Don is a very knowledgeable person who has helped me several times with numerous things!

Donny built my 455 Oldsmobile Big Block for my 1973 Holmes Horizon Jetboat with Joe Mondello parts and balanced her out to .14 oz.-in. imbalance about 20 years ago. All virgin cores. My friend Ruben did the block work, connecting rod work, and engine balancing. Donny ground the crank personally. The Auburn Boy Wayne did the heads. Big valves, ported exhaust, stainless steel valves, dual valve springs, and filled the center exhaust crossover with a melted down forged piston. No more cracked intake manifolds. Forged pistons. Full oil restriction installed lifter galleys and crankshaft mains as well as lifter galley honing. 10 Quart Oil Pan. 292H Comp Cams camshaft, Donny appropriately got to choose the camshaft. Those of you who left a bad review probably have way too much money and nobody to tell them no when need be! I love you Donny to the moon and thank you for building my dream motor with patience and passion. I still have it and it runs like the champion it is. Everybody has got a Chevy Donny!! If you can only afford one motor in a lifetime this is the place to go. read more

Don is the man! Don't try to rush the process..... quality work takes time and attention. I wouldn't take my stuff to anyone else in the Sacramento area. read more

Had a complete engine rebuild done of which I am totally satisfied by their expert work. I continue purchase supporting items, such as oils, filters, and whatever else I may need for my vehicle. I appreciate the owner (Don) and his super knowledge of the automotive parts world. He quickly finds what I request, in an extremely timely manner. It is a pleasure doing business with a local shop that always procures exactly what I need. I highly recommend this business and when the subject comes up, I definitely let it be known that "Motor Machine" is the place you want to do business with. In fact, within the next few days I expect to contact Don regarding a carburetor for my vehicle. read more

Woody recommended this shop as he had his racing Miata head serviced there multiple times. My 2004 sequoia heads needed cleaned and tested, which they accomplished quickly. read more

Don was Rude held onto my parts for three weeks did nothing then only returned half my deposit when I decided to go to a better shop to get work done. Shop was a dump you cant even walk threw the isles because crap is all over the floors and counters. Dont give them any money up front you wont get it back. Scammer! read more

This auto parts store also repairs car engine cylinder heads. They spent a long time giving you quotes and trying to force you to buy their auto parts. I have measured the parts of my original car and they meet the manufacturer's requirements and do not need to be replaced. But they require only new parts so that they can replace the valves? The working time requirements for new parts are the same as those for old parts. If you don't buy their parts, they will not adjust the engine valves or repair the cylinder heads. They refused to provide service after receiving the quote! You can tell at a glance that they are not professional grinders and milling staff. I have doubts about their ability to work. My cylinder head has been inspected long ago. Be careful when you ask them to repair your engine! Confirm the repair price and the parts that need to be replaced in advance, and don't spend too much money! How can I not give one star? I want to give it zero! It seems that they are the only one who can repair it! It's just grinding the valves, buying tools, and doing it yourself. read more

LOL @Tom R., I dealt with them for 2 months, and laughing gas wouldn't help anyone there. I was told by a few friends that they do great work, but they put their high-end boat customers first. That was definitely clear, however, that wasn't my issue. I had some work done on my block and a crank ground, when it was done, I wasn't able to pickup due to work so my brother and girlfriend went to pick it up for me. My girlfriend paid for the work and had the block loaded. She then asked where is the crank? They said, what crank? Um here on the receipt was her response. Took them 20 minutes to find it; once found nothing was done to it and was told it's junk(yes they actually said junk). Yet I was charged $120 for the imaginary work on junk lol. Got it refunded. Went somewhere else and they said the crank was fine. We all clearly makes mistakes, but not even a simply sorry was said. Well I guess it's not that simply if you're the almighty Motor Machine. read more

I had a engine built here for my late model circle track car and it ran flawlessly the entire season. in fact, i ended up winning 9 out of 13 races, and finished the others with 3 second place finishes and 1 third place finish. The motor wasn't quite ready the day i was scheduled to pick it up and since i live out of the are it would have been an Inconvenience for me to stay the night and pick it up the next day so the staff went above and beyond working until late at night until it was ready. Would highly recommend. read more

Motor Machine Super Shop - Geoff Brandon #26 engine by Motor Machine Super Shop - Auto Parts & Supplies Near Me - Carmichael, California

I have done business with Don for 25-30 yrs. Usually just heads & such. But Ive seen Don's completed work, Ive driven Don's completed work. He did a LT1 350 of mine that I routinely abused reving it over 6500 rpms in 2nd gear. That thing was a forged bottom end and balanced to perfection. The horsepower was insane. Yea one can say Don's grumpy, maybe he is. Maybe he doesn't like to do stupid? He's an old school gearhead, with an old school gearhead machine shop (parts on top of parts). He knows what he has in his shop. Respect him and he respects you back. If you dont know, man up and ask. Say please educate me. He will. Picture this, someone brings you a motor, you take a deposit of $2000. Then you never hear from the clown again, Ive seen that at his shop. So he's earned the right to be grumpy sometimes. You dont like it go to Rex Hutchinson or Dels... read more

So I finally got my motor back after a year and I must say I'm very happy with how it turned out..The price tag upon pick up was pretty high probably 2x what it should have been but as long as it turns out to be as good as it looks then I'm happy. The Trick flow heads really look nice and should work well with whatever induction system I decide to go with. Originally it was for an LSA blower but I'm thinking twin turbo now, using 2x8374 efr borg warner tubos to take it to the next level. So as the saying goes all is well that ends well,I'm pleased and for that I'm thankful. Times have been difficult all around so I tried to be patient,I'm just glad it's complete and can't wait to put it in and fire it up. I feel like the level of knowledge and knowhow they offer there is something you can't find just anyplace and I'm confident I'll be satisfied once it's in my car and I step on the throttle.Thanks Don, sorry to have been a thorn in your side..I appreciate you getting it done for me, I'll be back to have it dialed in soon.. read more

Motor Machine Super Shop - 6.0L LS built by motor machine of sacramento, for my 06 Pontiac GTO. - Auto Parts & Supplies Near Me - Carmichael, California

Don and his team are awesome. They have been able to help me with all of my BMW crap, and if not he always referred me to someone who could. I will def. continue to use Motor Machine. read more

This place is a joke they dont have a clue what there doing they had my car for 4 months tryin to tune it never even got it close to drivable n charged me 1400 for not tuning my car just tuned a whippled 2010 ss that I did made 558 car barely drivin with 11 codes instantly took it to nick at nutec made 644 . 550 dollars down the drain . Built me a 20,000 $ motor didnt last me 8 quartermile passes first nos pass pistons hit valves n ruined my afr 225s n my whole motor . I guess piston to valve clearance aint part of completely assembling a motor . This place burned me outta well over 20,000$$$...I shouldnt need to say anymore read more

Motor Machine Super Shop - Auto Parts & Supplies Near Me - Carmichael, California

Called for pricing on a motor to be Hot Tanked, Mag Tested, Decked, Line Honed, Bored .30 over, new Cam Bearings installed. I was buying all the Rotating assembly and asked them for assembly pricing as well. Don was out and The person gave me pricing for all. So I dropped off the Block to get the work done on 12/6/18. I get a call from Don about a week later asking me what I want done. I told him the entire scope above. Don told me all the quotes that were given were the wrong prices and wanted to charge me more . I told him that he should Honor the pricing, so after a lengthy conversation he finally said ok. About a week after, I called for an update on the block. He said he needed all the rotating assembly to get the block complete and nothing was done yet. I dropped off the Crank and Rods on 12/18 so he could at least get rolling on it. When I dropped off the Crank and the Rods, he asked me where I got them, how much I paid for them and processed to let me know that he could get parts way cheaper than I could. So I said great, I need a price on Heads and Pistons. Well another week goes by 12/27 and I call him to see if he got pricing on the Heads and Pistons. He replied that no one from JE Pistons is calling back and he would keep trying. I said ok, let me know asap and also the Head Pricing when he had a chance. No response as of 12/28, so I call him again. He said no one from JE is calling him back. I said ok, let's get back on this after the Holidays and asked for the Head pricing again. Well move forward to 1/4, I call him for status once again and he says he just got off the phone with him and will call him back then me back. He calls me back and says they have the Pistons, Rings and Pins I wanted and gave me a price. I said ok, go ahead and move forward. I gave him a $500 Deposit to place the Order. He never gave me pricing for the Heads, so I bought them instead. I get a call one week later 1/10 and he said JE did not include the price for the rings and he said that the Salesperson told him they were included. Well I said then he needs to hold to his word! He responded can't and proceed to tell me that he needed more money. I said that I would call him back and verify pricing. I found same stuff $50 cheaper. So I call him back and let him know where I found it cheaper with Website links. He responded with I'm done dealing with you. I am not going to assemble your motor! I said that's fine, I'll pick it up. Pick up block on 1/16 and the just finished the block, no assembly. When I picked up the Block, I wanted to make sure he understood the work I wanted done. He said " i don't assembled other people's parts they bring in". Hmm, that was funny, that was the original scope! He even took my Crank and Rods on 1/18! Bad review is this! Poor Customer Service for my having to ask for updates, should be the other way around. Work to be done took one Month and two Weeks when I was originally told one Week. Never again! read more

Worst customer service once they get your money had them do a short block and 1500 soft break in miles later I have a rod knock went in to see if they could do something for me and they said nope after talking to numous mm customers they all seem to have the same issues some problems after 130 miles twice in a row bad machine work on valve train and blaming tuning issues so I don't recommend them unless you like giving money away for bad work and the worst customer service with bad attitudes as soon as you walk in the door read more

This place is Amazing, I put in a Order for a set of Pistons and Rings at 3 o'clock on a Friday, dropped off my block the next day around Noon and had it back refinished by closing time at 3:00, I highly recommend this shop to all of my friends and definitely plan on bringing my motors here in the future. read more

This is a great machine shop. I had a small metal tapping job that was completed quickly and professionally. I feel comfortable recommending this shop to anyone. Good local business. read more

DO NOT GO HERE don't even change your oil here!!! After dropping my small block off and a month and a half of waiting and a $3000 bill the motor needed to be completely re done and the heads had to be re done and valves re-lapped!! After asking don to look over cause I want comfortable with how it came out he assured me it was fine, then taking it to other machine shops to get second opinion, they all said it needed to be redone so I took it to another shop they had to take .009 of the block because it had so many hi's and low's , hone the block again new cam bearings again, relap the valves again re surface heads ... again... cost another $1000 is fixes that had to be REDONE!!! Went and talked to the owner DON who was nothing but the most unprofessional "business owner" who said there was no way all that had to be re done and he was perfect and I was a f ing idiot and was f ing stupid and no idea what I was talking about, refused to give me any money back on all the stuff had to be re done. The shop I went to to get everything done again will not be named out of respect for the owner who has been nothing but help fully and understanding through the whole process.... so PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS SO CALLED "machine shop" FOR ANYTHING CAUSE IT WILL NOT BE DONE RIGHT AND THE OWNER DOES NOT CARE AND WILL NOT MAKE IT RIGHT... there are plenty of other shops out there just don't use these guys.... read more

I read a lot of "marginal" reviews for Motor Machine, mainly due to a perceived "grumpiness" of those that work there. However, this location came highly recommended by people in the business, so I took my show car to Don for some repairs needed to the oil pan of my highly modified Chevelle. This was not an easy job, or I would have done it myself. I have to admit - I was pleasantly surprised by the professionalism and courtesy displayed by their entire staff. They really struggled with my repair, as I knew they would, because of the way the car was specially modified to fit a late model engine in a early model car, without enough room to adequately move the engine around to replace the oil pan. But in the end - they figured out a way to get it done without pulling the engine, which would have added dearly to the overall cost. In the process, they noticed a few inexpensive parts (under $20) that were worn, and replaced those while they were in there, saving me issues later on down the road. The reviews about the place being disorganized.... have you ever seen an old time speed shop that has been in business for 30 years? They all have parts on top of parts on top of parts. That is the nature of the business - and I personally, think it is a beautiful thing. They have a TOP NOTCH dyno room, and have one of the best Chevy LS tuners available in the state of California that routinely hangs out there. Bottom line here - if you have no idea what you are talking about... do not challenge them because they absolutely do know what they are talking about. If you make this mistake, you will most certainly see the grumpiness that others have talked about. Otherwise - rest assured that this is an outstanding place to take care of your race or street performance car, and the staff will take care of you. Even old 1972 Chevelles with $34,000 paint jobs, 2005 LS3 Corvette engines paired to 2000 Camaro 6-Speed transmissions that were stuck in there with a shoehorn. read more

Currently being assisted in the build of a Supercharged LS3 for my 70' chevelle . Very knowledgeable staff & fair priced .

If I could give less than one star I would. They are one of the worst businesses I have ever dealt with. Don is so grumpy he shouldn't even be working anymore. The place is a pig sty, which should have told me how unorganized and awful my experience would be. They don't communicate, even when Don would promise to call back within an hour or by the end of the day, he NEVER returned a call until I left a message that I was done waiting (after 3 months of trying to just get a price from them) and was picking my motor up. When I got there it was in 15 boxes spread throughout the building and they couldn't even find everything. When I took the parts to another builder they found the pistons were out of round because Motor Machine had dropped them. Valve guides were destroyed because they removed them wrong. The crank they turned was unusable because they over turned it. They still have some of my parts but I know I will never see them. Don't believe me? Try talking with Grumpy Don and look around that pig sty when you go in and see how unorganized it is. Decide for yourself but BEWARE! Don is beyond a jerk. read more

Had a engine built and had disc brake upgrade. Work was great ,Staff awesome.

Cant believe they are still in business. Don is unprofessional and a thief. He had our car for over a year and nothing was done to it expect to get pushed around in the shop to collect scratches and dents. After we could not take the excesses and not returning calls we just showed up to pick up our car to be told it was going to take "all day" to get it out of the shop. We proceeded to tell him to get the car out or we would have to call the sheriff. At that point Don said he would have it out in about an hour. We were given our invoice and were told we could only pay the $1700.00 invoice in cash. We left for an hour to come back to our car being out front and a revised invoice given, probably because i was already on the phone with Bar already. Long story short, they are the worst people to deal with. Their are other shops out there that provide better customer service, knowledge and experience then this one. read more

Bought my car back in 2010 with low compression due to worn valve guides from the factory. Enlisted AED to plan out the repair and some upgrades. Sent the heads over to Motor Machine to install Bronze guides and clean up the heads. After a $1500 machining bill and delays in machine time the heads come back and AED throws the car back together. Car runs good and makes great power until an issue with my aftermarket valve springs requires the heads to come back off. We find that one of the springs collapsed and has happened in other modular applications. Heads come back off after roughly 1500 miles only to find the valve guides are completely WIPED out again. Contact Motor Machine and they blame the issue on the 03 castings and take no responsibility. So all the money I paid them to correct the issue was essentially wasted and they did not stand behind their work. Round two we upgrade to 9 thread 04 castings and have Motor Machine install Bronze guides again after another expensive machine bill. Same bronze guides as before, and same material used by knwon race shops like MMR, Fox Lake, and Livernois. We figure since the machine shop would be the expert on machining that this time with a newer casting there will be no problems. My car is completed and tuned by AED and after 150 break in miles all appears to be well. Until the morning of a cruise I notice a small puff of smoke on start up. During the cruise the problem gets worse and I decide to stop driving the car. As it turns out the issue was do to a bad valve seal installed by the machinist that was allowing oil to seep into the cylinder. Luckily we catch the issue on the cruise before any damage is done to the motor, but I had to pay to tow my car home (thanks Iceman302). AED pulls the heads off the car to find the issue only to find the guides are completely blown out AGAIN after only 300 miles of use. Again these are new castings that didn't have issues with the valve guides to begin with. More money and time of AED's and my own wasted. Luckily for me AED stands behind its work even if a shop they used caused the issue. Which is the reason why nobody else will touch my car but them. To this day Motor Machine denies any responsibility for the issue with the guides and blames it on AED, which is beyond me. I know a friend of mine has also used Motor Machine to do work on his stroker block and they machined it incorrectly also. I am not one to bash a business but this is a good FYI to all those looking to use them in the future. Just know that if they mess up, chances are they won't take responsibility for it. read more

Don will deliver what you ask for. And you definitely get what you pay for. Don takes things back to a time where a persons hand shake holds more value than any warranty. read more

The guys couldn't even time a Mitsu or rebuild it with out screwing up the balance shaft.

DONT GO THERE!! Here's my story. Total spent $580 Time it took 2.5 weeks. Overal outcome: shitty. Took my head in to be pressure checked and cleaned. They said they would have the results ready the next day. A week later no call so I called them. It needed some repairs. ( note I left the cam on so they could adjust the valve lash once it was done. They charged me extra and I was fine with that.) I authorized the work and they said give them 2 days. A week later ( literaly) and no call. I called thursday afternoon and they said itd be ready friday afternoon. Monday comes no call so I call them. They said it'd be ready Wednesday. Cool. I install the head and turn the engine and it starts... except the valves are slappin like a mac dre concert! I would recommend this shop to someone who loves to throw money away, has all the time in the world, loves to deal with horrible customer service, and loves to work for free due to a machine shop short comings. They are really good at taking your money though! read more

Don is a wealth of Knowledge and Marshal knows his way around the counter. They have built me a few motors now and these motors have been quite abused. I currently have a 370" turbo Nova running 161.5 mph in the quarter at 3690 lbs. I have had that motor in there for two seasons. We tore it down at the end of season one and the bearings were perfect. That tells me there machining and blueprinting are spot on. Thanks guys and i look forward to many more motors and will recommend your dyno services as well to anyone who asks. read more

You are missing the no star option giving you a single star is being too nice.I was hoping my engine would sound like I invested 500 hundred dollars in to it, which I doesn't. Instead I am obligated to resend the head to have the Valves adjusted in the head. There isn't an acceptable reason as to why it wasn't ready to install out of the shop. Money isn't the issue; the issue is that I hate getting ripped of by an establishment that is professional who are probably laughing behind the counter thinking how convenient it is having under informed customer who trust them to do their job correctly. I greatly recommend that everyone uses Motor Machine Super Shop as a last resort. I also Implore you to do some research on what you send in. Due to my ignorance I sent in a used head to get reconstructed and was charged $500.00 when a Bran new head at its highest price is $300.00. I assume that you want more for your money, so look else where unless you want to pay monkeys to jump under your hood who's work ethic is slightly better than a 3 year olds with a Bob the Builder tool box. read more