Recomendations? Rebuilt engine work/shops in Bay Area of CA

[DadaCheese]

Greetings, Splitty '67 Type II visitor to your forum.

Writing on behalf of a bug-owning neighbor who doesn't use computers much.

His and his adult son's 1969 Beetle just blew its engine (sorry, no details about what happened), and he was asking me if I know places nearby here in the Bay Area of California (he's in Richmond, CA, which is the East Bay) that sell/install rebuilt engines.

I told him that there's got to be dozens all within close proximity, but I am polling your wonderful forum for favorites and recommendations.

I got the impression that he and/or his son would prefer to drop the car at a place that will sell him a rebuilt engine at a reasonable rate (with their trade-in engine), but also do the work of removing the old, installing the new for him/them.

Yes, everyone has favorite shops, I am certain, and I don't want folks to argue over who is best, nor do I want to cause a thread to be an argument about, or merely advertising for places...
Instead, I am hoping to find folks who have had work done here in the Bay Area, are/were happy with it and can recommend places. Knowing ball-park $ figures can help too.

If you'd prefer not to talk about it on the thread, please PM me instead. My neighbor will be grateful for the information and recommendations I gather.

Thanks in advance for your recommendations.
See you on the road in our air-cooled VWs.
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Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat.

[TheAmazingDave]

Bugformance on Capitol Ave is a good shop. They have decent labor rates, but I'm not sure what their engine prices look like. They have a plethora of ACVW parts as soon as you walk in, and friendly, knowledgeable staff as well.

Another good shop is Peninsula Automotive. They once also had a lot of good parts, but they're thinning out and their labor rates are a bit higher. I think they're preparing to close up shop, but that's speculation on my part.

Both are here in San Jose. I haven't checked out any other shops.

[67jason]

Kirkwood VW in Campbell - first choice for most mechanical work in the Bay Area.

Buggy House in Hayward.


both 10x better then Bugformance or Penninsula....though BF is good for having tons of parts in stock, but i dont trust the mechanics at either place for any real work. they tend to over charge and half-ass things....also break things and not repair/replace or even admit to it.

you could also get your neighbor a muir book and bently manual and have them rebuild their engine themselves.
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67 bug x3
67 ghia
64 bug

[pb_foots]

Fred's garage in Redwood City. Did some work for me on both the 67 Bug and my 914. Not the cheapest, but competent and seemed honest enough.