Because despite what some think price alone isnt really always a reliable factor in how good or how well somethings put together... Mabbco has been around building engines since 1964 and they likely didnt become as big as they are with such a huge portfolio of engine offerings by building ****... It doesn hurt to contact them if someone is considering them and ask for details since they offer a pretty wide variety of options from bare bones, oem replacements to "premium performance"

Ive seen some very shitty paint jobs at car shows for example that folks paid 8 grand or more for.. and weve all heard stories of local hack engine builders that charge a small fortune for work additional they never actually performed correctly if at all..

Ive read reports here from folks bashing ATK as garbage as well and many reports of happy customer as well... the truth is marketing cost $$ and some companies do spend as much on being in every performance rag, catalog and sponsoring events to promote thier products..
OP could have bought a completed car with a 383 already too because Why buy a car to have to deal with doing this himself? but everyones budgets are different... The fact that he asked how much something like this would run indicates the guy doesnt want to spend more than necessary to do it and its VERY easy to spend far more than one has to for just about anything on these cars including buying the cars themselves. Theres plenty of those guys walking around car shows bragging about what they paid and their "350 strokers" and such in their cars obviously not having a clue what they are talking about but bragging about brand names and such like it makes what they are saying impressive... its sad really. Many of them have likely never broken the tires loose on their car in their life for fear of chipping their 10,000 paint job.. Those cars really will never appreciate the use of a blueprinted forged bottom end. Even myself I chose to build a middle of the road 4 bolt hyper pistoned cast steel crank 10:1 355 because ill never take my car to a track, its just for spirited driving.. If a person has no real experience with driving even a 400hp build how do they really know what they want?

Some speed shops realized by raising prices they actually attract those types of uninformed customers. It sounds to me like the OP is trying to gain some knowledge on all this so he has a leg to stand on when talking to a local shop and an idea if they are gonna overcharge and take advantage which is a good plan. regardless on HP it does matter how this car will be driven and what plans are included in making the rest of the drivetrain hold up to 450-500hp as anything over 400 with somewhat aggresive driving really has a tendency to break things on these cars.

 

That’s honestly a good point. A thin ring pack is a great feature to have, IMO, especially as stroke or bore increase.

I’ve looked quite a bit for a reasonably priced short block that comes with the Mahle PowerPak pistons (1.2mm ringpack for the standard ones and a 1.0mm performance ring pack version available)- I just don’t see them.


Adam

 

I quit doing 383's over 20 years ago. Everybody has one. For the same cost in rotating assemblies, I started doing 3.875 stroker 396 ci. Torq and power that you can feel over my previous 383's using everything and just swapping the rotating assembly. 11.2 is very pump gas friendly with roller cams of 236 intake and 112 LSA. The wider LSA like modern cars with 114-118 makes them fuel efficient. I just hung in at 112.

My personal motor also has the big rod option because I had intended on installing a two stage 375 HP nitrous setup that I had.

396 Stroker Compstar Rotating Kit CP Flat Top Pistons |CNC-Motorsports