I agree with the above as well.

Frank

Throw Wheeler in the same group as Speed O motive. Bought a 496 / 540HP motor, was supposed to watch the dyno run, got there and it was crated and ready with a sheet. Here ya go! I told the customer no, but he took it anyway, even though the exhast ports were never fired. Long story short, could mot break 300 on a chassis dyno, blow by like a you know what. Finally pulled it after they told him to shove it. Found 8 thou cylinder taper in it. Pistons were rocking over and dumping off the compression, scuffed to death, horrible piece of dung!

Don't want to beat this dead horse too much further, but my motor was not a lemon, the builder was a lemon. There were more tolerances in the engine out of spec than in spec! The most basic rules of engine building, that you would follow yourself in your own garage, were not followed. As Camcojb said, avoid them.

There's a reason why a good engine builder like Wheel to Wheel and Nelson Racing are more money. Part of it is the quality of the parts used and the rest is the labor involved to check all the clearances and precise assembly.


I was told by a reliable source that the engine builder at SpeedoMotive had to assemble 2 engines a day to start to make any money. Now I have assembled several engines, and my average time is 35-40 hours to do a complete assembly if you check everything that should be checked, degree cam, verify valve train, pushrod length, valve to piston clearance, all clearances, etc. So either a place like that is giving you several days labor for free or they aren't checking and then just bolting them together assuming they're right.

Jody

I at one time thought about buying a Speedomotive engine but seeing the 383 they built for project g28 in popular hotrodding was disapointing. It barely ran 13s and that was after some serious tuning done later by some one else. Any way I have gone 13.5s with a stock style small block comp street cam long tubes gears, performer intake and 600cfm carb. I figure I would just build my own engine and use quality parts and get more out of it for less money.

Sorry to get off track, but I have not heard good or bad about American Speed.


Jody

434 Crate Motor
 

Going aluminum will add 3600.00 to the cost and injected with sheetmetal manifold will add another 5400.00 .We just finished a all aluminum 434 injected small block 9.8 to 1 compression the motor made 635 hp at 6300 rpm and 590 ft lbs at 4900 rpm 500 lbs was in by 2900 rpm so basically 20 grand gets you an all aluminum injected 434 small block dynoed ready to go

Tom
I've noticed there's a range of cube sizes for the big inch small blocks, 421, 427, 434, 454, to name a few used by different builders. I've initially been looking for a 427 mainly because its a cubic inch chevy has used in the past. What are the advantages/disadvantages, besides more cubes more power, to the different cube sizes? Is it just builder preference? Would you build a 427 if that's what I decided to stick with? Thanks, Steve.

434 crate motor
 

421/427/434/454 allright a 421 is a 4.155 bore with a 3.875 this is usually done on a stock block .A 427 is a 4.125 bore with a 4.0 stroke a 434 is the same accept it has a .030 larger bore and a 454 is done a two ways a 4.250 bore with a 4 crank or a 4.185 bore with a 4.125 crank.This is my opinion on these combos.If your going to build a 427 or 434 you build it with a 9.325 deck height block which is +300 tall deck.Also going with this type of block you run a raised cam journal +.391 this in turn picks the cam up away from the connecting rods so there is no clearancing done to the rods also .Another trick I do is run a 55mm cam hole which in turn you can make a faster camshaft ramp because its larger and not affect the reliability of it.So 427 or 434 as far as I'm concerned its the same motor just make sure it has these features.the 9.325 deck allows you to use a 6.200 long rod which makes your rod ratio much nicer.The 454's i would steer clear of one has to much bore for the casting meaning the bore center of a smallblock chevy is always the same so the material between the cylinders is not enough on the 4.250 deal not to mention the gasket sealing surface especially with two exvalves right there.the 4.185/4.125 is a better way but thats alot of stroke which runs into cylinder wall wear.I think the 427/434 tall deck is the way to go.and i would be glad to build it either way.Thanks Tom

Tom,

What would be the pros and cons of using a Chevy 24502495 - Tall Deck Aluminum V8 Block for a 427 turbo motor as opposed to using some of the other aftermarket aluminum blocks......I like the little bow tie on it! :)

John