I know it's been quite a while since I last posted about my 383 (or anything at all for that matter) and it pains me... I've been really too busy to spend much time hanging around here and bsing with everyone...

For those who don't know, or don't recall, I had a 383 from AR that had a clearance issue between the rods and oil pan. Upon removing the oil pan I found what looked like quite a lot of debris and Mark at AR asked me to ship the engine back...

First update from Mark was that he couldn't find anything wrong with the engine, he pulled it all apart and inspected all the bearings and surfaces and said everything looked good. He still wanted to build me a new engine as he wasn't comfortable with the one I sent back, so he said he was going to sell it as-is and take a loss.

The latest update is that he is done building my new engine, but wants to test fire it and break it in before sending it out. I didn't ask him to do it, but think that it's a good idea myself... He's waiting for an engine stand to free up (all of his are currently in use) and hopes to be ready to crate and ship it by next Wednesday.

Hopefully if all goes according to plan, I'll be able to put a few miles on the new engine before next year! I'm pretty confident that I can put the engine in and have it running in a day at this point, though I still have brake work I've been putting off due to extreme busy/lazyness...

Regards,
-dath

 

dath....

It has been awhile since we have heard from you. And AR has had the engine awhile now haven't they? I hope things work out and don't think you are the only one to have laziness sink in. I need to put the new carb on and buy a new rear monospring, but I'm not spending alot of money as of now as our CEO admitted in the last analyst conference call that there are still too many competitors in our industry and it was not out of the question to be bought out. Where's my piggybank? :lol:

 

That sounds like good news!! It's great that they are going to test run the new engine and break it in...

I hope that you'll be satisfied with it once you get it!

 

Not to hijack the post, but the 355 AR engine that is in the 74 vert that I bought from b-grice sound very healthy. I have not driven it yet as to rear suspension rebuild and installing a lower gear and 700r4 overdrive. It fired right up and only had to reset the valves after break in, It looks like a good bang for the buck. :cheers:

 

Mark....

bgrice here(changed my user name). So, you decided to leave that engine in? I know you said that you might go back with the original engine for your wife to drive. Glad to hear the engine appears to be what it was represented.

 

Skid*MARK,
Please keep us informed on that engine. There has been a lot of speculation about AR motors lately and I'd like to see how everyone is doing with them. I'm one of those people and if I get the new radiator hoses in by this weekend I should be driving it again.

 

Glad to see a man who backs up his work, the mark of a true professional that takes pride in his work. Not very common these days unfortunately :D

 

Dath-

I just got one of thier 425 HP motors (feels more like 350)- Mark at AR specced it out and Lance actually installed it at their shop in Summerduck VA. I like Mark personally and the price was great for the engine. I have some bottlenecks in the HP that I am working out (better air filter/fan clutch etc), but I too will post on the reliability of the motor. So far been taking it ver easy on the engine with only 900 mls or so. In a few more hundred I will let-er-rip and see what she does.

 

GSC3: Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Mark was going to run in the engine before shipping it. I'd really rather not have a repeat of the last time... There is still a lot of uncertainty on my part about the old engine and if anything was really wrong with it other than the clearance issue which could easily be fixed.

Barry: Yep, AR has had the engine much longer than was originally agreed upon. Again, I'm being patient and I haven't chewed anyone a new one yet. At this point, I just want an engine and I'll worry about everything else later. I'm going to try to spend more time around the forum, it's just been hard, I'm not rich, I had to work pretty hard to pay for the engine...

Mark: I'll look forward to hearing how the 355 works out.

Travis: How much time do you have on your engine after you fixed the pilot bearing issue? Any plans to have it put on a dyno? That's going to be my first step after breakin and tuning is "done".

MotorHead: Yeah, Mark definitely is standing behind is work so far. I didn't have to put any pressure on him to take back the problem engine and I didn't need to ask for him to break in the new one. We'll wait and see how it turns out on a dyno. I'm going to try to put the 500 miles on it as fast as I can (driving to/from work on all nice days going the long back route so I can vary speed and put more miles on:D).

Ken: Get that thing tuned, or better yet, if you're located near AR, get them to tune it so there are no questions and then put it on a dyno. I'm curious to know if they'll back up their HP estimates if it turns out they're way off. With GSC3's experience, I'd say that you may just need some tuning.

:cheers:
-dath

 

I have been gathering information on AR for about 4 months now and will be taking delivery today on an AR 350 dart motor. I contacted people who bought thier engines from e-bay and everyone seemed happy with them. I would agree they seem to be taking a bit long to get engines built, they told me I would have it in about 4 weeks and it took 7. I would also agree that every time I called, Mark would take the time to answer my questions and keep me updated. I have a lot of work left to do before I can drop my motor in (trans is headed out for a rebuild today also) but will be watching for other updates and will post my results.
Dave

 

I only have one 20 mile trip on it to a friends house after I solved the pilot bearing problem. It was on that trip when I noticed the spray of coolant all over the passenger side (hood was off) and that it was time to replace the worn out original radiator. The new radiator is in and I will hopefully be greeted by a UPS package with some new Flexicool hoses when I get home from work today.....yeah, look how hard I'm working now :rolleyes:

I definitely have plans for a dyno run but I'll wait till after I've finished the exhaust. I already have the x-pipe and one of the exhaust cutouts. Once I finish it I want to take one run with full exhaust and then one with open pipes. Should be interesting.


[Modified by tshort, 8:03 AM 11/14/2003]

 

I predict a 20++ HP difference between the open pipes and with the mufflers...

 

AR should have tested the engine in the 1st place. Look at all the hassel and trouble they caused you. I think they should also rebate you $1,000. I would never buy from them.

 

Most engine builders won't test run their engines.. uness those shops that charge twice as much money as AR does.. AR works with low % profit but higher quantity of engines... If there are any problems with any of their engines.. they probably take a loss... If you'd buy the components that AR uses for their engines - you'd spend more than they sell the assembled engines for... I personally rather go through a few hassles than paying twice as much for an engine... I'm still very satisfied with my AR engine after over 8k street miles and 50 drag strip passes....

 

Personally, after buying an engine from AR which lasted about 1500 miles and then from Lars, there's no comparison. Lars built me a 409 (400 .040 over) that runs perfectly, and absolutely screams...

Here's a recent post regarding the build-up if you're interested:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=688274

Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions.

John





[Modified by CO_Sledgehammer, 1:09 PM 11/14/2003]

 

There's no doubt that the engine that Lars built for you is higher quality than AR produces.. Mass produced engines are usually lower quality than individually built engines... especially if someone like Lars builds it...
For me it was a question of available money.. I had a budget of $8k for engine + transmission + install... For a individually built engine - I would have probably spent $6k - $7k for the engine alone and I didn't have enough money available to spend those extra $3k - $4k...
Luckily - it worked out for me..... My engine still screams like on the first day... I was aware that I was taking a risk when buying a discount engine...


[Modified by GrandSportC3, 3:23 PM 11/14/2003]

 

Bad 79: Like GSC3 mentioned, builders rarely test their engines before shiping unless you want to pay them extra to do so. There are builders out there who have never had a problem even though they don't test fire the engines. What I went through would have cost AR big money no matter if they test fired it or not if they delt with it the same way they are in this case. A teardown of many components, then giving up on it and selling it at a loss. I only blame AR for making a mistake in the first place, not for the lack of a test fire, if I had wanted that, I would have asked for it in the first place. I didn't want to pay for it when it shouldn't be necessary. Yeah, I could also ask for money back or whatever, but I'm not going to. I have to give them the chance to make it right and honestly, I have very little recourse, so I don't want to be an a-hole about it and end up SOL.

Travis: Very cool. I look forward to hearing what happens on your dyno runs. Your engine should be a little hotter than mine if I recall correctly. I'll be happy if I hit 430HP (-20% loss at the wheels (or close)). What did you end up doing for exhaust/mufflers? I got caught up in all the different CFM ratings on mufflers and didn't know what to believe. If I read everything right, I'm going to need 3" pipe with not much more than glass packs (or something with very low restriction) to get the full potential... I'd like it somewhat (just somewhat:D) quiet though when I'm using mufflers...

76redl48: Keep us all posted. I am really looking forward to having an engine again. I've considered dropping my original back in a few times just so I can drive a bit, but it really has the yuck factor and I don't feel like cleaning it up yet...

 

I also have an engine that was sold at 425 hp. I like it but we are only getting 285 rear wheel. Granted, it is an auto 350 trans, but I expected more.

 

On a basically stock C3 drivetrain you can expect 20 - 25% drivetrain loss with manual transmission and 30 - 35% with Automatic transmission.. With TH350 approx. 30% and with TH400 approx. 35% or close. The TH400 is known to eat up horsepower... Running mufflers - you'll lose even more than those numbers.. I've seen many dyno tests and all of them seem to confirm those number.. Just look through the archives..
Late model cars have a much lower drivetrain loss due to synthetic fluids and lightweight drivetrain parts like aluminum shafts flywheels etc...

 

Just checked through the archives... It seems that the BEST dyno results with Manual Transmission show between 21% and 22% drivetrain loss

For example.. the best unmodified ZZ4 dyno result (with MANUAL TRANSMISSION) that I found in the archives was 277 RWHP which indicates 21.65 % drivetrain loss. (355 HP rated ZZ4)

My engine dynoed at 365 RWHP with is a 21.65% drivetrain loss (465 HP rated AR Racing engine)


Must Automatic cars had horrible dyno results (generally over 30% drivetrain loss)



[Modified by GrandSportC3, 11:35 PM 11/14/2003]