Any good crate engine rebuilders?

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

I did look into crate engines. I could pay the same as the local rebuilder and get a worse reputation and not the engine I want, or I could pay 3-4x more than the local rebuilder and get an engine that would be even further from the engine I want but at least would have a good reputation behind it. Neither of those options appeal to me.

With the local rebuilder, I'd be installing a new water pump, thermostat, new gaskets all around, new cap/rotor, new injectors, new fuel pressure regulator, new oil pressure sender, etc. A lot of these wouldn't come with a crate engine anyway.

Cost is certainly a factor not easily over looked under the hood.

Several of today's manufacturers have high quality reputations. Also fine warranties. They do build and offer "turn-key" crate engine options that are proven reliable @ affordable pricing. They do offer different level/cost crate engine packages. From stripped down all the way to coming with belts/plugs/distributors/fans/carbs or even EFI set ups. The great thing is one has plenty of options to bank on these days. Good luck with the search and your choice.

 

[OM617YOTA]

Cost is certainly a factor not easily over looked under the hood.

Several of today's manufacturers have high quality reputations. Also fine warranties. They do build and offer "turn-key" crate engine options that are proven reliable @ affordable pricing. They do offer different level/cost crate engine packages. From stripped down all the way to coming with belts/plugs/distributors/fans/carbs or even EFI set ups. The great thing is one has plenty of options to bank on these days. Good luck with the search and your choice.

Cost was third tier on my engine choice hierarchy. Reliability and getting the engine I want were top two.

All the crate engines I found were either stock replacements with abysmal reliability, or reliable firebreathing monsters. I don't want a stock replacement boat anchor, or a firebreathing monster - I don't care what happens above 5k rpms.

Finding a reputable shop in my area that was willing to build exactly what I want for a reasonable price = win.

 

[OM617YOTA]

Been thinking on this some more. Part of my "eek might need a rebuild ASAP" was finding gray schmoo sticking to the magnetic drain plug on my last oil change.

Pulling the valve covers to inspect the lifters, there was quite a bit of sludge. Very obvious the previous owner hadn't changed the oil often enough. I've had the truck a few years but only ~6k miles and a couple oil changes. Could see where the sludge was starting to be cleaned up by my oil changes and using reasonable quality oil, but still plenty of sludge. Cleaned what I could reach manually.

Engines will generate some small amount of wear metals as they operate. I'm wondering if the sludge was holding onto some of those wear metal particles, and as my fresh oil change cleans that sludge up, those particles are being released and caught by the magnetic drain plug. That schmoo on the drain plug may not have been recent wear, but part of the sludge cleaning releasing wear particles from who knows how many miles of operation.

How's that sound?

 

[zzyzzx]

This thread makes me wonder if the days of rebuilt engines are over.

Is there really any doubt in your mind?

 

[Donald]

Unfortunately, I think all options are hit and miss. I explored a rebuild with my 4.0 Jeep, and decided to run it until it explodes.

My Jeep 4.0 grenaded from piston skirts breaking off and falling into the crankshaft area.

 

[Donald]

99% of piston slap is harmless... just ask the Jeep 4.0 guys. My old GC with the 4.0 would clatter so bad on cold mornings you would swear it was going to throw a rod out the block, but after a few miles it idled as quiet as a church mouse. That engine had well over 250k miles on it at the time.

My Jeep GC grenaded at 96K due to cracked piston skirts.

 

[14Accent]

My Jeep GC grenaded at 96K due to cracked piston skirts.

Like I said... 99%.

 

[Chris142]

My Jeep GC grenaded at 96K due to cracked piston skirts.

They are hit or miss. Mines still getting me to work and home now @210k.

 

[Gus_Mahn]

Ford’s warranty builder is AER out of Texas. I believe they do several OE’s. Pretty sure my 5.4 3V which was purchased from Eagle engine sales was rebuilt by them. 3 year unlimited mileage warranty, but it only pays about 1/2 of shop rate on claims. If you buy from Ford parts, you pay about 40% more for the engine, but warranty pays Ford dealer shop rate. I would think most engine houses are redistributiors of AER engines. Maybe they’ll tell the truth if you ask.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

IMO, and how I did it, I split my engine build up into 3 parts: I found an old-school yet reliable machine shop that actually knew their stuff for block clean, prep, and machining. I found a separate “high performance” shop that had the CWT balancing machine that was state of the art, and then I also enlisted my brother who went to UTI and by that point had been a mechanic for about 15 years.

I put together a Dart SHP block with 4.125” bore, 3.4” stroke and 5.4” rods with a Mahle PowerPack piston kit on a Lunati Sledgehammer crank and I-beam rods to make a 302-sized 363. The balancing shop ended up getting it balanced to less than a tenth of an ounce at both ends. Topped it with a set of AFR 205 Competition-ported heads with Jesel shaft rockers and a CNC-matched Parker FunnelWeb intake, topped with a Holley Sniper EFI kit and a nice lumpy custom hydraulic roller from Erson Cams I had made when Steve Tanzi was there. Ended up making 614 HP @ 7100 & 542TQ @ 4900 and was poised to go into my ‘93 Mustang “street” car.

Then I got married, found out I had one on the way and was forced to be “responsible”, so I sold my dream combo for one hell of a bargain.

Looking back, I could have been plenty responsible with that and everything else. Man, the dumb things we do for women…

 

[Bailey28]

Near any marine supply or marinas? They do re-powers often and they might have a remanufactured short block laying around no one picked up yet.