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Communities at Work: Roar of the engine May 9, 2009
The roar of the engine echoes, as if the sound is trying to escape the confines of the four walls holding it at bay. The sounds are deafening as Gregg Kolbaba fires up the 1966 Ford Fairlane he's been working on for a customer. Kolbaba knows a lot about cars, he speaks passionately about them, and it's something he brings to his work as the owner of Valley Performance in Craig. A racer himself, Kolbaba does custom work at his shop. He can make that rust-bucket found at the junkyard look brand new and make it able to shoot around the track to boot. Kolbaba said learning about cars is an ongoing process, and it's something that gets more and more complicated as time goes on. "Once you build something nice, then the next one has to be nicer, and the next one nicer yet, and it gets to the point where you have to achieve perfection," he said.
Gregg Kolbaba works on a cylinder head earlier this month in the engine assembly room at his shop, Valley Performance, in Craig. Kolbaba said he builds and rebuilds all types of engines, from stock to race engines.
Kolbaba programs a CNC machining center May 1 at Valley Performance. Typically used for mass production, Kolbaba said it has a wide range of production capabilities for applications in his shop.
A personal project Kolbaba is working on in his shop is a 1934 Chevrolet truck. He installed a 1957 Chrysler Hemi engine in the truck.
Kolbaba spent almost two years working on a 1966 Ford Fairlane for a customer.
The machining center uses a carbide boring head for engine block machining.
