EastCoast07GtCs

Been a while since I've posted, been kinda busy, including breaking my cherry at the track late this past fall. Was a great experience, well until the final day of the season. First pass, ran her lean, and blew a hole in the bottom of the block... On a positive note, I ran my personal best the weekend before! lmao

Anyway, gonna be putting together a new forged stroker, and I was looking for opinions on which direction to go in. Would you go with a prebuilt shortblock or just get the parts and drop them off at a shop to have them build it??

My plan is to scavange as much from my current engine as possible, including having the heads ported and a new set of agressive cams.

I'll be putting the Saleen back on, but will DEFINATELY be replacing the current 3.6 pulley since I won't have to worry about the bottom end.

Chime in everyone, I'm in the decision phase right now so I'm looking for as much information as possible!!

classix_stang289

i would say prebuilt short block, everything is done for you and balanced already. saves you time.

probably more money if you go street built rather than doing it yourself.

part of me says prebuilt block and then part me says do it yourself so you know its built to your exact spec and you know you will be the happiest person on the block when finished.

70MACH1OWNER

Wow Al...I had no idea that happened to you. I guess I would ask you a question before I give you my answer. Do you have a good engine builder local to you that knows these motors??? If not I would go with a pre-assembled short block. But you still need someone to put the heads, cams and timing chains together for you. How much have you got to spend? You could always buck up for a Saleen forged 302 stroker. But at $12,995 it is pretty steep. But it has everything you would ever want.


Take a look http://www.brenspeed.com/h302long.html

EastCoast07GtCs

Thanks Scott. Was bound to happen I guess, everyone kept telling me I drove it like I stole it. lol

I've looked at the Saleen before, but that's WAY more than I'm looking to spend right now. I'm basically hoping to use what I have on the top end and just get a built block, doing some upgrades along the way like flowing the heads, new cams, etc. There is a shop near me that does outstanding machine work, but I'm a little unsure about the extent of their knowledge when it comes to our engines. I will be heading over to their shop next week at some point to have a sit down and see what they have to say. I know there are other options like packing up my heads and sending them out to some builders, purchasing their short block, having them work the heads and send me back a long block. Just not sure how comfortable I am with that either.

Hard to tell what is what out there, for example, I've looked at a couple online that I've heard great things about, and afer looking at their "unique" options, the only thing different in their descriptions are the company initials. lmao

Lot's of leg work to do I guess...

GottaHaveIt

maybe a wrecked unit can be had for an engine .

classix_stang289

you aint kidding, wow 12,995?? that is realllll steep!

EastCoast07GtCs

Not an option for sure. I'm lucky I can still post after coming home in a tow truck with my wife waiting at the door!

FLAstangx3

Only problem with a pre-assembled Short Block is that you will STILL HAVE the same internals. Which you have already broke once. Your going to need to do some heavy assembly even with that, so why not just do the whole thing and change those internals to meet what you want to use for car for. JMHO.

EastCoast07GtCs

Pre-assembled with all forged internals is what I meant, sorry about that. No question a forged crank is in there!! lol

shaun_beauchamp

Noob advice. I keep reading good things about JDM, Livernois, JPC and Sutton. I think a good combo is a 289 stroker with forged internals. It seems that those combos will handle up to 2 atmospheres (28lb) of boost. Not sure what your buy-in would be on a block setup like that, but worth a few phone calls.

As far as the wife, if she's pissed, she's pissed. If you spend $4K to put your stuff together or $8K, she's either gonna forgive you or not. I say just weather the storm. My wife just lost $4K in the stock market and I think about how I asked last year to pull the money out to get a blower. She was pissed at me and told me I was insane. Now I'm pissed I don't have the blower, but it's 'till death, and I WILL have a blower one day and it looks like a more efficient Edelbrock just hit the market. So everything heals with time and "it's only money."

EastCoast07GtCs

I hear ya. Funny part is I just put the blower on this past summer. lmao I'm definately looking at a stroker, looks like around 5 grand for Livernois, similar with options for others like MMR and PMP. Add to that working the heads, new cams, fuel system, upgraded clutch... oh brother!! lol

shaun_beauchamp

Plus you live in NJ. I live in WI and I can't leave the house without spending $100 on some B.S. We had lunch, bought gas, bought some daily vitamins and there went $100. In NJ it is probably more like 2 bills each time you go out. Figure you get yourself some lunchmeat and a Mustang lunchbox through June and you'll have your stroker money!

EastCoast07GtCs

2k7gtcs

Sorry to hear about your motor Al. That is teh suck. Now you'll get to put some serious boost on that puppy though. Good luck man!

I'm still waiting to do my SC. I heard about your engine a couple of weeks ago on a thread here. Now you've got me scared to follow through.

EastCoast07GtCs

Thanks Gary, but no need to worry, it had nothing to do with the blower... it was like the perfect storm... Very cool morning, around 40ish, less than 1/4 tank of gas, running it up to the limiter... I guess I was just trying to out do my personal best from the weekend before. lol Was doing pretty well for only being at the track a few times starting in September. Was able to pull a 12.21 @ 117mph on street tires. So I'm sure I was being over aggressive (as usual).

Gonna be a headache getting her done, but can't wait until it is!!! I just hope I can last the breakin period! lmao

Shotokan1509

I would def look stroker, if doing new bottom end, you should do it now.

Do you have any buddies that build engines? Cheapest and most enjoyment is if you build it yourself, but also the most stressful. If not it's how good is your local shop as compared to how much for just ordering a shortblock. Either way good luck, you'll end up with some extra fun albeit with a bit less funds in your bank account.

BlueSkyVert

Oh no!!! That sucks!! I thought the tune was supposed to ensure enough fuel delivery at all times?

Well, at least you'll have the chance to build her up better, faster, stronger!!!