I have been looking arount thei net trying to find a good place to buy an assembled short block. There have been many sites that look very good but, after further investigation, end up being crooks. One site that i have found that ppl on this forum have vouched for is http://www.cnc-motorsports.com. I plan on spending in the neighborhood of 5 grand so i want to get my block from someone who is going to do it right. Are these guys trustworthy enough to spend that kind of money? If not, anyone know where i should look?
Thanks

 

you want something BEEFY? DART (brand) SHP special high performance 372" SB. Block is a beefy version of a stock block with a pretty solid rotating assembly in it. Stock stuff? I call my local machine shop and see what they have that someone never paid their tab on...theres always good deals left over.

 

I recently bought a Vortec longblock for my truck from Engines Direct on Ebay, They are based out of Phoenix. So far I'm pleased with it. All the bolts and everything were torqued to spec and they kit was complete. It cost me $1900 out the door. To get to your question I know they have vortec shortblocks for $884 plus shipping. I recommend them

 

I ordered and received a SHP short block from CNC-Motorsports a couple of months ago. They shipped it when they said they would ship it and it cost exactly what they said it would. I ordered a TKO 600 from Corvette Central and the customer representative made a mistake and said they could ship it to Canada. After the order was processed Corvette Central called and said the transmission could not be directly shipped to Canada. Not only did CNC-Motorsports accept the transmission and ship it to me with my short block they repackaged the transmission from two boxes to one (putting the extra parts in with the short block) to save me some shipping costs and did not charge me extra for the service. I found them easy to talk to and was very pleased with dealing with them.

 

Bowtie blocks dart and others http://www.wheelerpowerproducts.com/

check out some of there stuff.. this is the place i picked to do my 427sbc
and remember...you get what you pay for!!

a dart block or bowtie block 4 bolt main's all mech work.

up to 434 ci sbc up to 12.1 all forged
H beam rod's forged crank.. for $3000
i shopped for a few weeks..

 

I've used a bunch of parts from CNC, complete engines, short blocks, long blocks, rotating assemblies, what have you.... Never had a problem with the company or their product...

Another one that I'm very pleased with is Competition Products, same good news as CNC....

Both also have Dart and World Product performance blocks, or will sell you a used block that has been cleaned, magged, and machined.....

PS--got a Comp Products ordered for my '82, 383 stroker kit with all Howard's components (US made) and it's way up in quality and near equal in price to many of the other stuff sold on line that is all imported internals.... I like my money to stay in this country when it's feasible....

 

I considered them before and have talked to them at the US Nationals before. Good people and they are priced reasonably well considering what you get.

 

IMO, both CP and CNC are really first rate straight up companies... They do sell some of the cheap import crap, but they also have some excellent product lines on the first rate stuff.... I've been to both places to visit and pick up products... They're Hot Rodders and Racers, not just a bunch of slick talking salesman out to get deep in your checkbook!!!!

 

www.summitracing.com has specials sometimes, 1300 dollar long blocks. try checking craiglist.org, i plan on picking up a used engine for 100 bucks for a 350, just needs rebuilt, ill be able get add the goodies as i go. What kind of block you looking for, a 383 stroker +405hp complete engine $3,700. I used to want to get the the 350 for 1400 bucks, add a supercharger for like $3,000 and an electric fuel pump. but that crazy.

 

For about 6 weeks I bought a 355 all forged 4340 short block from Blueprint Engines. They have a sale off now and have very good prices. They stands for quality and are very cheap at the moment.

 

Supply and demand, New cars and imports have a negative affect on block builders, v-8 old school part supplies. Demand in quantity will decrease or shift to the left while the supply stays the same being everything is stable (manufacturer, contracts signed, agreements made, builders paid) living the now-theres a surplus, and causes the price to drop being the equilibrium is lower. Perfect time for a house as well, there even was a government rebate of like 7 grand just to buy a house with rock bottom interest, bought at 50% the going rate due to a foreclosure by the Previous Owner's bank. (im probably wrong, failed Econ, 2nd time a charm.)

 

You might try Ohio Crankshaft here. http://www.ohiocrank.com/chev_sb_shortb.html

I have not bought personally, but have heard good feedback from this company. Prices dosent seem bad either.

 

Pat McCarthey and McCarthey Engines in Bay City, Mi. told me some real horror stories about Ohio Crank!!!! He also showed me one of his examples.... They're new forged cranks are an import crank that they machine in house, at least that's what Pat told me....

Howards makes some very nice cranks, rods, and pistons that are manufactured and machined right here in this country...Used a number of them and never had a problem!!!! They also sell the import stuff. Might want to chat with a machinist about the quality of the imports v US Made......

 

Thanks for the heads-up info. I think they get the same cores that Eagle and Scat get. The difference is in there machining. Some thirdgen guys here have had decient luck with there stuff, but I have no first had experience with them.

Is it a problem with there cores or there machining? Or is it there assembled long/short blocks?

 

Is that the max effort kit of 3300?

I looked for a long time at comps kits but eventually went with an unassembled short kit from them with factory 4 bolt block and domestic 4340 internals that was just over 2000. The kit comes with RPM international crank and h-beam rods as well as howards forged flat tops by Ross. http://www.competitionproducts.com/p...umber=SBK383FT

If the original poster is looking to spend close to 5 g's i would go with the unassembled racer kit which comes with the same internals as their max effort but includes a little M block for 4 grand. Still lots of budget left over to have a local machine shop assemble it if assembly is an issue. You don't get a warranty on a short block anyway, no matter who you buy it from so you might as well get the best parts you can for your money. http://www.competitionproducts.com/p...p?number=434FT

 

Pat sez the quality of the shafts just wasn't good to his standards.... Having seen Pat's work, his standards are very high!!!! If you want to talk with him about it, I could PM you his information--without his permission I sure wouldn't want to post it here on the forum, though!!!!

I've used a number of the CP and CNC products... Mic'd and checked every piece, all were very, very well done and the tolerances and finishes were always excellent!!!!!

 

I checked my stuff from CP as well with mics and a dial bore guage. My crank and rods were deadnuts perfect. Main center journal of my block was a quarter thou over the rest but i think thats acceptable especially in a used block. Also my piston to cylinder clearance was perfect for applications using up to 250hp of nitrous. I imagine if you were planning to run more they would probably hone it for you for an additional fee.

Because i bought an unassembled kit i ended up having to do quite a bit of clearancing on the block though, even though it is supposedly "stroker clearanced" and using stoker rods. This was the only thing that kept it from being a straight assembly job.

 

On the subject of Competition Products, it looks like they have a VVT (Variable Valve Timing) kit for Gen I SBC's:

http://www.competitionproducts.com/p...sp?number=8271

Am I reading this right?

 

i like that idea. now to see if someone other than them will try it and show the real time improvements.

 

At $75 it doesn't look like one would be out too much to try it. But then again, that line of thought has probably been the downfall of several engines before.

 

Never ran one on a chain, but I have a Jesel dry belt system with the same tensioner system, works great!!!! So far 300+ passes on it with no problems... Should work equally good on a chain....

 

Naw, I will take your word for it. I always check any product I use regardless of who's name is on it.

 

I don't mean to sound stupid, but is there anything else that is required to get VVT beyond this item? Does it improve hp and economy?