Ray Allen versus Jack Werst '1970 SS/EA Showdown'

[Frank Castros]

Is Weston Machine of Piscataway NJ still "THE" shop for block prep?

[SSDA Hemi]

Originally Posted by Frank Castros

Is Weston Machine of Piscataway NJ still "THE" shop for block prep?

Yes. The MichaelAngelo of cast iron, lol!

[Rich Biebel]

Originally Posted by Frank Castros

Is Weston Machine of Piscataway NJ still "THE" shop for block prep?

Charlie is still there and really a great guy to talk to...Last time I was there he back cut some rings for me and we sat and talked about the old days for a while...He has a good memory cause he remebered an incident both our places had with Ralph from T/K's. We both did some machine work apprently on the same block and something somewhere went wrong and Ralph was not happy......and if he was not happy you heard about it....and we all got an earfull on that one.....

The place Weston is in now and for the last 25+ years was T/K's shop when they built the Chevelle.......

Charlie worked for John Hoffman I believe at one time.......

He has a CNC block machine and he told me he spent more on that machine and the tooling for it than he had spent on all the other machines he has and that was over 25 years worth! His place is packed with machines......

[Rich Biebel]

Originally Posted by Paul Ceasrine

Rich B.

Charlie Cockey,,,,,a smooth talker,,,,,he was from Maryland.

The NEWAY carbide cutter set-up,,,,,,,,,about $1800 or so for the kit,,,,
worked great for the foreign head soft seats too,,,,,,

Charlie Cockey, one pressure salesman,,,,,,,,,his commision base for
NEWAY was 50%,,,,,,,,,,$900 per unit,,,,,,,,not too bad for those
early-to-mid 1980's salesman,,,,,,
My father threw him out,,,,,,,,but still bought one anyway,,,,,
They did serve a purpose,,,,,,

Sounds like Jack Vogel may have been to your shop too,,,,,
he was the rep for Winona, Storm-Vulcan, Rottler and Tobin-Arp,
Goodsen, K-Line and few other companies,,,,,,

Winona FG-5000 Flywheel Grinder,,,,,,,,,,,,,another great money maker
for the shop,,,,,,,

pc

The Neway seat cutter had one bad feature.....the cast iron chips that were made from cutting seats piled up and blocked your view of the seat and top cuts......So your natural reaction is to blow the chips away.....Even with S-G's (safety glasses) you often get one in an eye.......Lets see freshly cut cast iron and moisture.....and your eyes propensity for capturing foreign objects........Lets just say I visited the eye doctor a few times and at least one was real unpleasant.......

I wear better protection these days (Plastic goggles) when I have to roll around under a vehicle at work just to avoid the eye doctor visits....

The Neway was priced right about what you stated...and I figured that guy Charlie sold every machine shop he could find one.

The Serdi guys did not have that kind of success......the price for one of those was off the scale.....

[BadBanana]

I remember the shop that Ralph, Tommy and Jerry were in in Piscataway (spelling?) before they moved up on rte 22 .........was it rte.22? can't remember the number now but I remember the place.

One thing about Ralph and the Chevelle that hasn't been said. One of Ralph's great abilities, and something he very much enjoyed, was researching classes and what best fits where. He knew that the hp rating for the Chevelle was NOT the best in relation to the hp it could make in SS trim - it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. The thing about it was that there wasn't much, at the time, that was good in the class; and it took that body and that higher compression engine to favorably make the class. He knew, for example that the 425 hp 454 was a better motor in relation to what it would make but they wanted to run that particular class.
I'm not sure about this but I think there was at least a question of whether or not the street Hemi was ever really available in a convertible from your local dealer. Of course when Chrysler wanted to go after the Chevelle, they made sure it was available. At the time they built the Chevelle I don't think there were any Hemi convertibles running in the class.

[SSDA Hemi]

Yes, it was route 22 in Greenbrook. I was never at their shop when they were in Piscataway where Weston is Currently. Never knew they were there until this thread...

Hoffmans old shop is still standing, actually vacant and up for sale. They painted the building a few years back and I wish I took a picture before they took the name off the door. I'd rather remember it the way it was.

And Richie, Where you ever at Westons shop when he was in Edison on Talmage rd? Now that was wall to wall machines. Very small shop,but top notch work, even back then, lol!

[Frank Castros]

I recall reading somewhere that Weston does block prep for some of the Pro Stock NASCAR teams .
Can anyone verify that?

[Rich Biebel]

Originally Posted by SSDA Hemi

Yes, it was route 22 in Greenbrook. I was never at their shop when they were in Piscataway where Weston is Currently. Never knew they were there until this thread...

Hoffmans old shop is still standing, actually vacant and up for sale. They painted the building a few years back and I wish I took a picture before they took the name off the door. I'd rather remember it the way it was.

And Richie, Where you ever at Westons shop when he was in Edison on Talmage rd? Now that was wall to wall machines. Very small shop,but top notch work, even back then, lol!

Best I can recall I was only at Charlie's shop in Piscataway.......and yes it is where T/K was when they had the Chevelle......We installed out engine in our '68 Chevy II H/S 'er there in 1970.

I was at Hoffmans at least once but don;t recall where that was.

I was always told Hoffman owned some of the T/K buildings....Maybe owned the Piscatawy shop.....Maybe the shop on Rt 22......Don't really know...

Ralph was in a Sunoco gas station on Rt 22 east the first time I visited him.
I was wanting to build a '58 Pontiac Stocker and Ralph may have already had some experience with those cars......It's tough to recall details from that long ago......

I did like and respect Ralph very much.....He did love to pour thru the NHRA books looking for good combos to run and he is directly responsible for so many of the cars that were built back then.....It was all him.....He could be tough to deal with but I am sure it is because of his very high intellegence and lack of patience for excuses or poor performance.....He was a very talented man and the records his engines set prove it....

[Rich Biebel]

Originally Posted by Frank Castros

I recall reading somewhere that Weston does block prep for some of the Pro Stock NASCAR teams .
Can anyone verify that?

Frank I don;t know about today but that was true some years back. Charlie ahd a Jumbo sized Bridgeport type mill and it could accomodate any block.

The CNC machine he bought was able to do many block operations....

He did lightening and lifter bore machining as well as other machine operations for various blocks......I think he also was doing the LS type aluminum blocks. Sleeves for bigger bores and that from what I know is a fairly complicated deal to do properly...and not cheap....

[TOM KASCH]

N.Y. Times story of T-K

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009...et/#more-28567

Went to Truppi in 76 and had him build us a 325-396, took it to the winternationals,
spun a cam bearing while testing at IRwindale, call with the cam #and found out Clauide put the wrong cam in.