What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Cricket in new engine

mrk5 said:
If for one reason or another they were to just refund my money, I would probably take the engine I pulled out down to the machine shop I've used in the past. Have them do a rebuild, bump the compression up and put a hotter cam in. The cost for that is a little more than the crate engine but it's easier to deal with issues when it's someone local.
Click to expand...
Yeah, in understand budget for sure. when and if the time comes for me I would just do west coast engines. They are in California and worst case, I could just drive there from AZ.

Or find local but the locals I emailed not one replied for a rebuild or a new build.

Best of luck, it's a shitty situation for you no matter how you slice it.
 
Blueprint is another decent builder, and all their engines are broke in on the dyno before being shipped. They don't charge extra for that either...

I'm kinda partial to this one

blueprintengines.com

GM Small Block Compatible 396 c.i. Engine - 491 Horsepower - Base Dressed - Carbureted

BluePrint Engines 396 c.i. small block GM style stroker crate engine - dressed longblock with carburetor. Includes 30 month / 50,000 warranty & BPE Dyno Promise. Part #: BP3961CTC
blueprintengines.com blueprintengines.com
 
@mrk5 if you end up building a different engine locally, I have a '90 TBI 350 that is most likely roller capable. (I know for sure on a second engine)
This would at least get you the one piece rear seal and the ability to go roller.
In case you can't find one closer..
 
... great video. He built the engine in my blazer. But I guess he is no longer doing customer builds. He's really hard to get a hold of which doesn't help things.

 
tRustyK5 said:
Blueprint is another decent builder, and all their engines are broke in on the dyno before being shipped. They don't charge extra for that either...

I'm kinda partial to this one

blueprintengines.com

GM Small Block Compatible 396 c.i. Engine - 491 Horsepower - Base Dressed - Carbureted

BluePrint Engines 396 c.i. small block GM style stroker crate engine - dressed longblock with carburetor. Includes 30 month / 50,000 warranty & BPE Dyno Promise. Part #: BP3961CTC
blueprintengines.com blueprintengines.com
Click to expand...
Almost had me breaking out the CC, the cylinder heads, while I am sure are great performance pieces, are not direct bolt in for our trucks. You wouldn't be able to use stock manifolds. The exhaust ports are raised 1/2" and the plugs are located in the vortec placement. No other head is available with the port in stock location.
I know.... most people who buy an engine like this will use headers, thou finding headers that fit correctly could be a serious challenge. More then likely you will be chopping and welding the tube to fit.
Personally I like my cast iron manifolds, I even have the factory heat shields on at the spark plugs. I have seen some larger more performance minded versions of the log style manifolds. I have been considering them.
I would need to be desperate to run headers on dd, and my square is dd.
 
Last edited:
I'm a manifold hater. I wonder how much of a problem the 1/2" raised ports would be in a square?

I've been eyeing the 396" crate for my '57 Canadian Pontiac (pretty much a 57 chevy), but have no immediate plans on bustin out my CC quite yet. It seems to offer the most bang for the buck as far as good parts and power vs the cost. I'd probably add a Wilson ported Victor Jr manifold and an 850 cfm XP...
 
yes you would well benefit from good headers, and I wouldn't expect the 57 poncho to be a daily. I would like to see were the exhaust manifolds fit compared to the spark plugs holes
 
www.speedwaymotors.com

Hooker 8525HKR S/B Chevy Exhaust Manifolds, 2-1/2 Inch, Natural

Hooker's new cast iron small-block Chevy exhaust manifolds offer an increase in performance and visual appearance over stock-style manifolds. Their compact design fit into a wide variety of replacement and engine swap applications. This means you get the traditional look and easy fitment of a...
www.speedwaymotors.com www.speedwaymotors.com

these are the units I was considering, thou the 2 bolt flange is less than desirable imho. Still may go this route since I hope to be redoing my exhaust sometime this year
 
It's hard to get good photos of the cylinder walls so the best I could do was a video so I could move the phone around.


What bothers me is what appears to be light rust on some of the walls. Also looks like more than 1 cylinder has some scoring. Thing is I don't really know what normal would be. I've had oil pans off, but I've never studied what the cylinder walls look like.
 
Finally had the engine crated up and ready to go Friday. I wrapped it in shrink wrap, stretched a trash bag over it, and put it in a Moroso engine bag.

Emailed tech support Friday and I had a call from the freight company this Monday morning. They picked it up this afternoon. So I am happy with that quick response. It's going to their facility in Texas.

2022-05-02 15.08.12.jpg
 
Hopefully they take of this. Even if they do so properly, it's still a major drag you have to deal with this...
Good luck
 
I hope that you have a good outcome.

I mad the mistake of going to the wrong local shop once. I questioned some things that I saw during assembly. I didn't check the bearing clearances with proper micrometers, just plasti-gauge.
Come to find out 1100 miles later that the rods weren't cut straight, and were into the copper.
He showed me his disclaimer and refused to do anything unless I paid again. Said that I should have caught it before firing it up.
 
6872xtc said:
I hope that you have a good outcome.

I mad the mistake of going to the wrong local shop once. I questioned some things that I saw during assembly. I didn't check the bearing clearances with proper micrometers, just plasti-gauge.
Come to find out 1100 miles later that the rods weren't cut straight, and were into the copper.
He showed me his disclaimer and refused to do anything unless I paid again. Said that I should have caught it before firing it up.
Click to expand...

The only machine shop in Canon gave me pause on a mutual customer's 6.0LS engine one time. There were arrangements made that the customer would have this machine shop build the engine and we would install it. I had info from my ace at the time to watch him as his standards were lacking on the assembly side. Good machinist, just not as thorough screwing stuff together. I happened to go over there when he was putting the engine together and I noticed he was reusing the TTY head bolts. I asked if he needed us to get him the bolts as we usually had a set in stock at any given time. He brushed me off and said he did it all the time and according to his engine rebuilder guide it was ok to reuse the bolts. I could have debated him at length on the subject but it wasn't worth it. I wasn't the one that would have to warranty his work. He and the customer agreed on everything so it just was out of my hands. I did put a note on the final copy of the RO that we would not warranty the labor for anything done incorrectly on the engine itself.

It was moves like that why my ace never wanted him to assemble any engine he machined for us. He did the machining on the '59 Apache, but we put it together. I had the same guy do all the machine work on a Jeep 2.5L for my buddy's YJ. I assembled it myself. I'd have him do another engine if I needed one.
 
Sucks to see you had to pull a fresh engine. Been there so many times with a number of cars. My 496ci that Western Engine built was short lived due to their bad machine work. Had rod knock in Moab and had to get it trailered back. Countless engines in my old race car due to a bad ECU tune or bad machine work. Really sucks when you have to pull it and it has less than 500 miles on it. Thought maybe my rebuilt in the 89 Blazer was a goner the day it started when the stock gauge was reading 0 psi. Luckily it was just a sensor and verified it with a mechanical gauge. Hopefully they get you something soon.
 
I'm getting the sense that bad rebuilds aren't uncommon. :doah:

After looking the bottom of the motor over, I have a possible theory. The hold up on getting the engine in the first place was the cam shaft. I'm thinking the engine was assembled without the cam shaft and sat for quite some time. Picked up some moisture and that's why I was seeing the light brown staining on the cylinder walls. And that might have led to damage to the piston rings.
 
Then it was not assembled with enough lube in the cylinder walls. There is no way a fresh engine should rust cylinder walls if it was oiled during the build. We have had engines sit for a year after a build without an issue.
 
One thing that concerns me. When I pulled the plugs they had a very strong gas smell. Is that because the engine had last been idling while troubleshooting the cricket noise? I hadn't ever noticed something like that before when pulling plugs. But I also have idled a vehicle for a while before pulling plugs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom