dedication to perfection appear. He diligently reviewed the manifold fixing every minor imperfection and trust there was plenty due to it being a crappy aluminum mold from the late 80's. He does a lot of high end performance work for Ferraris, Porsches and overseas performance brands which clearly states why he has such a high attention to detail. After all this work he stuck to the original price stated unlike every other machine shop I have delt with in the past where it always ends up being more than initially stated. At the end of the day best machine shop around and good prices. It's a bit scary but can't wait till I blow up the next two stroke motor, so I can get him to do the porting because I know he will make one fast set of cylinders. read more

It's amazing that this place does not have that many reviews. Steve Cardelli is just spectacular. A couple things I want to clear up before I write my review. He's a bit "scatter brained" at times but that does not reflect his quality of work. He works solo most of the time so the turn time is not the best but what you get is priceless. He might not pick up his phone since he is alone and usually very busy but he does call you back and does not mind being called often. Don't be discouraged if you can't reach him right away. That's NOT how he works.. So lets begin. I have a fully built SR20 motor that I've been having trouble with. The motor blew twice because other shops that I will not mention failed to take the steps needed to make sure the oil galley/channels were cleaned and free of metal deposits. This caused me to spin a bearing the first time and I managed to catch it the second. This set me back so bad and I wasted thousands of dollars. A friend of mine who had a 350+ stroked 1.7L turbo Miata went to Steve to have the bottom end done. He recommended I take my stuff there so I did. Steve was very patient and listened to my problems. He wanted to know why I had so many issues prior to make sure the same mistakes were not going to happen again. He asked a lot of questions and asked me what I wanted. Ultimately, I needed the block checked, honed, decked, cleaned and assembled. Crank checked, cleaned and polished. I needed the head checked, cleaned, ported and valve train installed. He quoted me a time frame when it would be done and it was very reasonable. I needed other parts and wanted to get things sent out for coating. Over all it took about 1.5 months total but I would say it was fair for my situation. He took the time to update me about everything that was going on and let me know what to expect. He was spot on and knows his stuff. He had tight clearances and even though he has never worked on a SR before a motor build is a motor build. After it was all assembled I dropped the motor in and put it on the dyno. I made 432rwhp and have yet to have any issues. I'm going to break the motor in and dyno again for better numbers. This place deserves so much more exposure and I highly recommend this shop. While I was there he was working on some high end Porsche parts, some Ferrari parts and a bunch other common motors. 2 spec miata motors, a Datsun L28 motor and some others. I will definitely come back and send all my friends this way. read more

See all

Best machinist in the Bay Area hands down. I've brought multiple cylinder heads to him and they've all come out great. read more

Cardelli Motorsports - 4G63 2.3 Stroker Evo 8 motor with 10.5:1 high compression pistons, Manley I beam rods, Manley Forged crank etc - Auto Repair Near Me - San Mateo, California

Steve was recommended to me by a family member and I am so glad he told me about him. Steve is extremely knowledgeable about all things engines and and is not only a great machinist but a great resource to have if you have any questions. I brought in a Ford 289 block, which he bored out and cleaned up. He also ordered me all of the necessary parts to rebuild it which was super helpful. read more

Steve has been very helpful with my engine rebuild on my 3.0 V6 Alfa Romeo. Most machine shops scoffed when I said Alfa Romeo. Not Steve. So I drove over 35 miles to see him to have him do a valve job on my cylinder heads. Steve is excellent with his attention to details and most importantly doing the job right. He cleaned all my parts and made sure to explain to me what I needed to pay attention to when re-assembling the head. He is a 1-man shop and does his best to keep up with the amount of work he has but he doesn't rush the work and makes sure the work is done right. Thanks Steve, I wish there were more machine shops with your passion, attention to detail and quality of work. read more

Steve is a great guy and does great work. As anyone knows who has been to a machine shop before, if you get someone who doesnt know what they arw doing, it could seriously damage your engine, and waste a lot of money. Steve does work on priceless vehicles, but was happy to put in some overtime to get my work done. I'll definitely be bringing him my future projects read more

Dropped off a Porsche 944 head to be resurfaced and picked it up the next day. Service was fast and easy and costed me only 80 dollars

Steve did an outstanding job on my head. Tight compression, precision backcut, perfect guide installation. Now my big-dollar Pierce head is pulling much better, zero smoke. He even took the time to fit custom stem seals and machine the guides to fit. This overcomes a common problem for BMC A-series motors that pool a lot of oil at stoplights, releasing big clouds of smoke even though the rings and guides are perfect. His shop is a museum of blocks, heads and machining stuff that is worth a trip on its own. I am recommending Cardelli Motorsports to everybody in my club. Very glad to see an old-school friendly shop that's opposite to the "how much can we ream you for" attitude here in the Bay Area. read more

I took my 8-cylinder head there to get it resurfaced. I live in SF and it was totally worth it to bring the head to get these guys done! The boss is super nice and the service was done in promised time frame. The shop was a little hard to find but it is the only machine shop in the middle of the block. They really know what they are doing, and they explained to me what needs to be done and what not. I never really had good experiences for the other mechanic shops until I met these guys! read more

Have been using for a little while & I got to say one of the best machinist available!

Extremely disappointed in the work that he did on my engine. I am now forced to re do everything on the short block because of his work. I was never provided with an estimate or quote upon work completion which is a huge red flag especially after he said he was going to take care of me. He also is the world's most expensive machinist. What he was trying to charge me is double what other machinists charge for the same exact work. I am now out $900 and stuck with an engine with compression problems and an engine that smokes heavily with less than 100 miles on it. I also have the exact same problem in cylinder 3 as before with a extremely black spark plug. Not to mention I had to spend almost 300 dollars on custom oversized rings because he over bored the block and he tried to blame the piston rings I had being wrong which were the exact ones specified for those pistons. I have lost thousands of dollars because of his mistake. I will never ever ever use him again. I now have to tow my car to southern California so the new machinist can build me another motor the correct way. Also I think everyone should know he built another motor for a friend of mines customer. He is a professional tuner for multiple ecus. And the tuner found out that the machinist failed to install a freeze plug on the block. Engine seized the customer was blamed and the tuner was blamed and now he is forced to start over just like me. Stay far away!!! read more