Shipping from the US? Here is an alternative...

[91_Formula]

I believe the term is freight forwarding. You use this company as your ship to address when shipping from a supplier in the USA (to leverage their reasonable shipping costs, I think summit racing is $11 for anything under 150 lbs away where in the continental US). They hold your package for you, charge a small fee, you pick it up, deal with the border people and your on your way.

Cost is $5 per parcel per month or $16.50 per pallet per week. They need to have a credit card on file for you before they will agree to receive a pallet. They have a forklift to load your flat deck truck or trailer (for crate engines etc, yay!).

So to use these guys you have your ship to address setup on you parcel like:

Your Name
c/o UPS SCS
309 2nd Street
Sweetgrass MT 59484

Hours of operation Monday to Friday 8am to 4:30pm, payments made in cash only, Canadian or US.

Their phone number is 406.335.2639

I attached a map showing Calgary to Sweetgrass, it is just on the other side of the border. Map blast says 3 hrs one way, not too shabby. I might be making a trip there in the next couple months, I'll let you know if I do and then maybe a few of us can go together on the travel etc. I have a full size van 2500, so I have a decent amount of room. Failing that I can tow 4000lb worth of trailer and bits pretty easy too.

Anyone know where to rent a flat deck trailer? Big enough for an engine, tranny and diff for example?

[StubbleJumper]

This all sound very interesting especialy the part about crate engines, do you have a good bead on a supplier 91_? as I'm looking to put some meat under the hood of the blue 80...ya the ol 301 is nice for Sunday, but I wana driver on Saturday too! hahaha

[91_Formula]

Create engine wise I am still doing my research and saving my $ but here are my faves thus far:

http://www.hotrod.com/projectbuild/h...ild/index.html
http://www.nelsonracingengines.com/
http://bankspower.com/twin-turbo-products.cfm
http://www.ultrastreet.net/engines.asp
http://theengineshop.com/CompleteEngines.html

Sadly I have not had a chance to buy anything yet. Not 100% sure which way to go, so until the plan is solid I am not making a move. I broke down one day and called Banks to see what their turn key solution went for, it was approx $35,000.

I am guessing Nelson would be the same $ wise, and his engines are absolute beasts. I watched all the f-bomb videos and hey showed him pulling the bottom end off of the motor for f-bomb after 130 dyno pulls at 1500+ HP, 1500+ lb-ft out of a small block chevy. You could hardly tell the bearings had ever been used and the crank looked brand new.

Not if but when ...

[pontiac_fanatic]

B-A-L-A-N-C-E !

Your not gonna turn it into a track only car are you?? (what have I done?)

Pro-touring man! (restified?) lol

I can't let you beat me


I think he want a Pontiac V8 BTW

[91_Formula]

No I will always have at least one street car :) The current one will not be track only.

[91_Formula]

Kyle can you sticky this?

[91_Formula]

Just got back from my first Sweetgrass run. A few notes for people. Call and double check the hours before you go. Currently monday to friday 8-4:30 or so. Cash only (important fact they didn't bother mentioning). Can only store something there for 30 days then it is considered dead freight. Another important fact they never mentioned.

Service was good none the less, wuick and efficient. Small place, way smaller than I expected. And about 100' from the border, so you don't have to go far once you cross the border.

Customs was about 1.5 hours from the time we pulled up to when we were paid up and down the road.

[pontiac_fanatic]

so what were the goodies? never mind I see in the other post.

[StubbleJumper]

Ok, this is good news, question! do they take canadian money there? seeing as could stand on the border and hit the building with a roll of toonies hahaha. One more thing there 91_ I'd like you refresh our memories as to how we go about setting this up......just short of you running down there for me and picking up my freight. B>) I'm asking because I just picked up an OEM front clip for my TA and the shipping was going to be over 500 buck USD, so I had to go underground.............I'm still diggin.

[91_Formula]

The details in my first post stand with the exception of hours of operation. I'll update the first post to be accurate. They are only open Mon - Fri, 8am to 4:30 pm. They are also in the process of changing their retention policy from 60 days to 30 days. So you can't leave your stuff there indefinitly. After 30 days it becomes what they called "dead freight". I can only imagine what happens to it at that point.

Suffice to say, when I do it again I will be contacting each of my suppliers to ensure that all the packages land at the depot in the same week and then pick them up the following week. Either that or a guy has to plan multiple trips.

Unless your ordering pallet freight there is nothing to setup except to have the shipping address look like the one I have above. If you are getting pallets then you have to contact them before hand and provide them a credit card. They appear to track packages by last name, but they will not release them to you with out matching the tracking numbers from the shipping.

My experience was pretty good, $17 for holding my 5 packages. I paid in Canadian as they accepted it on par, but remember they only accept cash. Than I paid $75 at the border for GST and was on my way. Had to pay a bit for gas and lunch but it is a pleasent drive. I can only imagine how many 100's of dollars in boker fees I have avoided.

Any other details your looking for just ask :)

[RedE]

A guy on thefbody.com did something very close to this through North Dakota.
Shipping on my headers and Y-pipe was going to be 200 from Summit and ThunderRacing, so I ordered from a place with free US shipping, had them shipped to the place the ND and he picked it up and shipped it all to me for 80 bucks via the greyhound.
Saved a ton on brokerage and shipping.

[91_Formula]

I wish I had somebody living in Coutes to do that for me :)

[RedE]

Where is that??

[91_Formula]

I guess it would help if I spelled the name of the town right

It is Coutts Alberta, on the border essentialy.

[RedE]

LOL Does get much closer than that!

[pontiac_fanatic]

so they are not open on saturdays??

[91_Formula]

Correct, last time I checked they were only open monday to friday. Now that isn't as bad as it sounds as we have allot of long weekends our southern friends don't. I plan on doing my next round of ordering such that I can pick it up on a long weekend monday.

You should give them a call before you order, as their practises seem to change over time. (saturdays, how long they hold packages etc...)

[pontiac_fanatic]

good point! If I had to take a work day off--and miss out on hrs--then it would not be a good thing.

But Thanksgiving would work.

[TAdriver]

I called UPS SCS yesterday and they won't receive packages anymore. She did give me another number of a company in sweet grass (http://www.montanashipping.com/montana_shipping_004.htm). I emailed them and the response is below.

I'm going to give it a try, I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for your inquiry. Simply have the items shipped in your name per the below address.

Your Name
C/O Montana Shipping Outlet
412 Oak Street
Box 369
Sweetgrass, MT 59484

Please note that the physical address (412 Oak Street) is REQUIRED for UPS, FedEx and freight shipments and
the box number (369) is REQUIRED for items coming via the US Postal System (USPS).

We'll notify you as your packages arrive, usually via email. We're open M-F 9:00-5:00 and the 1st and 3rd Saturdays from 10-2.

Here is our price list for receiving:

Envelopes (Includes small Soft Paks) $1.50
1-20 lbs $3.00
21-40lbs/Oversize 1 $5.00
41-60 lbs/Oversize 2 $6.50
61-80 lbs $7.50
81-100 lbs Oversize 3 $10.00
101-120 lbs $12.50
121-140 lbs $15.00
Over 140 lbs/Pallets/Freight* $20.00
Kayaks $15.00
Motorcycles, Snowmobiles, ATVs, Cars, Boats $40.00 (Crated vehicles $50)
Vehicle Registration**/License Plates** $40.00

We have room for pallets. However, we don't have a fork lift so we are limited to what can be handled by a pallet jack and several strong men. 1600 lbs is our current record. :-) While there is no time limit on picking up packages, we would prefer freight/pallets be retrieved as soon as possible. After 30 days freight/pallets (NOT PACKAGES) incur additional fees.

We have two docks. One, full sized for freight deliveries and a pickup sized dock for customer use.

*Freight and Pallets that must be unloaded by hand to fit in warehouse, are extra.
** Excludes locally maintained vehicles

COD Shipments are minimum $20 or 10 percent, whichever is greater and MUST be arranged in advance.

Thanks again and we look forward to doing business with you!

Zachary Barrett
Montana Shipping Outlet-Sweetgrass
406-335-7447
www.montanashipping.com

[91_Formula]

My frist thought was "that blows" but these new guys seem to have a way better run setup than the last guys. They wouldn't tell you when your gear arrived, and they would auciton it off after 30 days. Given the 6 hours of driving their and back it was a bit of a PITA to deal with them.

The new joint sounds pretty wicked... Thanks for the update