Buy or Build Your Engine - Engines: Buy Or Build ? - Tech

Other Things To Consider ... 

   

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Other Things To Consider
We compared the built motor to the crate motor as-is from the factory. There are hundreds of different pulley, carb, and exhaust combinations, so dealers wisely ship the motors without these items. Because of this, we did not add the price of the Mustang/Fox body conversion or any other application-specific parts to the total price in our example. However, you'll have to cough up extra cash for these items to get a crate motor fired. If you order a ZZ4 Chevy for instance, you need to buy headers, a carb, plug wires, a starter, an oil filter, and a melonized distributor gear.

The ZZ4 350 Chevy
Block: Four-bolt-main cast-iron block with a 4.00-inch bore
Crank: Forged-steel, 3.75-inch stroke
Rods: Powdered-metal 5.7-inch
Pistons: High-silicone 10.0:1 aluminum with offset pins
Heads: Corvette-style aluminum with 58cc chambers, 1.94-inch intake and 1.50-inch exhaust valves with heavy-duty springs
Intake: GM aluminum dual-plane
Carb: Not included
Cam: Hydraulic-roller with 0.474/0.510 and 208/221 duration at 0.050
Ignition: GM HEI
Power: 355 hp at 5,250 rpm with 405 lb-ft at 3,500
Price: $3,185.00

The Magnum (380hp) 360 Mopar
Block: New cast-iron two-bolt
Crank: Cast-iron 3.58-inch stroke
Rods: Forged-steel 6.123-inch
Pistons: Hypereutectic with 9.0:1 nominal compression
Heads: Cast-iron Magnum swirl-port with 1.92/1.62-inch intake/exhaust valves
Intake: Mopar Performance M1 single-plane
Carb: Not included
Cam: Hydraulic-roller with 0.501/0.513 lift and 288/292 duration at 0.050
Power: 380 hp
Price: $3,995.00

Don't Even Bother
Not every engine is worth rebuilding, so just because you have one of these in your car doesn't mean you should spend good money having it machined and buying new parts. If you're saddled with an oddball, you'd be dollars ahead to buy a better engine core, rebuild it, and then swap out your old boat anchor. Here are some turkeys best used as core deposits at the junkyard.

* Any V-8 smaller than 300 ci. This includes 262, 265, 267, and 283 small-block Chevys, 255 and 260 Windsor Fords, 273 Mopars, and 290 AMCs.
* Any inline four- or six-cylinder where a V-8 easily bolts in its place
* Any 307
* A Pontiac Turbo 301 (our current favorite motor to make fun of)
* A 403 Oldsmobile (put real Poncho power in your Pontiac)
* Mopar's Poly 318 (as obsolete as motors get)
* Y-block Fords (just try finding performance parts for one)
* Obscure members of popular engine families (for example, 361 big-block Mopars and tall-deck big-block Chevy truck motors like the 366)
* FE Fords that aren't 390s, 427s, or 428s
* Any Cadillac that's not a 500
* A 462 Lincoln (yes, they really made them)
* Any V-6 that's not a turbo Buick
* Any BOP motor that's not at least 400 ci

Decisions, Decisions
Still can't decide? Take our test, mark the statements that apply, and add them up in each column.