Besides sitting hère Being upset at FS1 for their 3 am start Time this morning for the two repeats of the nationals, (I like racing but not enough to get up on a Sunday morning to do it), I was looking at the price difference between ATK And blueprint sbc engines. After carrying 2 and timesing by 3 and dividing by 4 i réalise i can’t build an engine from the ground up anymore compared to the cost of a crate. What crate engines havé you used,if any, and how did they work out.

Scott Horsley

quote:

Originally posted by qtrrcr:
Besides sitting hère Being upset at FS1 for their 3 am start Time this morning for the two repeats of the nationals, (I like racing but not enough to get up on a Sunday morning to do it), I was looking at the price difference between ATK And blueprint sbc engines. After carrying 2 and timesing by 3 and dividing by 4 i réalise i can’t build an engine from the ground up anymore compared to the cost of a crate. What crate engines havé you used,if any, and how did they work out.

Scott Horsley

Scott, What are you looking at for power & will it be sbc/bbc?

Hope everything is good with you & your family.
Bryan

Bryan, small block.I was just looking at the différence in price between the atk 420 horse and the blueprint 420 horse. Over a grand différence.I Know I could spend 15k on an eight second engine but just getting à crank the heads, pistons and rods for an 11 to 1 engine is $4000.Then you havé valve train,fuel system and ignition on top of that. I just cant see how they can sell a turn key drop in for 4 to 5k and have it be reliable. AND atk has frèe shipping which is worth 400 or so. Just trying to get a fêel for their reliability or if it is just cheap parts.I dont know
Good to hear from you. We are fine so far, hope all is well with you.
Scott Horsley

This is my personal opinion & I have never ran a crate motor. I always said if I was going to run one it would be a GM crate motor. Have you checked into one they have a low 400hp 383, but I didn't check the price.

I have used Blueprint engines a lot on customer builds. Never an issue.

Scott,

I did a little more research last night. If I was looking for the 400-425 hp range. I think the style long block you are looking at will suit your needs. The parts used are adequate for that HP range.

Here's an example of my old 385 sbc I machined & built around 2000 it has around 3,000 passes. It was built using budget parts; 13.8:1 compression hypereuctic pistons, cast crank, decent rods, GM used 1 piece seal block, cast iron Sportsman II heads, good roller cam/valve train. The motor put out around 550hp. It has been sitting since 2008 & I'm freshening it now. The weakest links in this motor is the cast/external balanced crank & the pistons. This motor really pushes/exceeds the envelope of parts used. If I was using these parts in the 400-425 hp range, I wouldn't worry about them.

Matt, thanks for the input. Bryan, both my race engines are fresh as of late last year and we haven't been on the track at all this year. I have 2, 2 bolt sbc one a 350 and the other a 355. Both have stock parts. I just finished building them and waiting for a home for them,and now I am completely out of parts. In fact one is a long block because I don't even have a intake manifold left over.The price list I put together is right at 4100 to build one from scratch either with a used block with machine work or getting a new block already prepped. Looking at this list is what got me wondering about the crates. I'm sure the companies get a healthy price break on parts but all the same that 3700 is still quite a bit cheaper than what I can do it for.I had to turn down a rebuild on a 5.7 truck engine that had blown up, the best I could do was 2300 and you can buy them new for 1600. Being retired now and not racing I don't have anything better to do than think this stuff up haha

LOL, while I'm not retired yet. I'm on short term disability & the way it looks long term. Because they don't want to do my surgery during these unknown times. So, I understand having extra time, hence rebuilding my old 385.

This year was planned as a mild racing year to make some upgrades to our racing program. Like buying a enclosed trailer with bathroom package & updating the 80 Camaro. Well of course this whole virus thing has everything in turmoil. My wants/wishes/surgery are on hold for now. They are really insignificant to what's going on in the world today.