Thoughts/opinions on Blueprint Engines 408 stroker crate engine?
- Thread starter MRGTX
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I’m super encouraged by this thread…the motor sounds excellent and well worth the cost.
So the wait is undetermined but at a minimum, it will be months and months at this point with 50 engines ahead? Ugh. It’s probably worth it but I’m Not super crazy about the idea of sending $8k of my hard earned dollars to sit in someone else’s bank account for an undetermined amount of time…
It’s a bone stock Magnum 300 with the original dual plane aluminum Mopar intake manifold and a 650 Demon carb. The guy I bought it from (reputable guy on the forums) said that it had 5k or so miles on it when I bought it so it has about 10k miles now.
Not sure where you’re coming from but I’d be glad to give you a ride in the car before I pull it.
Though if it’s going to be 3+months for the new engine, it will be a while before I can let it go.
So the wait is undetermined but at a minimum, it will be months and months at this point with 50 engines ahead? Ugh. It’s probably worth it but I’m Not super crazy about the idea of sending $8k of my hard earned dollars to sit in someone else’s bank account for an undetermined amount of time…
It’s a bone stock Magnum 300 with the original dual plane aluminum Mopar intake manifold and a 650 Demon carb. The guy I bought it from (reputable guy on the forums) said that it had 5k or so miles on it when I bought it so it has about 10k miles now.
Not sure where you’re coming from but I’d be glad to give you a ride in the car before I pull it.
Though if it’s going to be 3+months for the new engine, it will be a while before I can let it go.
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Refundable down payment buddy. All it takes. Last I checked summit had 3....yes 3....Chrysler roller cams of ANY brand in stock. Keep that in mind. Entire industry is in this boat. We are quoting 12 weeks.
1fastgreencar
Well-Known Member
I love my 408 from blue print engines never had an issue ,when my warranty was up I had head work done and bigger cam put in and I’m hitting it with a 100 shot
I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another one
I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another one
abodyjoe
Well-Known Member
im in south jersey.. 08009
Yikes. Not sure how I feel about the attitude here. I never said that this was a problem unique to your company and obviously, I hadn’t looked into the payment terms…which are actually very fair. I just didn’t know the delay was so long and also indefinite to some degree.
Dusterdenovo
Contentedly Old School
Don't know how you feel about the attitude? Seriously?
All Johnny did was provide clarification after you were talking through your *** about "sending 8k of your hard earned dollars to sit in someone elses bank account for an undetermined amount of time".
You wont find a more stand up, knowledgeable and sincere vendor than @Johnny Mac.
Hope you are able to find the strength to get past this.
All Johnny did was provide clarification after you were talking through your *** about "sending 8k of your hard earned dollars to sit in someone elses bank account for an undetermined amount of time".
You wont find a more stand up, knowledgeable and sincere vendor than @Johnny Mac.
Hope you are able to find the strength to get past this.
No attitude was meant at all. Sorry if it seemed snippy. Was just noting that a down payment is Refundable, and that we are doing what we can to get engines out the door. Would hate to see you go another direction because of my poor choice of words. I was just shocked at the fact a major retailer was down to such low inventory, and sharing that info to relate to the industry as a whole. We obviously buy direct from the mfg, not retailers, but just found it interesting.
Thanks. The clarification is appreciated! It’s never wise to read tone into a text or forum post. That was my mistake.
To your point, the severity of the supply chain problems is surprising. I have no doubt that you guys and most other vendors are doing their best.
In my earlier days, I saved up for a long time and spent a similar sum of cash on the latest and greatest Miata turbo kit (from the biggest name in Miata tuning at the time). I paid up front, and watched as they missed their promise date by several months due to delays with their new casting contractor in India. Their delivery date slipped incrementally every week until it became clear that they had no idea when it would be ready. They’re good folks and I know they were doing their best too but they already had my $7k and probably as a result, had no sense of urgency to deliver. So I’m a bit weary I guess.
BPE’s policy of just taking a down payment up front makes that a moot point. It’s classy and greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your honest, sincere support.
The thing that impresses me is how BPE rejected a shipment of cams because it did not meet their standards. They could have simply installed, run, and pushed the engine out the door. No, they held to their standards so we would receive a quality build. Thank you guys!
thomasfouraker
Well-Known Member
Thats good to know, it could have easily been a miscommunication or misunderstanding on what was or is available at the moment.
I appreciate the clarification and hope short blocks are available in the future!
Thanks for clearing that up, good company representation!
I've mentioned before that I had a BPE 383 stroker in my Stingray. ....
Absolutely LOVED it.
I wouldnt think twice about buying from BPE in the future.
Jeff
Absolutely LOVED it.
I wouldnt think twice about buying from BPE in the future.
Jeff
furrystump
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I bought a 408 dressed in 2009. It has been thoroughly abused since. They have substituted some parts from how they were back then in areas that you really didn’t need the extra cost part. Thinking logically, they are not race engines, even though that is pretty much want I did to it. I put well over 50,000 miles on it and has to be well over 700 runs on it before any major changes to it. I’m still running the rods/crank/block. When I changed pistons to get more compression, the bores were round and straight. The rod ends still round and the Scat cast crank still straight. At this point I will build the next motor, but this is not a reflection on them. Just I’m much farther along my personal learning curve than in 2009. All the original parts it came with are on the shelf and will go back on it when I build a roller short block for the car it is currently in. I shift it at 6200-6300 and cross the stripe at 6500. It’s been to 7200 when the trained monkey doesn’t pay attention!
MOPAROFFICIAL
Oogliboogli
Translates to...
"They used too much lube"
Um...can there be such a thing with a brand new motor that will be broke in by a 'home garage mechanic'?
"Oozed out sealant"
Yeah I pull my hair out and cry over that alright.., no I don't. You never said it leaked.
The kind of customer we dread...
A nit picker...and imo customer care, I hope I don't need that...because that means it went bad. If it's right from the start... I won't need customer care.
Nutshell..
It was cheaper, but you didn't like the turn around time of building your own core motor as opposed to paying the extra for one that's already assembled...and the rest is here nor there.
Phreakish
Well-Known Member
It wasn't the amount, it was the fact that they made an enormous mess with it that bothered me. A mess that was hugely unnecessary.
What did bug me was they used the wrong type of lube in several instances. I redid the cam install and since I had to remove valve springs anyway for break in, so I simply corrected things as I went.
Had I left things unchanged after I picked it up, the cam would likely have failed and at least a couple of the valves would likely have seized.
I had none of these issues with my BPE order.
You'd use half a tube of right stuff on each core plug and then smear the left overs all over the block (to which paint won't stick), and then leave huge *** boogers dangling off the block also? You wouldn't at least run a razor around the perimeter to leave a clean edge? Oh, would you also go and paint over that whole mess while knowing the paint won't stick to any of the silicone?
It was a hack job.
At the same time it wasn't a deal breaker, I simply dealt with it because it wasn't a world ending issue. I'm by no means 'that customer'. I don't expect paint-booth quality from a guy who's going to make better money running his mills, but I also don't expect palm prints of orange goop all over either.
Small issues like these really tell you how a shop operates.
A sloppy build that's slopped with goop is sloppy. No other way to look at it. I don't like sloppy people or sloppy shops. There's no need or excuse for it.
The view from your horse must be amazing. Heaven forfend a customer want things done to a professional standard, especially when paying a premium for it.
Things go wrong all the time. Mostly caused the customer. I know you're the perfect specimen of a human and have never made any mistakes, so it doesn't apply to you, but: having a business stand behind their product and support the customer even when the customer is at fault is a pretty good way to run a business.
None of the issues I ran into were caused by BPE. I screwed things up myself, and they were always there help. Their only interest was making sure I succeeded. That's rare from many companies, and I for one appreciate it a helluva lot.
[/QUOTE]
Wrong again. You've made some wild *** assumptions and paired it with very little information to try and paint a poor picture of me, which I don't appreciate.
I went with a local shop because I wanted to support a local shop, and knew I'd have other projects which I wouldn't be able to simply order a solution for off the internet. I wanted to work on finding a place I could build a working relationship with. In the end, it cost me MORE to have the local place build it. I knew it would be more, but it was supposed to be faster. They took an extra 6 weeks to complete the mundane amount of work I needed - lead time they KNEW would happen but wanted to get me in the door more than they wanted to be up-front.
After seeing their work, and the time it took to complete it, I would have been time and money ahead to just deal with BPE again. At the same time, I did learn what this local shop is capable of, and what they're not so capable of. I'd use them again, but I'd know what I'm getting into and what I'd not want them to do.
My point to OP was that buying a well designed package from a reputable company that cares about their customer and offers it at a very competitive price is an excellent direction to go. There's far fewer unknowns and no chance of getting burned like so many do when trying to work with an unknown local shop. But go ahead and keep making assumptions about intentions that you know nothing about.
I farted.
MOPAROFFICIAL
Oogliboogli
That's how it came off.
If he just said they smeared rvt all over the block and took way too long to get the job done it would have been enough.
As for incorrect Lube, what's incorrect.
The head guy will use what he uses, the block guy/assembly person will another kind. The heads could have white Lube, red lube... or the bottom end could be grey ,Red ,Green black..motor oil for the bores. Who's got the equipment to test what it's made of and if it has the proper friction modifiers in it, zinc ppm etc..to say its wrong for this or that... it's just just way too embellishing and cracks me up. I'm not knocking phreakish...just amused by his story. He doesnt like what imagery I gather from his tale... but I'm only a sketch artist painting what he describes..lmao
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Ok...my order is placed. Honestly, once my wife gave me a straight forward "sure!" with no hesitation nor subtle disapproving facial expression, I was going to buy one from somewhere. The endorsements for BPE sealed the deal.
So delivery is slated for November...which seems like a long time from now but it's not like I'm suffering with the cheerful and torqey Magnum that powers my Dodge currently. I'm just not picking any street races. I don't want to take the car off the road during the driving season...so it will be a winter project in the heated garage so that works out fine anyway.
That's not too terribly far but I don't think I can stomach putting the Dart through that trip. The car would make it easily but the driver not so much.
Nevermind the 4.10s and the ~60,000 gallons of gas it would take to get there, the stress of worrying about other cars smacking into me on I-95, the Jersey Turnpike, etc would be too damn much stress.
You're welcome to come up this way to check it out of course!
So delivery is slated for November...which seems like a long time from now but it's not like I'm suffering with the cheerful and torqey Magnum that powers my Dodge currently. I'm just not picking any street races. I don't want to take the car off the road during the driving season...so it will be a winter project in the heated garage so that works out fine anyway.
That's not too terribly far but I don't think I can stomach putting the Dart through that trip. The car would make it easily but the driver not so much.
Nevermind the 4.10s and the ~60,000 gallons of gas it would take to get there, the stress of worrying about other cars smacking into me on I-95, the Jersey Turnpike, etc would be too damn much stress.
You're welcome to come up this way to check it out of course!
For me, I do not drive at night because of the deer. We've had many of our cars totaled after deer hits. They even have run into the side of our cars in broad daylight!Nevermind the 4.10s and the ~60,000 gallons of gas it would take to get there, the stress of worrying about other cars smacking into me on I-95, the Jersey Turnpike, etc would be too damn much stress.
MOPAROFFICIAL
Oogliboogli
@RustyRatRod Now that delivery is for November, that just leaves that dang silicone to worry about. Lol
abodyjoe
Well-Known Member
Ok...my order is placed. Honestly, once my wife gave me a straight forward "sure!" with no hesitation nor subtle disapproving facial expression, I was going to buy one from somewhere. The endorsements for BPE sealed the deal.
So delivery is slated for November...which seems like a long time from now but it's not like I'm suffering with the cheerful and torqey Magnum that powers my Dodge currently. I'm just not picking any street races. I don't want to take the car off the road during the driving season...so it will be a winter project in the heated garage so that works out fine anyway.
That's not too terribly far but I don't think I can stomach putting the Dart through that trip. The car would make it easily but the driver not so much.
Nevermind the 4.10s and the ~60,000 gallons of gas it would take to get there, the stress of worrying about other cars smacking into me on I-95, the Jersey Turnpike, etc would be too damn much stress.
You're welcome to come up this way to check it out of course!
clear out your inbox.
Go Mango
Never enough beer...
What was this thread about again?
Oh! That's right! The pros and cons of messy engine builders.
Wait, no...
Oh! That's right! The pros and cons of messy engine builders.
Wait, no...
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At the end of the day, I got a beer says the OP is going to be thrilled with his new engine from Johnny Macs crew at Blueprint.
All set.
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