If you honestly believe that, you need a new builder. Period.
A small block chevy that makes 400 hp, spins to 6500 and cant live?
Kids in the local tech school in my town are doing it.
How? They have decent equipment, and good teachers.
I am tight with the guy that builds the 500 or so hp motors that run in the Pocono Experience stock cars.
Novice drivers, fired cold, revved to the moon, and driven by yuk, yuks.
When they refresh them every few years, we buy up the old rotating assemblies and pound the dick out of them at the dragstrip for the next ten years.
It is a shame that you are not investing your only un-renewable resource (your time) looking for the right builder.

 

Not sure what part of PA your actually in, but here in NE PA where PeteK and I live there are a few very reputable machine shops. I only deal with Morgantini Racing in West Wyoming. He stands behind his work 100%. Unfortunately for others they don't work for free, but being good friends I get work done for cost. I beat the heck out of my stuff and have never lost a motor due to faulty machine work.

I think as Pete said you need to look around for a better shop, I'd also be wondering about the tuner as well with 8 engines going boom!

 

EXACYLY....
For sure.... no one works for free....

 

like ive said before ive tried different engine builders
1 kennedy racing engines
2 dunk compition engines
3 who ever asap uses never met him

2 tuners
asap performance
pcms for less

 

holy crap that has been the point of all this posting the whole motor madness post if you read the first post is to find a good builder.... whos is one !!!! whats their company name.....every one talking any one can do that well i can prove they cant!!!!!!!! give me a name and number

 

That is not how I understood your thread. I was convinced that you either wanted a free motor, or you wanted the same guy who built you a grenade, to build you another one.
I will gather up some contact info for you. I can think of 4 builders in this area, including the guy Rich referenced.

 

none of whom work pro bono...

 

http://sdparts.com/details/gm-perfor...parts/88958604 I really have not followed your posts but there is no reason a SBC should not live forever in a HPDE type of car. Who is building local short track engines in your area?

Dont spend a grand on a used block. I doesnt make cents. Dart and GM can supply better for less.

Maby spend the winter reading everything you can get your hands on about building hobby and latemodel class SBC.

Not tryin to be a smart ***, I really hope your luck improves but something is really wrong with your engin program.

 

For crying out Loud. .....

Just hire Pete K.

Right there in Pennsylvania where You are.

Very Good All around Mechanic & Race Mechanic like myself.

Pete is Good.

Quit Being Cheap & Hire him.

Having your name( mine or anyone else's) on a roundy round race car is worthless in your case.

You never have finished a race this year yet.

Brian

 

Maybe it is faulty machine work and I don't know asap performance, but you need to stick a wideband o2 sensor on that motor to keep an eye on AFRs and don't trust a mail-order tune if you are gonna beat that engine with the skinny pedal on the right.

I wouldn't, especially after 1 motor let alone 8, be messing around without that. Hopefully you already have one and all the tunes are dead on, if not...

 

Go old school carb and take out some of the major variables and cost with tuners.

 

Cant you just use a good 4 bolt Gen 1 block and ditch all the LTx stuff? Stick a distributor in it and call it a day.

Does a place like Year one sell short blocks that are known to be good, bolt on the rest tune it and take a chance?

 

Geez I could have sworn I posted this?

Maybe it breaks a rule or something, but here it is again.

CME 1-800-903-6446 , they offer a 30 day warranty on Race Prepared motors.

Circle track is their main thing, but look them up and see what they say.


TJM

 

This motor cost me about 3k-3500 to build. It's a 350 (rehoned) with slightly higher compression pistons, stock crank, rods and heads. 3 angle valve job, new guides, dual springs, 1.6 RR, cam, and Headman Elites. The intake is just a cheapie Weiand and the carb is a Barry Grant Demon 750 road race. It's got a Canton road race oil pan, MSD billet distributer, and an MSD 6AL. 1984 fuel pump, and a return FPR set at 7 psi.

We're guessing 400+- hp and I'm shifting at 6000. This is my track car I'm building. Like everyone else says, you're going to the wrong people. If you just want to bitch about 7 motors, then so be it. There have been several people tell you to talk to PeteK, including myself. If you don't like our advice, stop asking for it.

 

I don't get it. i've been following the muliple threads about builders and can't figure out why it's so difficult to keep a motor together.

I've been running the same LT1 based 383 for 6 years, all track miles (racing, not HPDE, trackman we met at Beaverun in '05), and it's only been refreshed once (in 2010). When we opened it up it that time looked like it could have gone another 5 years without being rebuilt.

The ONLY problems I've had with it (and they are multiple) were ignition and optispark. Those are well documented here on the forum over the past several years and have nothing to do with the engine build.

It makes over 400 /400 to the tire and I spend all my time at 6700 RPM and 300+ oil temp. Lest the naysayers give me the "you're not driving it hard" BS, my data acquisition shows regular g loads in the 1.6 range, with momentary peaks over 2g.

The motor was "under built". I left at least 50 HP on the table by keeping stock compression and a rich tune. So perhaps this is the catch - I used good forged parts, a top notch shop and spec'd a reliable motor rather than a "ragged edge" motor. The first build went north of $10k and the refresh over $5k. Maybe that's the issue: it costs a **** ton of cash for race car reliability. I'm not saying you're one of them, but the guys looking to get those numbers for $3k are pissing in the wind.

Perhaps it's also the $3k in motor protection I have in the form of an Accusump, baffled oil pan, two oil coolers, a huge DeWitt's radiator, crankcase breathers and an oil catch can.

I dunno. Just seems like you've had more issues than you should have. And I would never expect a warranty for a race motor, only that the builder would own up if I had a failure and it was clearly his mistake, then do what it takes to get it back on track with minimal interruption.

 

[QUOTE=ScaryFast;1578829681]I don't get it.

Perhaps it's also the $3k in motor protection I have in the form of an Accusump, two oil coolers, and a huge DeWitt's radiator, crankcase breathers and an oil catch can.


Bingo!!! True.

The oiling system on ours set us back over $1,500.00 in major oiling parts alone [ Pan, Cooler, Accumulator, catch bottle, sandwich, and remote filter stuff] . Hades!! #10 Steel hose and AN fittings alone cost $350.00!

Build a monster is fine, but if all 5 quarts of your oil are over on the side of the pan in the hard curves, it's going to die a loud painful death.


TJM

 

Trackman2, what oil pan have you been running on the 7 motors that blew?

 

i have run an accusump canton pan and giant oil cooler...

 

cheap huh well i didnt want to say this because i feel stupid but the truth is ive spent upwards of 60,000 over the years buying all the best stuff money can buy listening to every one hwo claimed they were experts, i put my trust in them..doing every thing i was told was a good idea ...if i spend big money again it will have the same result i just cant do it any more..

 

If I was in your shoes.........

I would find them each & kick their azzes.

LOL

What the god damn lawyers are for too.

Get you out of jail.

Ask me how I know this 1st hand.



Good close buds too.
Make sure they are gearheads & racers like you also.

Brian