Who Can you Trust

[Stroked408]

Let me be straight to the point here,and I hope this is a wake up call to some.

I have been reading on a lot of message boards about engine builders not selling certain products that live up to the claim.

I am speaking particular head flow numbers,stroker kits that are up to 10-15 cubic inches off,cranks that have to much end play,and a lot of other bad things.

Reason I bring this up is,I know I do not have the dough to be paying some of these "bozos" to sell me a bogus part?

Has anyone had any bad experiences or otherwise that really needs to be brought up,I am not saying they are all bad but some are.

I hope this can be resolved and make the board members here more insightful,and bring some things to the light.

[Unit 5302]

Who can you trust? That's a tough question. I've never heard of the stroker kit fiasco, and I don't worry about the head flow numbers deal. If you can find a few bench flow's of a particular head, you know about what it will do. As far as cranks with too much endplay, I wouldn't doubt that.

Personally, I would be more likely to have an entire engine done by a single place. It gives them much less capability to say it was somebody else's part/work that caused the issue.

I've heard a lot of good things about DSS. I can't remember anything that I've ever seen posted bad about them. They are very reasonably priced as well.

All I can tell you is do your research so you know what to expect from a combo, and you should never truely trust a dyno anymore.

[Stroked408]

Ol reliable,
thanks for stepping forward Unit5,I knew I could count on a few people on here to step forward,and let their voice be heard.

I will not reveal who it was that screwed a friend of mine,but we were putting a new flywheel in his car and went to bolt it up and the crank moved more than what was normal,or allowed.

I felt really sorry for him because it is the second time this has happened with one of this company's stroker kit,first time it was the bearings,now the crank play,I am wondering what next?

Luckily(is that a word?) it is being fixed as we speak,but this is messed up maybe it is just one of those 1 out of 1000 things with hi-po parts,maybe I am over reacting.

[Oldschoolpony]

Another vendor that sells a good product is SCAT Enterprises. They'll tell you exactly what their product is capable of handling and point you in the right direction, if you ask,

As far as end play, ALOT of that equation has to do with the machinist you're using.

Always remeber, If it sounds too good to be true, IT IS.

[Stroked408]

with a name like OldSchool I knew there would be some knowledge there.

I figure that much about Scat,since most of their stuff is in half the guys cars that are really hauling.

Yeah I am going to talk to him about his machinist,and making sure next time we go through a guy that does more than mail order engines.

Not saying they are all bad but some need some work.

[Old Guy with 87 GT]

research research and then some more research

i've taken to the habit of keeping an eye out for who's using what at the track.........luckily i live in an area where racing is pretty popular ,most of the work i need done can be done localy

at the local dragstrip ,you can find an infinit amount of info on what parts and what combo's work .........seems that there is alot of hype in the bolt on industry ie; you need this or if you get that it won't work with out this ........i look at what times peaple are putting down with what combos and who's breaking what from using what .......

as for engine building and machine shops ........sprint cars ....luckily i live in an area where sprint car racing is pretty popular ,........although the conditions that i run my car are alot different then a sprint car moter ,seems that the sprint car guy's usually have a good idea what machine shops got it together.........spint cars run extremly high hp n/a moters under pretty harsh conditions ,most of the guy's who have been at it a while have a pretty good grasp on building strong short blocks at low costs ,building strong valve train combos,and what wearable parts hold up to manufacturer claims

and as alway's..... like old school said .....if it sounds to good to be true ,it usually is

[HORSEMEN RACING]

Man,I guess I have been really lucky as far as this part of the automotive thinking.

One area I always say to watch is the "Bigger is Better" theme,that always get's people in trouble,when their car is a slug at a certain rpm and then it takes off at another rpm,that should tell them they just switched from a torque monster to a high rpm screamer,either that or their tune is out of whack.

I like the Factory Stock cars of the NMRA here you have a car with a stock dimensional shortblock,stock cam,unported GT40,GT40P heads,unported Cobra/GT40 intake,and personal preference on the throttle body,but no bigger than a 75mm,and they are running low 12's high 11's at 111-114mph,to me that is incredible,on Drag Radials none the less,with a weight between 3200-3400.

Do your homework,study your combo,tune it,take it to the track and thrash it within an inch of it's life,trap speed tells me everything I need to know,just me (LOL) can't speak for everyone else just me.

Last but not least,if you deal with any of them you take a chance,they might have the best rep,they might have the worse,it is always someone that has had a bad run-in with someone else.

Take your time and like Old Guy said researchx3

[WyldeBLS]

If you live in Raleigh-area of NC, i reccommend Steve Ashworth Performance in Fuquay-Varina.

These guys do everything, and they do it right.