Motor Opinions...

[Kato Asmodeus]

I'm Checking Out These Guys As Well As Edelbrock... Any Other Recommendations?...

http://www.musclecarengines.com/

 

[565bbchevy]

A majority of crate engines reuse a factory block and rebuild it with better components so other than your higher end race engines most will have a used block and some will also have reconditioned rods, and definitely a used block if you decide to put a Pontiac in.

 

[Kato Asmodeus]

Ahh Ok, Thank You 565bbchevy... I Actually Didn't Know That...

 

[jerry455]

I am buying an '86 2+2 with a wasted 305. I am also in your situation deciding on which engine to put in my car. Another engine I have been considering is an LS engine. If I go with a pontiac motor I will get an eagle stroker crank to make a 455 from a 400. It is much easier and cheaper to do than finding and purchasing a 455. Afriend has done several stroker 455's from 400's and they have worked very well. I have been reading up on LS swaps and they are very interesting. My previous Grand Prix, 1986 LE, I had a homebuilt ZZ3 motor with a 700r4 and a 3.73 posi axle. I used the stock electronic Q-jet and distributor and it ran very well. [email protected] at Milan Dragway on sreet tires and through the full exhaust. I got 15 mpg around town and 20 on the freeway. I am tempted to do the same powertrain that my old car had. I don't know if any one of the engines is more reliable than the other especially in stock configuration.

 

[454muscle]

World Crate Motors -- check them out. They make a nice small block 454 crate motor.

However, for reliability, you can't beat GM -- If you're going big block I'd go GM ZZ502 EFI crate or the GM 572 BBC.

I went with Edelbrock and chose the 555 EFI BBC. The problem was that it was untested, and I had a LOT of bugs to iron out to get the Edelbrock Pro Flow system to work. I STILL have to iron out some bugs with timing and air/fuel ratio. Also at one point the car just failed to start altogether, and it turns out there was an ignition part within the distributor, which was undisclosed and "proprietary" for this engine, I had to send the whole distributor back to Edelbrock for them to replace the defective part and send it back. Long story short, go with a tried and tested crate motor that's reliable (as best as you can afford), so you can have fun with your engine and not worry about trying to get it to work right. A crate motor should be plug and play. i wish someone had told me this before I went through what I did!

 

[Curless]

I would definitely go with a newer LS based engine. An LS is expensive so why not go with a 5.3 and a 4L60E? You can get a complete ready to run with all the accessories engine, trans, wiring harness, computer for around $1000 - $1500 and it will already have 345 horse and get good mileage....screw carbs and big cubes to only get 7 -10 mpg....24 + MPG and 345 - 400 horse, and AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!

 

[454muscle]

I would definitely go with a newer LS based engine. An LS is expensive so why not go with a 5.3 and a 4L60E? You can get a complete ready to run with all the accessories engine, trans, wiring harness, computer for around $1000 - $1500 and it will already have 345 horse and get good mileage....screw carbs and big cubes to only get 7 -10 mpg....24 + MPG and 345 - 400 horse, and AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!

Dude, you're saying he can get "engine, trans, wiring harness, computer for around $1000 - $1500" meaning the 4L60E transmission and the 5.3 LS engine with the EFI setup and computer etc... all for $1500? New or used? If this is true, I'm dropping this combo into my 88 Caprice daily driver!!!

 

[Curless]

Locally we can get them almost everyday from a salvage vehicle for around that money with about 125-150,000 miles on them. All you need to do is wire and fuel them!