Is anyone using thier engines? comments please.
thanks

 

From what I have seen on this form and some of the others is: The quality assurrance of the short and long blocks is sometimes lacking leading to rod knock and worse. The guys that buy kits and assemble them feel that they are very competetivly priced.

 

It's interesting to me that there seems to be a wide range of opinions on Speed-O-Motive. In the street rod world they have a very good reputation (and they have been around a long time). In the offshore boat crowd, their reputation is considered fairly low. On the forum it seems to be somwhere in between.

I'd be interested in polling for actual user experiences (no anichdotes) myself, as their prices are hard to neglect, and they have just added a nice 396 in small block (3.875 stroke crank combo) to their web page.

-Greg


[Modified by GregP, 12:36 PM 12/20/2001]

 

Crap-O-motive. I have spoken with several people that went with them. I was researching building a 383 at the time. General consensus is that they have very competitive pricing. However the machine shop is the pits and quality assembled engines is horrible. Everyone I talked to that just bought parts or rotating assemblies was happy. Everyone that bought a short block or long block was extremely unhappy. Customer service after the sale on machine work is non existant. Be very carefull. :seeya

 

I too have heard stories both ways. Some folks love it b/c they are so cheap, others said they got screwed. I think the ones who liked speed-o the most were old engine builders who knew exactly what to expect, while the ones who felt they were getting screwed were younger guys who thought they would receive an almost turn-key package. :cheers:

 

Thanks for all your comments.
I've been absent from this hot rod thing for about 20 years now. Now that my son is all grown up, I'm just starting to get back in.
Anyway, I'm looking to buy a 383 short-block. I noticed their prices on the short-blocks are hard to beat. Are they any other places that sell budget 383 short-blocks with a better reputation?

 

dtorc4 - Where do you get your information from? Speed-O-Motive seels garbage, period.
I ordered a 383 racing assy short block w/ 6" rods in '97 and got about 8,000 miles out of it before one of the rods started knocking. Most of the rods needed to be re-bushed. I should have known I was in trouble when I noticed dirt in 2 of the belhousing mount bolt holes when I initially installed the motor. After I tore it down I found a large crack in the block as well.
As far as them doing there own work - they farm most of it out. All of the cranks & rods they sell are from China.
I would've had better odds if I spent the 2200.00 in Vegas - and had more fun too


:yesnod:
bungoo2u - Email me if you need to find a good machine shop. There is one in Lawndale that does excellent work.

 

GregP I am sick! Sell me that car so I will feel better!

I think it is always best to use a local parts supplier and machine shop as long as they will get somwhere close to mail order prices..Although there are alot of race oriented machine shops any good machine shop can get the work done when told how you want parts machined ,clearances ect.

 

moutainmotor - Sure, it's a one owner All Numbers Correct (at least the one number that exists is correct) show quality car that should bring just a little less than the GNP.

I've built my past motors using combinations of local shops, mail order etc. I'd sure like to let someone else do one for a change (at least the short block) as I've built "too many" motors for the boat recently, and would like a change of pace. I'm still at least a year from any serious motor funding, so plan to keep checking for "who was naughty and who was nice" to the forum members in the past.

Merry Christmas - Greg

 

71coupe,
I put a thread on 3rdgen.org or some f-body forum a couple of months ago and got mixed reviews - some bad like what you described (well, not quite as bad) and some good. The way I look at it, there are going to be SOME bad stories about almost every shop everywhere, but from the ratio of bad to good stories about S-O-M, I would not use them.

 

As stroker parts and small blocks go, Flatlander racing has a great reputation and very competitive pricing, plus you get to pick the components you want.

Check them out!
http://www.flatlanderracing.com/

 

Here is my Speed-O-Motive story on a 406 long block that I installed in one of my other cars ~ 1-1/2 years ago.

As received:
Engine block had obviously not been hot tanked prior to machine work and assembly - there were several layers of paint on block from prior builds.
None of the threaded holes, for the head bolts or anything else, had been cleaned with a chaser tap - there was considerable rust and gunk still in all the threads. No way this block could have been bored using a torque plate.
The block had not been decked - when called on this they said it was already straight and did not require decking. I could not see that the deck was warped or anything, but I would have liked a cleaner surface for better head gasket seal.
Engine balancing was questionable - there is a vibration from the engine that should not be there.
I paid extra for ceramic coated piston tops. One of the pistons had the coating sanded off!?! When I called them on this their reply was: "That ceramic stuff doesn't do anything" (their website sure does claim otherwise).

Topped with a set of FastBurn heads and a 750 carb I installed it in my '67 ElCamino which weighs ~ 3,700 lbs. Other pertinent car info: TH350 trans, 3.08 posi, regular street radial tires. With the trans in drive, and auto upshifts at ~ 4,200 rpm it runs consistent 13.2x e.t.'s at 106-108 mph.

On the dyno it maxed out at 339 rear wheel hp @ 4,400 rpm. Torque maxed at 615 rear wheel ft lbs at 3,200 rpm (not a reliable torque number, as it was from start of dyno pull and represents a torque spike off the B&M Holeshot torque converter which also stalls at ~ 3,200 rpm).

To be fair about the drag times and dyno results it does appear that there is more than acceptable slippage coming from either the converter or the trans itself. At the drags my trap speed would indicate about 4,200 rpm if no slippage, my observed rpm in the traps is right at 5,000 rpm - so about 18% slippage, which is very high.

Thomas

 

I've never bought anything from their shop... and never will, but I've been to their shop and I gotta tell you..... you're braver than me if you buy even a spark plug from these guys.

I know Thomas from the above post... and he's a straight up guy that has nothing bad to say about anything or anybody... and based upon his post.... you might want to continue to shop.....

In any regards.... good luck with your decision.

Beach Bum

 

Thanks guys for all your replies. With all these horror stories out there, I'm thinking very seriously about doing the engine building myself like it used to be 20 years ago.

Any other good leads on a rotating assembly

 

I just picked up a copy of Chevy High Performance today, and there are what seem to be some good prices on rotating assemblies and short blocks. The reason I got the mag is they have a review on the new Vortec TPI base intake w/ Vortec heads on a stock L-98, and 2 more dynoes w/ some mods. :cheers:

 

i will definatly skip on the speed o crap-o parts. thanks for the warning, the prices are hard to beat, but now i have been warned ;)

 

If you see an ad in there from Larrys Performance.....stay away from them too!!!!! That's from personal experience and several friends that I know-not rumors.

 

I believe "Larry's" sells alot of motors on EBay

 

Just had a friend buy a 383 short block from them. They do farm all the work out to CA shops, everytime he called them to see where the motor was, they always said 'it's at the shop'. He ordered the race assembly on the phone with the guy, but got the wrong crank, it was cast, and not forged.

They told him he'd have the motor in 2 weeks, he got it in 2 months.

They even charged him for a plastic shipping crate that he never wanted also.

He ain't happy.

 

Here is another company selling engine kits. I don't know anything about them. Maybe someone else can comment.
http://www.strokerkits.com/