SOME PRICING COMPARISONS FOR ENGINES

[Muzzy 66]

Its not what you got, its how you use it.

[sms777]

O.K.....I could not help not to join this debate....
So.... If you had a '70-'71 with a 429 i can make it into a whopping 555 cubes. How would you like that in your muzzy?

If you are wondering about legallity, the RTA guideline allows modification that may require engineers report.
There is a table in the Vehicle Standards Information Bulletin that i have a copy at work.
Some examples as follows:
If you own a mono constructed vehicle like your Mustang or most modern Mopars originally equipped with V8, take your tare weight from your rego paper and multiply by 0.294 and you will get the maximum engine capacity in cubic inches that you can fit.
If your Muzzy weigh 1600 kg that means you can have a 470 cube engine.
If your vehicle is a separate chassis construction the number to multiply by is 0.333
My El Camino weigh 2010 kg which means i can fit a 670 cube big block....

Eat your heart out boys!!!!    

[bonnevista]

832 cubic inches for me on that basis.

But what sort of milage would it get?

It would be more like yardage.  

[usa383]

there is no such thing as a cheap motor,for a start how much is a good set of arais pistons,probably about half the price of a create engine.Why don't sprintcars run create motors.Find a bloke who truly builds race motors and wins meetings regularly and then talk $$$ builds.
Aussie builders are the best but you won't get a decent motor built for 10k ,crap import engines are sending our builders out the door with there cheap prices but you get what you pay for.Dyno figures might look good but how long can the engine take it,

[Muzzy 66]

Depends who you talk and how much of the BS on internet forums you believe.

Remembering 400 was pretty good figures 15 yrs ago with a 308 stroked and cast heads,and a 302 with a set of clevo heads and some attention to detail,and running points,wiht a re-graphed dizzy FFS.

You dont need to spend 25k on an engine like a sprint car engine for a street car surely,there are different reasons for spenfing coin on a sprint car engine,mainly being held at 6 grand for 12 laps usually requires a bit more quality then a street car that gets driven "hard" occasionally.

As for the cheap prices again ring around as you suggest and find out where the cheap sh*t is..Like I said earlier there is only a limited number of suppliers with many running under different names.

I was keen to run a Probe Industries crank assembley,Id heard good reports with them married to Probe pistons,I kept hearing Probe do pistons not cranks,some more digging found a probe crank assembley,a bit more digging sure enough probe dont do cranks they use scat cranks..

Probe pistons are well known.

This assembley was being sold out of Coast High Performance in Cal,as a Probe Indistries stroker Kit,with probe pistons,A bit more digging finds that Coast High is part of Probe,web sites almost identical and a they are SCAT sellers..an email confirmed that they use SCAT cranks and re badge them.

As for making phone calls and my reason for not running SCAT my work mates uncle runs a 9 second Torana and a 9 second Porsche and has been running cars and doing machine work on engines for over 30 yrs says he would never run a SCAT they simply require too much removal for balancing.
There are plenty of shops who recommend SCAT,It all comes down to personal choice.

He still says the old stuff is still really good & his prefered,just like getting hens teeth though.

[bonnevista]

Just my view, I don't think 10K for an engine in a street car is cheap at all.

[heven67]

The bottom line is what do you want?
How much $$$ do you have to spend?
10K gets you a sports engine by a good builder using modified factory bits.
15K gets you a stroker crank sports engine and factory bits.
20K gets you a stroker with alloy heads and factory bits
25+K gets you a stroker with alloy heads and all the go fast bits.
Where do you stop?
Although I like the sound of the crate engine thingy the warranty issue is always prevalent.
Have it built by an Aussie builder and keep the engineering skills Aussie!
You got good builders here but we all think its just buy the parts and bolt them together and it should work..RIGHT?....Try buying all the bits for a computer and bolting it together and see how it works, its not that easy, it needs fine tuning and as we all agree PREPARATION and that = Time and time = money. How much do you get paid an hour and multiply that by say 24hrs to build a good donk =????
I know a few reputable builders but they charge money and most of us cant see the value, until it doesn't work, then we would have spend double.
Motor mechanics aren't engine re-conditioners . they are re-builders but not re-conditioners,
Reconditions are the blokes whom machine everything to the correct tolerance and fit.
Problem is we look to all the magazines and see brand name parts and the price and we expect to pay the same to the engine reconditioner and forget he needs to make a living too. So we to it ourselves and feel cheated when it goes pear shaped.
If you think about it you get what you pay for, you may be lucky buy you may not.

[Muzzy 66]

10k is 10k in my book...In comparison to other ford motors 10k is cheap,Im not saying I have the 10k in the glove box rolling around either,If I was to go, H Beam rods,carrillo this,Girdle this,stud that,roller this,floating that,then there is 15 easily as Mr Hev has stated.

To rebuild a 302 with a bore,an ACL bearing set,ACL gasket set would be prob 4k being safe,with a new water pump,lifters. some hoses and remaining bog stock.

The refering build wasnt for a stocker.

Sitting the fords beside chev can make you cringe at the price diff sometimes.

[heven67]

Id say Clevite bearings and felpro gaskets and and one piece rear main and and and a new timing cover,my 289 has nothing fancy and its got 224hp at the back wheels and revs nicely to 6.5k

[usa383]

10k is 10k in my book...In comparison to other ford motors 10k is cheap,Im not saying I have the 10k in the glove box rolling around either,If I was to go, H Beam rods,carrillo this,Girdle this,stud that,roller this,floating that,then there is 15 easily as Mr Hev has stated.

To rebuild a 302 with a bore,an ACL bearing set,ACL gasket set would be prob 4k being safe,with a new water pump,lifters. some hoses and remaining bog stock.

The refering build wasnt for a stocker.

Sitting the fords beside chev can make you cringe at the price diff sometimes.

sprint car comparison wasn't good sorry,all I meant was that if you want a fast/worked motor 4k create motor will sound the part but dyno figures are not usually what's claimed and from what we  have found they are usually poorly built.10K SHOULD get a decent engine that will last and like you said a stroker etc would be more.
I saw an add for a 383 chev putting out 550 hp for $3500 new.I don't believe for 1 it's possable
                                    2 if it could how long would it last
we have already heard of the trouble cast pistons can cause. There is not dummy fitting up and measuring going on for the money.