im wondering if anyone has actually figured out if building up a good 350 is worth it compared to buying a crate motor. The motor I have in my Malibu is pretty low mileage 350 from a 71 z28. I've been told from the factory it's a 9:1 cr 270hp with a steel crank and flat tops. Just trying to figure what route to take. Any and all advice would be appreciated. Thanks
Build or crate
- Thread starter Dr79classic
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One thing I like about building my own is that when you are done you know exactly what is in it for parts as well as clearances,torque #'s,etc.
If your engine is in good condition it should be fairly easy & cheap to rebuild it and add some better heads and upgrade the cam & valvetrain.
A set of Vortec heads would likely wake it right up !!
Guy
If your engine is in good condition it should be fairly easy & cheap to rebuild it and add some better heads and upgrade the cam & valvetrain.
A set of Vortec heads would likely wake it right up !!
Guy
My dad has a Goodwrench SBC 350 in an '82 Elco. It's a very reliable engine, but weak power wise compared to what I'm accustomed to my dad building.
You can pretty much buy as much horsepower as you want in a box. Whether it is worth it or not is pretty subjective. I bought a 350hp 350 crate engine. It's a Goodwrench shortblock with Vortec heads and a mild performance cam. I paid $2600 delivered to my home with lift gate service. For me, it was a no brainer. New and rebuilt are not the same thing. The key to having a good rebuilt engine is finding a really good machine shop and I have yet to accomplish that.
It's hard to beat a crate engine, order what you want and you have it and most are warrantied. A lot has to be considered, even your mechanical skills. You need to put pen to paper to make your decision. Your probably asking this after I mentioned what you have. In my case the short block I had didn't have a ring groove and after taking it apart and measuring, it could go back together std, all I needed was a re-ring kit & new cam bearing. On the other hand if you engine needs to be bored, new pistons, crank work, rod work, the cost goes crazy. Don't forget if you go crate you can always sell yours. By the way mine runs 7.14 in the 1/8th
I like to build them myself, and well, maybe that's because I can't order a crate motor from a catalog. It is nice though, once you find a good machinist, to do all the work yourself, and know whats in your motor. It's a learning experience, and you can ask lots of questions and really get a feel for how things work, and how they work together.
For simplicity, a crate engine is the way to go.
For simplicity, a crate engine is the way to go.
Something else to consider is that even though your new crate motor may have a warranty sometimes it is hard to get the vendor to honour that warranty.Apparently GM is notorious for this and some dealers will only honour warranties if they do the install.
Guy
Guy
I prefer to build my own engines but as stated that can only really be done if you have a good machine shop that you can trust to do the machine work correctly.
And there is definitely a feeling of satisfaction when you assemble it yourself and if people ask you who built your engine you get to say "I did" but there is also a level of skill required along with the proper tools and being meticulous and having a lot of patience.
Now for my Regal project I was going to build a 355 or 383 out of a bare block I have and put on some fresh Edelbrock RPM heads I basically got for free along with a Howards roller cam, air gap intake but after reading an article in Super Chevy were they take a new GM 190 horse crate engine and add a blower I was impressed that it actually made 287 horse and 362 ft lbs of torque NA with only headers an air gap intake and a 650 carb and that is at 8.5 compression.
Anyways this long block is only $1,459 shipped so I have decided to buy my first crate long block and I will strip off the heads, cam, oil pan etc. and sell them then install my roller cam, aluminum heads and intake with a Holley carb and Hei and my compression will be around 9.5 with my heads and this should make for a nice budget cruiser engine for my Regal and having a brand new short block is nice also.
I figure by the time I get my bare block fully prepped with a bore, hone etc and then get the balance done on the rotating assembly it will be at least 2/3 or more of the cost of the new shortblock after I sell the parts off it.
And there is definitely a feeling of satisfaction when you assemble it yourself and if people ask you who built your engine you get to say "I did" but there is also a level of skill required along with the proper tools and being meticulous and having a lot of patience.
Now for my Regal project I was going to build a 355 or 383 out of a bare block I have and put on some fresh Edelbrock RPM heads I basically got for free along with a Howards roller cam, air gap intake but after reading an article in Super Chevy were they take a new GM 190 horse crate engine and add a blower I was impressed that it actually made 287 horse and 362 ft lbs of torque NA with only headers an air gap intake and a 650 carb and that is at 8.5 compression.
Anyways this long block is only $1,459 shipped so I have decided to buy my first crate long block and I will strip off the heads, cam, oil pan etc. and sell them then install my roller cam, aluminum heads and intake with a Holley carb and Hei and my compression will be around 9.5 with my heads and this should make for a nice budget cruiser engine for my Regal and having a brand new short block is nice also.
I figure by the time I get my bare block fully prepped with a bore, hone etc and then get the balance done on the rotating assembly it will be at least 2/3 or more of the cost of the new shortblock after I sell the parts off it.
Building your own setup is fun. If you have the mechanical skills to do it, then why not. Blue Printing an engine is key to prolonged engine life. So if you don't have mics or Guages for measuring then buy some. Take a weekend off and build an engine. Or you can go ahead and buy a crate. $ for $ what will get more HP? I don't know it all depends.
This is valid. Buying everything from summit, a crate engine is a deal. When you are willing to buy used, look around on the forums, and go to swap meets, you can build a good runner relatively inexpensively.
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