Sarek

I'm planning on getting head work done and I'm torn between 2 different shops, Alaniz and Portflow. I'm doing this before I install my vortech.

I'm only concerned about the consistency of quality work (or lack of) from both companies.

How many of you guys had head work done from either of these 2 shops and what are your impressions from the work, performance, fitment of parts, quality of parts used etc...?

Any information is greatly appreciated. This will help me make a better decision.

How I feel right now:

Alaniz - possibly does better work than Portflow but may not be consistent with the quality (turn around time aside) but when Alaniz builds it right, it's VERY good work (i.e. sideways) but has a few complaints from other members here.

Portflow - May or may not be better than Alaniz but does consistent quality work. No complaints so far (that I can search for at least on s2ki)
Does similar(?) work and costs less.

I'm open to rebuttals and other opinions, preferably from people who have personal experience with these different s2k heads.
But all with relevant info are welcome!

thanks again,
Paul

jyeung528

good questions...i was asking the same thing when i was deciding between the two to fix my cylinder head (66% leakage in cylinder 2 and low compression).

alaniz - very nice guy. he repaired my head, warped valve faces (he relapped them) and changed my valve guides, which were all warped (exhaust). He was very quick, he said it would take 3 days, and he finished it in 2 days. I was short about $40 in cash because of ATM withdrawal limit and he said "merry christmas" and this was after giving me discounts initially as well. i went back to pay it back after a week or so.

portflow - rude motherfuquers. talked on the phone and they kept passing me around to different people as if they didn't want to talk to me. finally some schmuck that sounded full of himself quoted me ridiculously high prices and wouldn't explain what I was paying for then said flat out "i don't even want to work on your car...its probably driver abuse and you're just going to blame all future problems on me, i don't want to discuss this further. I won't help you fix your head"

so i said fuq portflow.

Sarek

wow, that's pretty brutal. I've heard that Portflow doesn't have the best customer support/relations. But heard great things about their work.

But then again, the same goes with Alaniz. Nice guy, good intentions, but customer support is lacking (from what I've read). Glad to see you had a good personal experience with him.

Sideways can get the Alaniz turnaround time shorter for the S2k guys and I would deal with Portflow thru Tony Fuch and never will have to deal with them directly. So it just comes down to quality of work and consistency.

Bump for any other replies, good or bad

duff0000

Im looking forward to replies on this thread, as I am researching both companies to do possible work on my head as well.

Sarek

Bump!

jyeung528

You're going to get good results from both.

only factors to consider is

- turnaroung time
- price

alaniz has better price. turnaround time, alaniz has improved greatly as well.

leftyz

i had a 500whp gsr build a couple years back. went with portflow after seeing my friend's ported head must up some numbers ! They finished my head within a week, but a family emergency came up so i had to lend my mom some funds for a few weeks. So i called Tom (owner), explained my situation, and asked him if i can postpone the pick up. Then he goes off on how i'm holdin up his business, wants his money asap, and he's going to charge me extra becuase my head is taking up space in his shop ! The thing is when i dropped it off, he was the coolest guy and very opinionated with my horsepower goals.

jyeung528

sounds like the same prick-ass fuquer i delt with.

screw them.

John_Z

I have a stage 3 head done by Port Flow Design. You have to go through Laskey Racing for this. All the parts are by Supertech. The workmanship is top notch. You can get your head flowed tested as well. God rest his soul, Earl Laskey and I had several discussions about building the head and he always took the time to explain why they build heads the way they do with data/flow numbers. Since Earl's passing I have not spoken with Mike Laskey but I'm sure he carries on his father's dedication.

Both companies do really really good work.

Sarek

thanks for the replies everyone.

John Z, I went to Laskey Racing about 2 weeks ago to drop off a short block to get sleeved and met Mike for the first time. Really great guy, and you're right, he's still running the business. He told me that most people didn't knwo that Mike was the one that was mostly the wrench while his dad was the "Face" of Laskey Racing. It was a perfect combo. They both loved the same thing and had a great relationship. If I could only have met Earl for some of his advice...
btw, when I was there, 3 of 4 of the blocks there were for S2000's.

I agree that going thru another shop (Laskey/Tony Fuch) for portflow is best.

bump for any experiences with Alaniz, both good and bad. (turnaround time aside)