Build your own engines, or have them built?

Do you build your own engines?

  • All including machine work

    Votes: 3 3.3%

  • Assembly and head work

    Votes: 29 32.2%

  • Assembly

    Votes: 51 56.7%

  • Add ons only

    Votes: 11 12.2%
  • Total voters
    90
  • Poll closed .
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12valve said:
I am an electrician by trade and am good at what I do. I can make more money by going to work and paying a friend who is a professional wrench to put it together than I can by skipping work and doing it myself. Simple economics to me.
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That is true for me too, but work is still work, but garage time is therapy (and priceless)!!!
 
I have done it both ways on all big three brands in the past, but I have found an engine builder 10 miles from my house that will do all assembly for a little more money and he will warranty it for 1 year unconditonally. It really makes more sense to me if you are trying to achieve a certain compression ratio or you need additional machining milling of the heads that will require more trips to the machine shop.

I am an industrial mechanic by trade and know how to turn a wrench, but this just makes more sense to me, because I am helping support a local small business with a great reputation and it frees up more time to do other things on the dart.
 
I do all the engine work myself and even have access to a small machine shop with a sand blaster, lathes and milling machines. I don't do block deck work, align boring or crank repair. I also O/H my own trannies and rear ends. I've been busting my knuckles on iron for 40 yrs. and have the arms to prove it also the screwed up elbows.:toothy10:

And you boys can quit fighting now I think you've made your point.
 
I do it all, except for machine work, but I have a few great machine shops in my area.
 
I do all except machine work. There are great machine shop guys out there but two sets of eyes are better than one.
 
I taught my kid how to build them now she does the work for me. Hope she takes auto shop when she gets to high school. She has better eyes to read the mic's
 
I do everything except I farm out my machine work and balancing. I do try my best to assemble everything I can though. I have on occasion let a shop assemble the shortblock when I was tied up in the chassis.
 
I have the block cleaned and checked for wear and line bore the crank to the block 8)and cam bearings installed at our one of many machine shops in town here, I have built 2 dirt track 350 2k loose chevies and 3 small block Mopars and just one BB440, It's been 10 years since I have built one. I do know of three of them still running on the streets.

This thread sure brought back some good memories :happy10::happy10:
 
I'm very particular on who touches my stuff i have ONE machine shop do my machining,and the same guy assembling my short blocks everything else is mine or a good friends work,in fact no one else is allowed to touch anything on the car or drivetrain..:-D:-D
 
I also do My own welding on my cars I don't trust other people to handle that kind of stuff it's my life and the lives of the others on the road around me I don't want to think "Hmm is that control arm going to handle me hammering on the car?"
 
As Jack Bisnet used to say, "We can do anything, the impossible just takes a little longer". I can do everything but mill and magneflux heads, install hardened seats, install bronze guides, deck blocks and ballance crankshafts. I ballance pistons, rods, sunnen hone with my own torque plates, simple bowl clean up, match gaskets, cc chambers, Centerline cams, gap piston rings, rebuild carbs, 8 3/4 pumpkins and 4 speeds. I can measure and check anything. I deal with a great machine shop that will do what i want. I don't have time to do any work for anyone else.
 
I do all my own assembly,period. Been ripped off by supposed "mechanics" too many times sinse turning 16.I learned real fast,thanks to my understanding Dad who would simply ask "why is the lawnmower apart again?"....lol!

I dont have any machining tools,it's real expensive to set up that kind of shop.So finding a machine shop that I can trust is a huge issue,especially since it would be an out of town resource. Especially tricky seeing as many business's dont give a crap as soon as they have your money.This attitude gets compounded as soon as you cant show up in the shop to ***** ie:dealing via the net or phone.

I've even given up on buying anything from ebay,no one there has any sense of responsibilty.
 
Can assemble my own and have built a few but one of my best friends is a machinist and another is a master engine builder and carb guy so when they want to help I step to the side. They see things I dont even know to look for. On a cheap rebuild I will do it myself but with an easy 6k in hard parts in my 500 I was more than glad to watch.
 
i dont have a machineshop but im not simply asembling my engines either i carefully check every part and clearance as i put it togheter,if it needs to be corrected i go to the machineshop,but this way i know its all up to me if it blows or if it works and that i have done all i can to make sure it survives as long as one can demand,headwork was left to someone that realy knows what he is doing,since i didnt have the time and tools for it,not enought reserch time either to learn how to port the heads
 
i do the assembly myself altho keep in mind i have only done two chevy engine and one ford (302-396and 351w) i usually get all my parts machined and worked on i just take ready parts and assemble due to lack of equipment and know how even i if i had a bore machine i might no be able to do a good job with it lol and i never tried to do the assembly with out a shop manuals to double and triple check everything .....but at 25 i think im on the right track now if only i could make money with my hobby LOL!!!!

OH yeah its all mopar from now on lol
 
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