Oh boy...where to start. Ian needs an engine rebuild and so does Chris. They call to have me check things out and mentor them through the projects. No problem generally. We strip these engines 6 months apart and find that they are both on spec for crank/mains/bores. So just toss in a new set of rings/bearings and cam/head work and you're down the road.
With life and work and everything that comes with our hobby, both these lumps end up in the machine shop on the same day. Both engines are the same - like pretty much identical, even similar years. Anyway, we have them properly tagged to keep it all straight and you guessed it...one block has a rusty bore and it needs an overbore. It looks like this:
Now, they get one done and the other has to wait for pistons...problem is, they mixed the blocks up after they were cleaned. Now, Ian has been told to order pistons and Chris has a block that is not his (but is ready to assemble). GRRR. I know the heads are fine (both getting the same work) as they stamped the number 1 on Chris's head but not his block. Bill are paid - people are getting pissed and I'm sitting in the middle having caused NONE of this.
I need no more trouble in my life and being triangulated between customers that don't speak "machine shop" and what was an obvious mistake and not a really big deal is over the top what I don't need right now. Maybe I should just hang it up and stop being accessible/nice. I like to help. I honestly hate this part.