Join us in eastern Washington state to visit Hot Rod Company, a family owned and operated business that started in a garage and has grown into a custom hot rod powerhouse.

HRC co-founder JR Roby says his business is developing and building high performance engines for the street, the track, and anywhere else his customers might want it. They started building engines, and developed a niche in Fords and Chevys, particularly LS crate and LS stroker small blocks.

These days the company offers a whole range of products and services — custom blocks, machining, painting – the whole nine yards. They’ve also introduced their own line of performance parts and accessories.

Naturally, HRC’s shop floor hosts a number of Rottler machines – an F69 for boring and general-purpose machining, an H85AX for honing, an SG10XY for valve grinding, and not one but two EM69HP engine machining centers running 24 hours a day to handle all their CNC porting demands.

JR tells us that tolerance and clearances are key to machining older blocks to get the most performance out of them, which Rottler equipment makes easy for him. He also likes the fact that he can make corrections right there on the screen while the block is sitting on the machine.

It’s the precision his Rottlers provide that produces that perfect combination of power and endurance in all of his engines.

At the end of the day, what HRC is all about is giving their customer what they want at a price they can afford. And Rottler equipment is part of the equation that makes it possible. (So much so that Roby tells us he’s going to add a few more EM69s and H85s to his shop!)

Check out the video, and, if you’re in the market for an outstanding hot rod, make sure to look them up!

For episode 13 of our Featured Series, we traveled out west to Lodi, California to catch up with Joey Grose and Grose Racing Engines.

Grose Racing Engines has a state-of-the-art machine shop where they’re not just doing repairs, but designing and fabricating new parts from the ground up using Rottler equipment.

From LS motors to blown alcohol, they can build (and re-build) pretty much anything they need for engines whether it’s drag racing, performance boats, or anything in between.

Joey’s shop has a whole suite of Rottler machines. Naturally, he has an H85AX hone (the #1 hone in the business!). He also has an EM69HP High Power 5-Axis CNC Digitizing, Porting, and Universal Machining Center that he counts on for massive time savings — like 20 minutes to digitize a part and he’s machining.

And, he’s just taken delivery of a shiny, new F69A programmable machining center, which gives him the ability to do all his block machining tasking with a single machine.

Check out the video for a look at what Grose Racing Engines has going on!