And more time passes

The machine shop is still holding my parts hostage. They never did call me about the condition of everything, I had to call them 4 weeks later on a job they said would take 1 week, just cleaning and measuring everything.

I was told it needed far more work than I was prepared to do, and after some discussion it came out that it wasn't "needed" but "suggested" or "a good way to line the machinist's pockets". The work that was necessary included valve guides and a valve job, and planing the head and block deck. I was told that entire process would take 3 days. Now 2 weeks later and they're still not done...