Building my first motor

[MEDIK418]

I agree with DLB on building your own. If it goes BOOM at least you know it wasn't someone else who got to you. I've built three engines this year, a 306, a 414 and my tired old 300 inch six in the truck. I did buy the 414 stroker (short block) for the boy's Bronco and I still feel uneasy about it and probably won't do that again. The biggest problem with building your own is all the little added expenses you don't budget for. With a used block, you can count on machine costs from 200 - 500 bucks depending on who's doing it. freeze plugs, cam bearings, are the lifter bores going to need work? Every time I do one of these things I sit looking at my poor smoking checkbook and wish I'd bought the thing outright and yes you can come out about the same but there's a lot of decisions budgetwise to get there. Watch the guaranteed shortblocks too. A lot of them only guarantee the engine if an ASE certified mechanic installs it. Good thing to do, but most folks don't go that route.
Good luck