I am doing research on crate engines to replace the worn and wimpy 350 in my C3. I'm looking to buy a 383 stroker, as I want big block power from a small block (between 400 and 500 horse). Here are a few engine builders I have come across. I'd love to hear from any of you if you have purchased from any of these builders and your experience with them. I'm also want to keep the cost well below $10,000. So I guess you could say it is a budget crate engine.

• Tri Star out of Wisconsin starting at around $6000 no core.
• ATK out of Texas starting at around $5000 plus core.
• Smeding Performance out of Texas starting around $6000 no core.

I was leaning towards Tri Star, as they are local and I could pick up the engine to save some money.

I am open to other options if they meet my criteria and are similar in price to those listed above.

Thanks in advance.

 

If you buy a budget engine, you get budget parts. I have been through a lot over the last few years with "engine builders" who proclaimed to be great, and they both failed big time. I am working on build THREE, and will have more information over next few months. Right now, I don't have much to offer you. I looked at Tristar and Smeding....and did not choose either. They have builds, but the parts used in their builds were not up to my standards. Take a look at CNC Motorsports. I am not vouching for them yet, but time will tell. CNC has many choices, and allows you to select parts if the packages are not to your liking. But they are NOT the cheapest....and frankly, looking for the "cheapest" only guarentees a cheap engine with cheap parts, not what I am interested in.

 

Last crate motor I bought was a 502. Wow, did that thing have torque! I know you're looking at a small block, but just sayin. I was really impressed with the motor. Are all GM crate motors like that?

 

Any interest in building your small block yourself?
balanced forged assembly: $2.5k
AFR Heads: $2k
Cam with lifters: $500

Over 400 horse easy day.

 

GM makes crate engines. Why not just buy a 525 hp LS3?

EDIT: Link
https://www.chevrolet.com/performanc...ock-assemblies
19434648

 

If your from Wisconsin, then purchasing local or at least simi local makes a ton of sense.
If, God forbid, you do have an issue down the line.
Having someone at least somewhat local could be a huge advantage.
That said, I'm originally from Wisconsin. Never heard of them. But I'm not the type to have someone else hone a cylinder for me.
Check these local guys out. Read there reviews online. See if you can find any other customers to talk to. If they check out.
I say go with the guys close to home. A couple bucks this way or that will mean very little if you need support down the line!
As per Corvette Passion, he's been a lot upset lately.

 

what about blueprint engines? they have a ton of options, for example 383 436 hp listed on summits website for around $6k

 

JayK47,

Blue Print Engines allowed a film crew into their facility and showed various stages and work stations of their engine building process.
Very cool video and also shows dyno runs, print-outs, etc.

Go to YouTube and in the search box enter; Blue Print Engine Tour
Hopefully you can watch this on a lap-top full screen.

 

And who makes the internal parts? Unknown cams, most likely junk, and crank? If they were quality parts the would list the manufacturer. When manufacturers are not listed, that equals cheap Chinese junk. No thanks.

They are making their own blocks, but are they any good? Equal to known quality blocks like Dart, World, Brodix?

I suppose if you are wanting a low use, mild engine,that you drive 500 miles a year….and you want cheap, they would be fine. But for true quality, you need good parts, and then it has to be assembled properly. Good luck finding anyone who can do that. I haven’t and it cost me plenty.

 

I bought my 427 SB short block from Competition Products. Dart block, Callies crank. All name brand stuff. Put it together with AFR heads and a Howards hydraulic roller. Best engine I've ever owned, by a wide margin. Also the most I've ever spent on one engine. But as Ben Franklin said, "The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten."
I have only the experience of one engine to go by so I can't exactly be confident in giving them a resounding endorsement, but my experience was good. Take it for what it's worth.
One more thing. I would think twice before buying a GM factory crate engine. I personally know four guys who have bought factory crate engines and had nothing but trouble. In fact, I don't know anyone who has had a good experience with one. Don't know where they are being manufactured, but they seem to be struggling with quality control, and their warranty support has been, shall we say, problematic

 

Tri star, they're good and have been around for almost 40 years....but rebuilding what you have can not only be more cost effective but fun aswell!!! I didn't know jack squat but with a little help from books, YouTube, this forum and my dad i got my big block rebuilt in a couple days!

 

Was the GM engine a "performance" crate engine or marketed as standard replacement block? Many places offer drastically different warranties for the engines depending on intended application and use.

I think theres a pretty broad range of use and expectations when it comes to a crate engines and the key is finding and purchasing one to meet the particular criteria the end user is looking for. Ive learned sometimes consumers really dont know what they do and dont need or want or have expectations that dont align with the norm that often satisfies most. I would also imagine when it comes to performance Crate engines, more builders see false or fruadulent claims caused by consumer inflicted damage than typical in the auto industry.

Case in point here Whats the actual application? is this a stock geared 3.08 car with an auto transmission? will it be seeing track use and high rpms or just light to light burnouts? 400-500hp is a large range but that can be easily dont without the need for a forged setup unless its use warrants the added cost for benefits. Will the rest of the car be upgraded to be able to support this engine like the exhaust and cooling and a loose converter? You can go all out and buy a fully forged domed piston high compression engine and find you dont like having to pay for 93 octane or like the soggy street performance the engine will give in the car without addressing the gearing and then you have to strengthen the trans and rear end to take that power and deliver it.

Or is this a case where the car will see summer cruising and car shows and the OP is really looking more for the bragging rights to say hes got a 500hp beast under the hood but never plans on actually testing that? Only the owner knows for sure. I dont race my car and I dont really know how many horses are under my hood but I do drive my car spiritedly and know it when I make an improvement and feel it as well as when I make what I thought would be an improvement and dont. I also know the upgrades can be addicting and expensive once they start.

 

Currently I drive my Corvette less than 500 miles a year. I did not realize how much that was until I had to break in my differential. It took a lot longer than I thought to hit 500 miles and I had to intentionally drive more and farther than I usually would. So I would say my classic vehicles do not get driven a lot each year normally. I am just not comfortable doing long hauls in them. Any hard use like racing is not very likely, even though I have replaced the suspension and breaks with race quality hardware. That said, I still do not want Chinese parts when at all possible. I will want to know where all components of the engine are coming from. For example, Tri Star makes there own heads here in the US. The casting is done locally. I suppose some of the components could be from China. Hard to say. I am not sure if they would give me all of that information if I requested it.

I have considered rebuilding what I have. I am not super comfortable taking it apart and sending out items individually to get rebuilt and then putting it together myself. If the concern with a cheap engine is it breaking, then there is definitely a concern with it breaking if I do any of the work. I priced out a local shop to do a rebuild a few years ago and I was surprised that it came out to around $10,000 and that was not even with a roller cam. That is when I started to look at crate engines, as with a crate, I can just swap and go. I could then mess around with the old engine and break it while still being able to enjoy driving my Corvette.

I will take a look at Blue Print. I know at this price point there are lots of stories of engine failures and many bad reviews no matter who the builder seems to be. I wonder how much of it is lack of care versus poor quality parts or build.

 

Years ago I bought a crate engine from a well known company.
It came to me damaged when the cradle it was shipped with broke in the crate and the engine bounced around in the crate across the country.
After two years of fighting between the engine builder and the freight company I got the engine returned to me.
The cheap bastards repaired the damaged parts, but didn’t replace them with new parts and even shipped it back to me using the same broken cradle.
Then my fight with them took close to a year, but they finally agreed to refund my money and paid the shipping for the return.
I was lucky that my wife worked at a law firm, who sent them a demand letter threatening court and attorneys fees.

Find a local builder with a long history and excellent reputation for building performance engines.
You will pay a little more, because they will want to install quality components and take the time to build it right.
Make sure they can do the first start, dyno tune it for you and have some agreement of a warranty.

For example,
I just had a 496 big block built for my project, they installed the best quality components I could afford.
We discussed every component they installed and their reasons for building it that way using their knowledge and 50+ years of experience.
When it was completed they ran it on their dyno with their guarantee that everything was right.
They found the lifters were a little noisy, the camshaft wasn’t performing the way they expected and the oil pressure was less than they liked at max power.
They pulled the engine off the dyno, tore it down, replaced the lifters, the camshaft and oil pump at no cost.
They reassembled the engine, and tuned it on their dyno.
When they were happy with the results, they were ready to release the engine to me with a one year warranty starting the day I install it.
The engine would have lasted for decades the way it was, but they wanted it perfect.
You won’t get that from any crate engine builder.

With a crate engine, you definitely get a box of chocolates and don’t know what you’re getting until you open it up.
Usually by then it’s too late and you find everything inside is the nuts and chews that nobody really likes.

Just my $.02 worth

 

ATK, Tri Star and Smeding all offer in house dyno and break in, which is something that I would prefer. It ends up costing more, as they only sell those with intake and carb. But it is worth that added cost getting dyno results as well as broken in. Hopefully any major issues get resolved before I get it.

I did just ask Tri Star about Chinese parts and they claim that none of the parts in their engines are offshore. So if they are not lying, that is good news.

 

Both. And the problems are all assembly out of spec. One guy can't get oil pressure. Appears to be excessive clearance in the cam bearings. Another had excessive piston learance. Quality control.
And GM was less than helpful.

 

I'd love to know whos crankshaft they use thats not forged in china..I am fairly sure both scat and eagle have theirs cast and forged there and just do the machine work stateside.
Actually, I read an article once that talked about how all the OEMs are now making them in china because of the lack of pollution regulations and cost. American made lifters are also getting tough to find these days too I believe.

If I were you I would consider a roller cam. Thats were all the 95% of the braking issues occur with flat tappet cams.
I had no idea how to build an engine before I built the mild 355 back in 2012 thats in my corvette I also dont drive much per year. less than 1000 per year. I was worried about not only costs but getting a subpar product for those costs with a crate engine. I likely would have had no issues as the majority dont.
Ive made multiple changes to my engine in that time going to aluminum heads and a retro roller cam. the desktop dyno software math puts my engine at having the potential to make about 430hp which is likely optimistic but the car is fun to drive and it will be even more fun when I get my new 3.55 rear end and overdrive trans with the lower first gear installed. I could never buy an equivalent crate motor for what I paid to build mine but I wasnt afraid to buy used stuff when I built mine either like the dart iron heads and roller rockers which served me well. I replaced those heads with chinese blank casting I bought and ported and assembled myself to learn. (These are the same castings AFR sells as the enforcer line) I have been very happy with the performance increase. I even had to rejet fatter from the increased flow. I respect your decision to source american made components though.

 

I had read they moved manufacturing back to the states for these from Mexico a couple years back because of quality control issues.

 

I have the BluePrint roller 383 in my 76. Makes great power and has run flawless for 5 + yrs and 12k mi

 

I did some research on lifters in the winter of 2022/23. Spoke with a representative from Howards who told me there are no lifters manufactered in the States anymore.