bowmanized

Hey guys I'm looking for the top 5 engine shops in the country for engine work and installations. Any suggestions appreciated

Preferably reasonable prices

Thanks,

Mike

gkmccready

Have you talked to http://www.rebelloracing.com/ ? They're effectively local to you and they build all sorts of motors.

And does LG use CRD for their race motors?

Bob Cronin - CRD Engine Development
238 Highway 49 South
Concord, NC 28081
Phone: 704-792-1955

And DRM is always building hot motors...

And I think "top 5 engine builders" completely negates "reasonable prices." :-)

RedLS1GTO

If it's cheap and fast, it ain't reliable...
If it's cheap and reliable, it ain't fast...
If it's fast and reliable, it ain't cheap!!!

I know I was absolutely no help with that, but I wanted to post anyway

63Corvette

Um....................Katech

dvandentop

Doug Rippie
Katech

AU N EGL

a few more:

H & K Racing Engines - Houston Tx
http://hkracingengines.com/


for "reasonable prices" look here
Schwanke Engines - Springfield, MN
http://www.schwankeshortblocks.com/


CC Performance - Portland OR
http://www.ccperformanceparts.com/

( they are a distributor for H & K Racing Engines )

Hendrick Motor Sports

bowtiguy

If I had to do it all over again ( 454 cu in Darton resleave LS7) I'd say Katech or Lingenfelter.

A little closer to home for you would be Andy at A&A corvette.

http://www.aacorvette.com/

Steve at Race Engine Development (who did my Darton resleave) has worked with Andy for years. My car almost got delivered there when things went south during the initial build.

My advice,

1) Keep as many cooks out of the kitchen as possible. Let one shop do all the work buy all the parts, that way if you have a problem you know who to go to w/o any fingerpointing. Not to mention they should be able to complete tuning for you as well.

2) Make sure the shop you choose actualy DOES the work and doesn't order crate motors then slap their own heads/cam etc onto the motor. That method may work for street cars, but if you plan on beating the snot out of it on a road course everything better be perfect and not left to chance.

Good Luck!

BuckeyeZ06

Ron Hutter in Chardon, Oh does nice work with GM LS motors.

SIK02SS

as mentioned above: Katech

Also Panella Racing (in CA).

They built a monster big block for my dads AP '66 Vette. They also built mine and another guys engine for our Formula Fords. The other guy 2 years ago set 3 track records in a Swift DB1 in SCCA and got called out and had it tore down. 100% LEGAL. Makes huge power for what it is. Great engine, and the builder Steve Bolleto is a great guy too!

bowmanized

Ron and I are business associates so that would be a great fit. He likes the Michelin Slicks. You know if he does installs? Nice suggestion.

bowmanized

Great advice, I completely agree. I've gone to A&A before and was completely happy. Stayed on the beach while they installed a supercharger kit. Good Times. Andy is a good guy.

Katech is obviously one of my top 5, I've spoken with Jason and should have jumped on the value short block install deal they had going. That's a long haul from the west coast. Maybe though.

Tough decision.

Thanks for the suggestions, keep 'em coming.

MB

BuckeyeZ06

I don't know Ron real well, but well enough to feel confortable recommending him.

My question for him is how much does he know about the Dodge V10? His shop is less than an hour from my house, I need to run up there and pay him a visit.

JMB92

http://livernoismotorsports.com/

Wicked Weasel

Well I am going to toot our own horn and say ECS. We have been building strong durable engines for sometime now.

We have a bunch of engines in rr cars and 1/4 mile cars. Here are a few examples:

My ecs built ls7 has run 20 track days last year without even a hiccup. Doug@ecs ran his 402 for 2 years on the track with no issues and then sold it to georgez who still runs it. Rogue wave has an ecs 383. Mort has a 383. There are plenty more.

In the 1/4 mile we have records set with our engines and supercharger setups. These engines have to be reliable because records are not set in a day. It is usually weeks of testing and correction before a record is broken. You don't want down time fixing engines between each test.

Obviously this is only a few examples. We have many happy customers running high boost cars with our engine builds. We also have many customers running na builds.

I realize we do not have the biggest name out there and many people associate us with FI only, but I promise our proven results does match with others for a lesser price.

Adam@Amp'dAutosport.com

hutter does do installs, infact they just opend a huge performance center.http://www.hutterperformance.com/default.aspx ron and his kids have been great to work with. they do all the building and tunning on my o8 z.

quick04Z06

http://www.lamarwaldenautomotive.com/

Lamar Walden, Atlanta.

0Randy@DRM

Thanks guys for putting us in this top 5 thread. We do installs, tunes and are very fair on the pricing for this. Because we would like to do the complete package. Selling crate engines is kinda a bad thing to do, as stated before. We will do it for a few customers that we feel can install and tune. There is many things that we do for customer car installs that is never mentioned on the forum. We call them little a bonus for our track buddies!!! With our coating technolgy and years of experience we know how to keep them cool and long running. We run custom pistons to our specs. Which have been proven many times over. Not the biggest horsepower, not the cheapest, not the most expensive, not the most drivable, not the worst driving. We are in the middle when it comes to all things measured and on top on the things that matter most!!!

Here are a couple that we did last year. At all times, Doug's office-assembly room looks like this. He does all the engine work now. I help out every once and awhile. The kid does some parts washing but other then that he is a one man band.



This one headed across the pond. Doug followed it over to Italy after they installed it.

redtopz

A local builder in Napa who does good work. He's built a bunch of LS engines for local guys.

http://www.temperformance.com/main.html

SIK02SS

oh, it's Bob Panella Motorsports Inc in Stockton, CA

AU N EGL

Something else to think about:

Depend on what you are going to do with your car and new engine.

Would not having your engine builder relatively close you to you be a good thing?

Re tunes, minor adjustments, heck even the install alone. vs sending your car across contry or have the builder send you the engine and have a third party do the install