Berry Wardlaw and his crew at Accurate
Engineering in Dothan, Alabama, have made it up town. They have
worked hard and long building motorcycle engines for the likes of me
and others. They have earned and built a reputation for good quality
work at reasonable prices.
Now they are in big demand by the
builders of the bikes that compete in the Discovery Channel Build
Offs and the Custom Bike Show Circuit. Many of these builders
believe that Berry’s engines give them a winning edge. The engines
are as exotic as the motorcycles. They run hard and are dependable.
Big-inch knuckleheads, panheads and shovelheads on the same engine
are no problem. Blowers, turbos, multiple carburetors—you name it,
they do it.
Of course they build stock to hot
street engines in numerous styles, sizes and finishes at very
reasonable prices. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Berry for a long
time. I first met him in 1988when I was returning from Phil
Peterson’s Miami Key West Poker Run and stopped at the Overseas
Lounge to attend a benefit for a lady rider friend named Star who
had been killed riding back from Daytona earlier in the year. I was
riding my turbocharged shovelhead, and of course we got into a
conversation about it.
He moved to West Melboume, Florida, in
1989, and went to work at Harley Motor Works where I was employed.
We rode and partied together along with his dog Wendy, who rode with
him everywhere. He went to Sturgis for the 50th Anniversary, then to
Flagstaff, and in 1991 to Alaska, all the time working in motorcycle
shops.
In 1996 he ended up in Dothan, Alabama,
and opened Accurate Engineering. He had some contacts, a good
reputation and the business grew He got a little ink in some of the
publications and eventually supplied all the panhead engines for
Panzer, an aftermarket motorcycle manufacturer.
Word of him started to spread and
people found out that they could get their engines rebuilt, or order
a new one with updated internal parts, many of which were made
especially for him. They ran good, did not leak, were fairly priced
and came with a good warranty.
He was taking ads out in some of the
magazines and attending the trade shows showing his products. The
word started to spread and his business started to grow Soon there
was a waiting period for his engines. He refused to lower his
standards to increase production, but hired help and has trained
them personally.
His Signature Series engines soon
became the ones to have, and his business is still growing. He has
had to stop doing rebuilds, though, as they just take so long
compared with building a new one from the ground up.
I was hired by American Quantum Cycle,
an aftermarket motorcycle manufacturing company in Melbourne,
Florida, who was using the Fueling design four-valve-per-cylinder
heads on their production motorcycles. I had been running these
heads for years, made numerous improvements to them and even wrote a
few technical articles. I was hired to solve problems they were
having in the engine shop. It was a constant battle with management
and some people who called themselves engineers about how to build a
quality engine.
I contacted Berry, sent him some parts
and went to his shop. We did an article that appeared in Quick
Throttle on how to accurately build a four-valve engine.
I went home, replaced the 89-cubic-inch
four-valve with the Accurate 96-inch and continued to ride it back
and forth to work. Some of the guys knew what I had done, and
finally the word got around. I was not having any of the problems
that Quantum was having, even though I had purchased all the parts
from them. Berry was using all the same parts, but was holding
different tolerances and assembling the engine correctly Oh yeah,
just for the record I do have the rigid frame with the four-valve
engine in it. It still runs great.
I got Berry and Billy Lane hooked up,
Berry started by building an engine for the
Camel Bike. Billy has continued to have
Berry build engines for him ever since.
He comes into town with an engine on
the weekend; it has already been run and tested. We go by the shop
and install it, get it running, and Berry does the final tune and
adjustment. Of course when the job is done, we all get to party a
little. Actually a lot. I just do not want too many people to know
how much fun we’re having doing this.
Oh, by the way ladies—Berry is a single
parent and his son Jennings (who is one of my little buds) says he
is a good dad, too!
For more information on getting an
engine built by Berry, contact Accurate at accurate@ accurate-engineering.com
or pick up a phone and call 334-702-1993. You can also contact me
and order one at
rogue@bikerrogue.com, or visit my web site
http://www.bikerrogue.com
and click on For Sale.
—Rogue
