At the Top of the RPM Range - Engine Builder Magazine

At the Top of the RPM Range

RPM Engine and Machine is off to a quick start

IMG_1003Craig Haslem first got into the engine building industry while working at a NAPA store in Berea, OH. He worked as a counterman in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s until he was asked to work in the machine shop at the location.

After just a week, the guy who brought him into the machine shop seriously injured his back and had to leave. Craig was on his own, but not for long. After three quick months, another NAPA store in West Park, OH asked Craig to take over its machine shop. Craig jumped at the opportunity and ran the shop for 12 years.

In 2005, a lot changed for Craig and his family. He lost his father and inherited an Office Furniture and Supply store. Although Craig had little interest or experience in running an office supply store, he decided to pursue it. After 8 years of ups and downs, Craig was itching to go back to what made him most happy – engine building and machine work.

In 2012, Craig was hired at a machine shop in North Olmstead, OH. However, getting back into the business wasn’t all Craig had remembered it to be, at least not here. Living nearly 30 miles away in Medina, Craig had a long commute and some of the ways the machine shop did business didn’t sit right with Craig, so he made the decision to go out on his own and start a shop.

“I hated to leave and felt bad walking away, but I had to give my own place a try,” he says. “I’m glad I had the experience I did running the office supply store, because I got to understand the difficulties of running your own business. Had I not done that before opening my own place, I don’t know if I would have succeeded.”

Craig left the North Olmstead shop in 2015 and opened RPM Engine and Machine in Medina, OH in August that same year. With a new building and a $60,000 investment, Craig was up and running. Now, just about a full-year later, his shop is seeing strong business.

Since his time at NAPA, Craig says that a few of the area stores have been closed down, and a good portion of that work has been coming to RPM Engine and Machine now. In addition, RPM gets cylinder head work from local dealerships, which has been a boost to the business. He does crack repair work and full rebuilds as well.

IMG_0995Craig has done a few builds for racing applications and has a drag race engine currently in the shop, but that’s not his primary focus.

“I prefer to work on muscle car engine builds and antique/restoration type work,” he says. “I like doing the jobs that most people aren’t willing to put in the effort, and more importantly, the time to do. Now that I have my own shop, I can allocate the proper time to doing those kinds of jobs and doing them right.”

While Craig has the ability to take in race, performance, marine and motorcycle work if it comes in the door, he’s got enough business each month that he isn’t relying upon having to work on anything and everything that comes his way. And if he isn’t comfortable working on a certain job, he won’t try to fake his way through a job.

“I pride myself on being as perfect as I can be in my work, and if I don’t feel comfortable with a certain job I won’t try to pretend I can do it,” he says. “I’ll recommend they go somewhere else. But the jobs I do take on, I make sure to do them right. I do all my own machine work and I sharpen my own cutters. I don’t have any CNC machines. I’m an old-school machinist and you have to know what a good machine job feels like, which is hard to teach.”

RPM Engine and Machine has a number of machines on hand to do all the work coming through the door. RPM has a thermal cleaning machine, shot blast machine, flywheel grinder, cylinder head pressure tester, Rottler boring bar, Winona cylinder hone, Bridgeport mill, TCM seat and guide machine and a DCM seat and guide machine.

“If I have the machine and the ability to do a job, I’ll do it,” he says.

While Craig’s shop has been busy in just its first year, Craig doesn’t advertise his business. He does have a website (www.rpmmachine.net) and a Facebook page, but the majority of his work comes via word of mouth. It also doesn’t hurt that dissatisfied customers from other shops come to Craig at RPM to fix poor-quality jobs.

“So many shops or DIYers these days seem to think ‘good enough’ is all it takes to run a business,” Craig says. “There is a difference between good and good enough. Also, a lot of shops don’t seem to take the time to properly clean parts, and that is 50% of the job. I make sure that all the jobs that I do here are professionally done and are high quality. I don’t want customers coming back to me because their engine fell apart for reasons it shouldn’t have. I want them to come back because they loved the engine work I did for them.”

Perhaps its this mentality and a good business acumen that have helped Craig make RPM a success in its first year, but often times in this industry, the work speaks for itself and success follows.

“People told me it would be years before my business would be profitable and that I should be prepared for that, which I appreciated, but I have been fortunate in that RPM has been profitable since day one, and that was my biggest hurdle in starting this business.”

You May Also Like

LTR Engine Build

This Late Model Engines build is centered around Concept Performance’s new LTR block, which is the first aftermarket as-cast aluminum Gen V LT block. 

The Chevrolet LT engine family from General Motors is rooted in the early ‘70s, when the LT1 was featured in the Corvette and Camaro Z28. After a 20-year hiatus, GM reintroduced the platform in the early ‘90s. The “LT1 350” came out in 1991, and was distinct from the high-output Gen I LT1 of the 1970s. It displaced 5.7L (350 cu in), and was a two-valve per cylinder pushrod design. The LT1 used a reverse-flow cooling system, which cooled the cylinder heads first, maintaining lower combustion chamber temperatures and allowing the engine to run at a higher compression than its immediate predecessors.

LS Intake Manifolds

LS swaps are popular for many reasons, but there are a lot of variations and details to sort through – more of them than you may expect – and many of them are associated with the intake manifold.

LS Cylinder Heads

The LS engine is known for its cylinder heads, and there are tons of options available to upgrade the factory components.

Choosing the Correct Block for Your LS Engine Build

Whether you’re scouring junkyards, ordering cores, investigating factory options, looking at aftermarket cast iron or aluminum blocks, or spending big bucks on billet LS blocks, you’ve probably noticed it’s been harder to find exactly what you want for the foundation of your LS build than it historically has.

Open Loop/Closed Loop and Learning

Closed-loop control can be programmed to either add or subtract up to a certain percentage of fuel in order for the engine to reach the target air/fuel ratio.

Other Posts

Shop Solutions January 2023

Next time you have set of large journal small block Chevy connecting rods to resize, consider honing the big ends of them for a +.002” outside diameter bearing that the LS engines with fracture cap rods use.

The Story of Callies Performance Products

We recently got access to go inside Callies Performance Products‘ Fostoria, OH facility and speak with owner Rick Norton and his son Heath Norton, up close and personal. What we got was the story of how Callies came to be a leading manufacturer of engine components, and where the company is going next. Related Articles

Dream Engine Giveaway Ep. 4 – Bottom End Assembly

Now that Chris has checked all our specs, we begin to assemble the bottom end components of our small block Ford such as the rotating assembly, main and rod bearings and the camshaft. Next episode, we will be getting into our cylinder head assembly and more of the valvetrain components. Related Articles – Compound Turbo

Shop Solutions December 2022

Everyone misses occasionally, and this helps avoid dents and damage.