Anyone out there know a good engine builder

kenneth

New Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Location
cary,nc
Anyone out there know a good dependable engine builder to rebuild my 360, 177,000 and tired. If anyone has a rebuilt or remanned laying around (thats funny) let me know. Thank you.
 
Try Warren engines in clinton, picked up a reman 4.3 chevy the other day for 1100 dollars with core taken back.
Cheapest i could find.
I think its warrenracingengines.net
 
Up US 1 towards Hwy 98 is Cylinder Head Specialties. On the right just before 98. Many racers and tuners use them and they are local to U.
 
if you are looking for budget, Advance Auto has long blocks for reasonable.

If you spend a few $$$ more you get the intake plus a decent warranty.

I don't know the quality of these, but I felt its worth mentioning
 
Advance motors are junk, dont even think about it, Thoff in raleigh are good. if looking for a warranty Jasper has the best warranty and they actually warranty it if something happens. I could build it for you if you want, and THoff would be doing the machine work.
 
Cperry said:
Advance motors are junk, dont even think about it, Thoff in raleigh are good. if looking for a warranty Jasper has the best warranty and they actually warranty it if something happens. I could build it for you if you want, and THoff would be doing the machine work.
Click to expand...

And thats why i went with a long block from warren engines, lowest price and only 3 hours round trip.
But if you can find someone like Cperry to do it thats a good option, from what i hear he does good diff setups. Im sure hed be as maticulous with an engine too.
Many good builders around raleigh durham triangle area.
 
85% of a good engine biuld is in the machine work not the assembly, however a good assembler always checks the machining and this is how come backs are prevented. i think sometimes when the machinest does the assembling stuff gets missed, b/c they don't triple check themselves on the assembly. they double check the machine work, and then the assembler should triple check it. The trick to a good engine build is simply finding a great machinest and putting it together correctly, cleanly, i have seen rebuilt motors with the cam oiler holes clogged w/ RTV. this is obviously in the assmebly, and that will not do. I almost put standard bearings on an oversized crank before, the box said oversize the bearing said standard fortunatly i caught it immediatly. I have also seen a bore get missed not bored to match the rest. Also spending the money on good machine work is key, these advance motors and the like, are doing the bare minimum to the engines so they won't smoke or knock and sending it out. i have seen an advance motor with different size pistons in it.
 
x2 on the advance motors. I have also seen different size pistons in them, i have also seen .80 over in a 350 chevy, wtf? And they also use used cam shafts. So, I would say, the are NOT worth mentioning.
 
One of the guys I work with swaped 3 motors from advance into his 2.9 ford ranger before getting one that was ok(first one threw a rod at 1500 miles, second one sounded like it should of been the one with the bad rod when he got it). They did stand behind the warrenty but didn't help with the labor.

Sam Nifong
 
Ive seen the same thing happen with Jasper motors that you guys have seen with Advance motors, Cperry is right its mostly the machining that dictates whether or not a motor is going to hold together or whether its going to blow every seal out in it. Im rebuilding a 22re now and the shop that built the motor bored it .004 over spec and lined the rings up on assembly, the seals didnt stand a chance. Be careful who you use, i use a very good machine shop and have never had a issue with any motor they machined/that ive built.
 
Gotta seperate the people who know what they are doing from the people who dont.
I would say get opinions on people who rebuild engines. (no offense to anyone who does it for a living.) But like Cperry said it all depends on the builder.
 
jasper suppossedly runs their engines before sending them out, with that said i guy i worked w/ put one in and the block was cracked it made about 5 miles down the road. but jasper paid to have it replaced. they w/ out a doubt have the best warranty, but truthfully any company rebiulding motors in mass is usually cuttting corners to make money. thats why i feel it is important to seperate the machinist from the assemebler, its like the government- checks and balances
 
DON'T take it to Loop Road for machining. Dude's a jerk-off. Won't go into details unless someone backs him.
I like the guy at CarQuest over here on Germantown Road near the NC Surplus. I can confirm he does good crank work.
Cperry is a master!
Please mention where you take it though so we can chime in. Don't know but a few places to recommend but I can save you all my history of heart-aches of places NOT to take it.
 
Dont waste your money on a Jasper motor, the reason you pay so much is you pay for 2 motors minus the labor you have to pay someone to swap things for you if you dont do it yourself. I use Quality Auto and Machine in Monroe, very straight up guys that know theyre stuff. Depending on the make of the motor dicates what machine shop parts i use and dont use. I will NOT recommend Kannapolis Motors.
 
I usually rebuild everything myself, but the jasper warrantee makes them the goto guys.

I've done a few jobs for them for out of towners, and they pay good money per hour, and mail you a check right away

I have also installed a few of their transmissions in high liablility jobs (commercial towing, out of town people, people that will abuse my warrantee delibertly) Their transmissions shift very well.
 
If you don't go with Chase (which I recommend, he know's his stuff), then I got a guy in Clayton that can do it, he is a heavy equipment mechanic by trade but he has a consistant side business of fixing trucks/tractors at his house, he's actually doin a 6.0 for a guy right now, recently did a 5.3 and a 6.5 deisel, but he def knows his stuff when it comes to engines, axles, trannys, pretty much whatever.
 
If you end up doing any of the work yourself, I definitely recommend THOFF for the machine work. They worked on my 22RE head last week...pressure check, clean, surface and valve job. Dropped it off at 7:30am and it was ready at noon, all at a very reasonable price.
 
heintz bros automotive in statesville. they build race motors and ship them all over the country
 
Im gonna chime in here as I have on every thread like this in the past 3 yars.

Advance Auto/Autozone/O'Reilly/PepBoys WILL sell some junk.
2 things I have seen, a 350 .030 on 7 and .095 on 1, and a crankshaft balancer bolt hole that was heli-coiled, poorly.

That said their prices are half Jaspers. And their warranty is better. 2 years unlimited miles no questions asked, and thy will pay for labor. IF and ONLY IF it is bought by a commercial account. All you have to do to get a commercial account is ask for one., They do have a set fee (which was $750 for a mid 80s C10 truck) which isnt top dollar, but certainly acceptable.

I ran an Advance motor for 80k miles and then sold the truck and its still running today.

As to SBC and bores, I have ran a .095 that had no issue, if a quality machine shop did the work I would not think twice about a .080.

BUT if it is a GM motor, its kinda hard to beat the new GM crate motors, better warranty (3 years compared to 2) a little more $$$ (about the same as Jasper actually, if you negotiate a bit) and it is NEW.

All that said from what Ive heard I wouldn't hesitate sending anything to CPerry

::beer::
 
Rebuilding a 360

I'll toss a second endorsement to the Germantown Rd Car Quest.

I had them press the bearings onto a set of Moser one piece axles. When pressing one of the bearings there was a problem. Joey - who ran the shop at the time and might still well be there - fixed the problem right away. He got the micrometers out - took some measurements and went into the parts house side of the store. He came out with a new bearing retainer - turned it down on a lathe. No problems - no extra cost.

They did the machine work on a 360 for me. They did everything but the heads. The heads were done somewhere else. The engine dropped a valve via a broken valve stem within minutes of completing the break in run. The top of the piston was toast. I went back to him for advice. He rebuild my head, got me a new piston, head gaskets and such - without any problems. Heck - I'd gotten a quote 6 months before the work was actually done. He remembered me from the quote - let me know that shop prices had gone up but that he would honor the quote.

Some of the other things they did - I bought a Federal Mogul Premium engine kit on his recommendation. He asked me what the engine would be in and what it was going to do before making the recommendation on the engine kit. I wanted a double roller timing chain. They pulled the single chain out of the kit - gave a refund at the retail price for that chain and then sold me the double roller at the retail price. So my upgrade to a double roller cost like 15 bucks.

I can't say enough about how the great service. I rarely recommend any business - but will recommend them if Joey still runs that shop.

As for the assembly of a AMC 360- the Chiltons and Haynes have about everything you need to know. You could get the rest of the information here. For example - to make good oil pressure ensure that the clearance on your oil pump gears and the pump cover is in tolerance. Make sure that the timing cover housing (where the oil pump is housing is) is not worn and scored. DO this oil bypass - the picture from fuzz401 shows it. There is also a way to add additional oiling to the timing gear on the distributer. Both of them are good setups to put on a AMC 360. Another thing to do if running a stock intake is run the full valley pan gasket. This one runs across both sides of the intake and helps reduce the amount of oil hitting the bottom of the intake from the intake valley.
 
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