Engine builders
 

Who are the reasonably priced rebuilders nowadays? This would be for a low-po street motor. I see that Len Williams is still going and seems to be competitive at 6,895.00. That seems like a good price for someone with a good reputation. One thing that I will require is that whomever builds it needs to break it in. I'm not interested in firing up an untested motor, and possibly again being heartbroken by a ruined cam, etc.

Thoughts?

Len doesn't break in his engines. That said, he also didn't have any real concerns when we called with break in questions on my buddy's 455. He didnt have an opinion on break in oil, didnt recommend removing inner springs, said get it timed close so it fires up quick and do the break in. All went smooth and it runs great.

Is there a GTOAA club in your state ?
If so contact them for info on your question.

I'm in Michigan and have two motors fresh and broke in on my test stand
and can here run if you would like and I prefer. A 400 and a 455.

GT

I just had a guy who is close to me do my engine. Here in indianapolis. Randy Repp, he owns Pontiac Speed Shop. In Brownsburg, a suburb of Indianapolis. He built my 421 SD clone and ran it in while I was there. He is down to earth, reasonably priced and a die hard Pontiac guy. Bit of a drive from Ontario. Just thought I’d add it to your list of options. Good luck.

Wow, for 7 grand, just shake the dice and hope it runs without any help whatsoever, i know the guy has a good rep, but you would think your getting some help here if needed.

Thanks guys for the input and suggestions.

He builds basically stock motors with a mild hft cam. What is so complicated about break-in? Do you expect hand-holding and someone to tell you to put oil in it, stab in the distributor, make sure you have coolant and don’t let it idle for the first 20 minutes?

Agreed - plus I can't imagine ole Len wouldn't be happy to offer some post-sale guidance if need be...

Len did my engine in 2019, the first 350 with a Butler 4.25" crank to go through his shop. He did a great job in my opinion, taking time to mill the valve spring seats to correct height and thoroughly checking valve train geometry since I was putting 6X-4 heads on the 350 block and going to a cam with .502/.510 lift. He builds his engines to the tight side of bearing and piston clearances and I have no trouble maintaining 30 psi of oil pressure at idle in 100 degree weather. The engine started on the first try on the dyno after an initial spin-up to check oil pressure. I've got 2000 miles on it with zero leaks. Since I supplied all the parts except the pushrods, the labor price was about $3200, but keep in mind that's 6 years ago.

Your missing my point, if your paying someone to build the motor they should break it in, that way if there is a problem it can be fixed right away.........not 4-5 months later at your house after you put the motor in.

Maybe just me, i dont have enough experience breaking in a motor and screwing it up at anywhere between 7-10 grand $$, and then pulling the motor out again to restart the whole deal again.

I dont expect this service for free, but im willing to pay a professional that broke in the motor and said no issues

You dont have to search much on this forum to find plently cam and lifter failures

If you can’t do the things needed to set up and fire a new motor for the first time and run it through a 20 minute Cam break in period then I really need to ask how do you expect to maintain it, and especially so as the miles rack up ?

What are you going to do if you need to put the car in storage for a year or so and then it does not start for you.?
Are you going to call the engine build up who ran and broke in the motor?

I see this could go on forever with a few of you boys.....

I had Wayne Schicantek from milwaukee build a 455 for me.

I had Dave Hillard build a 455 for me.............both didnt have an issue breaking in the motors for me...............ive had the car now for 27 yrs, average milage is about 2-5 thousand a year, so yes im not having a problem maintaining the car, did the suspension, put in the 5 speed, yeah i even changed my own oil.

And yet ive never called these builders to help me out............anymore complaints

You guys are a bunch of ball busters. Can’t you just answer the man’s effing question.
Jesus, no wonder nobody comes here anymore.

Hey Bill, sorry about this back and forth, not helping the OP at all...........im done.

Rich

Breaking in motors for you sounds expensive and disconnected. My builder has never been mentioned on this board and builds bangers.

He also did not need to be my ass hair splitting counsellor either.

:D

Years ago I had a well-regarded "Pontiac expert" engine builder do a 505 for me. A failed flat tappet, blown head gasket, rod through the pan, and busted rocker stud later, I went with a local guy who specialized in Chevy engines. He busted my chops for building a Pontiac, but 850 bucks in labor and 10 years later my 505 still runs like a dream ...

Pontiac Dude charged me like 200.00 extra to break my 462 which i thought was worth it at the time. Most engine builders offer this service.

Thanks again, guys. Truthfully, I was looking for someone that would break in the newly built engine before I install it. I have been so disappointed lately with having cams and lifters go flat. The last time I tried, I lubed the cam with a proper assembly lube, used break in oil, and carefully fired up the engine as prescribed by many on this forum. The only thing I didn’t do was remove the inner springs. Frankly, I almost gave up on the car, as it wasn’t the first time it happened after all that work.
So yes, my personal preference would be to have the builder go through that process, likely in a better controlled environment, so that I can just drop it in and fire it up.
A couple of people have reached out with a possible solution, so I’ll be following those up shortly.

What about Gold's Garage, he's in Canada, don't know exactly where?

Sept 25-27, Toronto Motorsports Park is running an NHRA Sportsman event. Tour the pits and find out who the Stock & Super Stock racers are using.

Eric

I have had Great Experience with Spotts Performance in PA, built my 462.

I've had a 2 or 3 462 engines rebuilt by my builder and then another shop dyno them just so I had more of an idea what H/p and such I was dealing with . I feel more assured that all is ready when it goes in a car or I end up selling to someone . The dyno of coarse was additional but I didn't require the guy to spend hrs. trying to get all the hp and such out of it . All worked out as well as it could ! I have my last one on a stand waiting for a find on a nice roller or I may end up selling . I haven't found a roller that I want so it may be for sale soon ! A lot of fun setting there just on a stand ! LOL

I do not understand the "builder" part of this hobby. For me, its kinda tough to get any satisfaction out of this guy or that guy out built my engine. Head porters is a different story though.
By this time all of our Pontiacs are old cars and you had better learn how to work on them unless you are rich or something. Or maybe if you are physically unable to do it anymore.
This is one of the best videos I have seen on preventing flat tappet cam failures. This video and Mikes post about assembling your cam and lifters dry, then turning the engine over by hand making sure all the lifters spin is also great advice.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku2jtm_wPuQ

Just wanted to say that I just installed a 460 Stroker purchased from Lynn Williams. I can't say enough about how easy he was to deal with. I now have 500 miles on my new engine. It fired right up. The engine is a 400 block with 72 cc eddy D port heads and a 288 hydraulic roller. 10.5 compression with dished pistons. Runs great in my 1969 firebird with turbo 400 trans 2800 stall and 3.73 gear. Runs cool and great oil pressure. Absolutely no problems. No, it was not dynoed, but his reputation on engine building was enough for me! It was around $300 to ship to N C. I had a friend drop off block and heads to him, as he was traveling that direction. I would definitely have him do it again based on my results. Again this may not be for everyone, but it was a fine experience for me.

There is a guy in upstate New York near Saratoga that built my Pontiac. Not sure if too far for you, but not too far from Ottawa or Montreal right off I87. He has been Building Pontiacs for over 30 years, has the torque plates too. Very reasonable price, broke the motor in on his stand, I think he only charged $75-100 to do this. I have close to 5000 miles on it, no issues at all, no leaks etc, great oil pressure. He likes to break them in himself, that way he can assesses if any issues right away.

2x on Paul. Rebuilt both my 389 and 421, and breaks them in. No problems with either engine. All he rebuilds are Pontiac engines:)

I helped a guy years ago, with a Len Williams block. Len built the short block, Dave Bisschop did the heads, I designed the cam and then installed cam/heads/etc onto the shortblock.

It burned a quart of oil about every 100 miles, for the first thousand miles. Then it sealed up. 12 years later, he is still driving and enjoying it.

That's Mike Felt your talking about. He does a lot of Pontiac motors and is good to work with.

Good to know...I have family up there.

x3 on Paul Spotts, he only does complete engines that are test run and broken in.

Also didn't try to talk me into a roller cam. I wanted a mild build that looked outwardly stock using correct for my car 77 casting heads. Other than stroking it and using a mild HFT cam it looks outwardly stock. The parts he supplied and extra work cleaning up my tripower etc were are very reasonable cost wise. zero complaints