Boring Prices?

My local Napa auto parts store is part of a small chain (7 jobber outlets owned by one guy) that has a machine shop locally in the basement of one of their stores. They charge $45 for the bore and $3 "hazmat" fee for chemical disposal. Either way, the total out the door is $48 for a 2 stroke engine.
 
My local Napa auto parts store is part of a small chain (7 jobber outlets owned by one guy) that has a machine shop locally in the basement of one of their stores. They charge $45 for the bore and $3 "hazmat" fee for chemical disposal. Either way, the total out the door is $48 for a 2 stroke engine.

I know i have one in Foxborough near me. I had someone tell me that it costs around $400 to do, and that just sounded wrong, if that's the case it ain't happening! :(
 
The only problem with mail ordering something like a bore job (not against Ken or any other engine builder) is that unless you are completely stuck and have NO other other choice, that bore is going to end up costing you $75+ due to shipping charges (which Ken has nothing to do with!)

I recommend fanning out to machine shops locally before calling someone far away to bore a cylinder but always remember Caveat Emptor! Get references for their work and make SURE you talk to someone who's actually going to be working on your cylinder. If they sound confused, walk away. They need to know what they're doing BEFORE they hack your cylinder up!
 
The only problem with mail ordering something like a bore job (not against Ken or any other engine builder) is that unless you are completely stuck and have NO other other choice, that bore is going to end up costing you $75+ due to shipping charges (which Ken has nothing to do with!)

I recommend fanning out to machine shops locally before calling someone far away to bore a cylinder but always remember Caveat Emptor! Get references for their work and make SURE you talk to someone who's actually going to be working on your cylinder. If they sound confused, walk away. They need to know what they're doing BEFORE they hack your cylinder up!

100% agree. I:I
 
I'm going to look around. But I've been thinking about sending my cylinder to get ported by Ken, i guess i never noticed that section on his site. It's like an hour or two drive away from me, but I'd be spending the same amount for gas than i would be on shipping.
 
I had a cylinder bored several months ago at a local bike shop, which has a great reputation for building race winning bikes. It's for a CR250 that I still haven;t put back together yet. Today I was looking at the cylinder and noticed the ports were not chaffered, port edges are sharp as a knife. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an engine guy and I had never heard of chaffering the ports before I read about it here in the last few weeks. I don't know how important it is or if it's a Blaster thing. Before I realized today that the ports weren't chaffered, I had been considering sending my stuff to one of 3 engine builders I've come to know here (I haven't decided which one of the 3) but now I'm sure I want to send it off. On a side note, I did talk to the local builder about doing me a Blaster engine and he's talking cylinder pressures of 230-250 PSI. After reading some stuff here, that seems way to high. What civicsidude said is true, It's going to cost me more than twice to send it off than having it done locally (about $80 instead of $35) but I'll gladly pay the extra for the piece of mind that comes with paying someone who knows the specific engine being worked on. I'm sure there are local shops that will do it right and at a good price but there doesn't seem to be one "local" to me. the first mention I had ever heard of port chaffering was one of the members said in a post "if they don't know about port chaffering, walk away" (maybe not a word for word quote). Since then, I've saw it talked about several times. I makes sense but if I had not read about it here, I would have never questioned the work from the other shop.
 
I had a cylinder bored several months ago at a local bike shop, which has a great reputation for building race winning bikes. It's for a CR250 that I still haven;t put back together yet. Today I was looking at the cylinder and noticed the ports were not chaffered, port edges are sharp as a knife. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an engine guy and I had never heard of chaffering the ports before I read about it here in the last few weeks. I don't know how important it is or if it's a Blaster thing. Before I realized today that the ports weren't chaffered, I had been considering sending my stuff to one of 3 engine builders I've come to know here (I haven't decided which one of the 3) but now I'm sure I want to send it off. On a side note, I did talk to the local builder about doing me a Blaster engine and he's talking cylinder pressures of 230-250 PSI. After reading some stuff here, that seems way to high. What civicsidude said is true, It's going to cost me more than twice to send it off than having it done locally (about $80 instead of $35) but I'll gladly pay the extra for the piece of mind that comes with paying someone who knows the specific engine being worked on. I'm sure there are local shops that will do it right and at a good price but there doesn't seem to be one "local" to me. the first mention I had ever heard of port chaffering was one of the members said in a post "if they don't know about port chaffering, walk away" (maybe not a word for word quote). Since then, I've saw it talked about several times. I makes sense but if I had not read about it here, I would have never questioned the work from the other shop.

It really called Chamfering and is required on all cylinders not just blasters. It will eat those rings in no time if not done!
 
I had a cylinder bored several months ago at a local bike shop, which has a great reputation for building race winning bikes. It's for a CR250 that I still haven;t put back together yet. Today I was looking at the cylinder and noticed the ports were not chaffered, port edges are sharp as a knife. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an engine guy and I had never heard of chaffering the ports before I read about it here in the last few weeks. I don't know how important it is or if it's a Blaster thing. Before I realized today that the ports weren't chaffered, I had been considering sending my stuff to one of 3 engine builders I've come to know here (I haven't decided which one of the 3) but now I'm sure I want to send it off. On a side note, I did talk to the local builder about doing me a Blaster engine and he's talking cylinder pressures of 230-250 PSI. After reading some stuff here, that seems way to high. What civicsidude said is true, It's going to cost me more than twice to send it off than having it done locally (about $80 instead of $35) but I'll gladly pay the extra for the piece of mind that comes with paying someone who knows the specific engine being worked on. I'm sure there are local shops that will do it right and at a good price but there doesn't seem to be one "local" to me. the first mention I had ever heard of port chaffering was one of the members said in a post "if they don't know about port chaffering, walk away" (maybe not a word for word quote). Since then, I've saw it talked about several times. I makes sense but if I had not read about it here, I would have never questioned the work from the other shop.

shipping is not as bad as everyone thinks if u pack it correctly and ship it parcel post may take longer but it saves a lot, it cost me like 30 to ship it mine to ken and thats a whole motor and ken sends it back in a cooler and guarantees his work if any problems, a local shop is going to put it off on u and say it was ur riding that did it or "lack" of experience. they are sheisty these days.
 
If you live that close hell id drive just to meet ken!!!

If i were you id go to ken and stay away from run of the mill machine shops and go to someone who specifically deals with these engines and kens got more experience than most members here have been alive.

If it were me id drive down and work side by side with ken that would be awesome i can only imagine the sh*t that guy can tell you!Hes probably forgot more than most know!