[track73]

I have built 30 engines in my life. 6 have been Briggs 5 horse race engines, 2 small block Fords,13 Small block Chevy stock car engines a 250 inline Chevy engine and the rest Pontiac v8's. None of these engines had difficulty in ring sealing and none had rod bearing issues that were related to improper assembly. Oh, I had dropped valves, broken conecting rods and oil starved bearings (Oil pump belt came off)and an air filter stud getting swallowed up,but they all were checked and double checked. I wasn't doing it for a living so the time spent wasn't and issue. I crew chiefed a Late Model that the owner had the engine "professionally" built. It didn't last 2 hotlaps. So it's a crap shoot if you don't know how to do stuff. I feel your pain.

[mgarblik]

73TA: I think it is great that you built your own engine and it runs great, is dry and all sealed up. It is a great feeling of satisfaction to do as much of the work on your hobby car as possible. I don't want people to feel however, that no shop in the country is capable of building a quality Pontiac engine or any engine for that matter. There are many talented machinists all over the country that really care about what they do and build great engines for their customers, Pontiac and others. The shop I work with builds every engine the same, period. Whether it's a Harley, a Pontiac, a comp. eliminator SBC that will run 13,000 RPM's or a 14 HP Kohler for a Cub Cadet restoration, all the work is done with the same precision. They have one way, the right way. Occasionally, the right way can get expensive as TIME must be spent to make everything as good as possible. Customers must understand, that's what it takes to get the desired results. By doing the final measurements and assembly yourself, you can save a ton of money and have that satisfaction. It takes me about 40 hours to properly measure, dress and assemble a V-8 engine. Someone has to pay for this or do it themselves. Not saying you tried to save any money with any of your builds, you may have just had shoddy work done. I always remind customers wanting to do a proper engine because it is so true; GOOD< CHEAP >FAST. Pick any two. There is no way anyone can have all three.

[73ta]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

73TA: I think it is great that you built your own engine and it runs great, is dry and all sealed up. It is a great feeling of satisfaction to do as much of the work on your hobby car as possible. I don't want people to feel however, that no shop in the country is capable of building a quality Pontiac engine or any engine for that matter. There are many talented machinists all over the country that really care about what they do and build great engines for their customers, Pontiac and others. The shop I work with builds every engine the same, period. Whether it's a Harley, a Pontiac, a comp. eliminator SBC that will run 13,000 RPM's or a 14 HP Kohler for a Cub Cadet restoration, all the work is done with the same precision. They have one way, the right way. Occasionally, the right way can get expensive as TIME must be spent to make everything as good as possible. Customers must understand, that's what it takes to get the desired results. By doing the final measurements and assembly yourself, you can save a ton of money and have that satisfaction. It takes me about 40 hours to properly measure, dress and assemble a V-8 engine. Someone has to pay for this or do it themselves. Not saying you tried to save any money with any of your builds, you may have just had shoddy work done. I always remind customers wanting to do a proper engine because it is so true; GOOD< CHEAP >FAST. Pick any two. There is no way anyone can have all three.

The frustrating thing is money and time have never been the object. I don't mind paying more for good work. The short block was done by a shop that builds motors for offshore racing boats and comp eliminator engines. Apparently they don't give a hoot about a street Pontiac engine. The other engine built by the Pontiac expert in S. Cal was torn down after about 7,000 miles because of oil leaks and consumption. Gave them an open check book to build & dyno it. I supplied the parts minus the heads, they did the cam selection, port work, assembly & dyno. Never recieved the dyno sheets, engine had a rod knock at startup. I had to ship it back at a cost of $600 for them to redo it and it returned leaking oil out of almost every gasket.

I asked on many Pontiac boards for recommendations for shop/machinists in N. Cal and never got one that didn't have as many good stories as bad. I think the art of machining and building engines has died with our generation, I'm 60. I assembled this engine out of frustration that I could not find anybody in central California that would do the job right! It did take many hours to assemble it and I don't have all of the measuring tools, but I got by, (palstiguage, micrometer, dial indicator, degree wheel). I had Dave at SD Performance cnc port the intake and Eheads and pick the cam. Turned out excellent. He estimates 550 Hp and it is smooth as silk. I can lug this engine in overdrive with no issues and it pulls strong all the way to 5,700!

Used one of the BOP oil pan 1 piece rubber gaskets and 1 piece rear main seals along with the right stuff sealant on all the other gaskets. so far no leaks!

[mgarblik]

Thanks for your reply and detail and I understand your frustration. Being in OH, we are blessed with many quality machine shops in state and in IN, TN and even MI are not that far away. In my post, I don't want to indicate we never have problems. We have many of them and do our best to overcome in each situation and send a customer home happy. Just last month we built a SBC solid roller 350 that was expected to make 600HP. First pull on the dyno it breaks a T@D shaft rocker arm in two at the trunion. Owner supplied the shaft system. He calls T@D and sends all the stuff back to them. They insist something is wrong with the build or the geometry or piston to valve clearance and refuse to do anything to remedy the situation. He ends up eating $1300.00 worth of T@D junk. We buy and install Crower stud mounted steel rockers and a stud girdle for half the price. It makes 606 HP @ 7400 RPM. We make 23 pulls, no issues. But the customer is still out the $1300.00. So he is "sort of" happy. A good shop will go the extra mile to try and resolve issues. In all honesty, a Pontiac is a simple engine to build as far as V-8 engines go. I wish you were closer to the midwest! Best of luck with your engine, and YOU built it. That's worth allot in my book.