When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Here is the scenario I'm in. I want to build a truck for my daughter. She's due next week, and I won't give her the truck till she is old enough to drive so I have plenty of time. I'm torn on motor but also torn on crate vs build
all the trucks I'm seeing right now that aren't riddled with rust are out of my price range for right now
so I wS thinking g of getting the motor first and building the motor up little by little till I found the right truck. But my buddies all keep telling me just buy a crate motor.
You mean your daughter is due to be born next week?
Meaning you have 16 years for the build?
Then build a motor for sure
Might take a while to find a reasonable, reputable machinist and it will cost a bit more than a crate engine
I would bronzewall the valve guides and install hardened valve seats
Neither of those (longevity fixes) will you get in a crate motor
Have fun
build ver crate has become a item of self esteem around my neck of the woods. just lately we have found the dressed crate motors sold by blue print and ATK to be better in many ways .
our last build we used a blueprint 383 chevy, that was really a 377 since they used all brand new parts . ver atk that rebuilds
What kind of realistic power are you trying to make. I know I would never give a 16 year old keys to a 500HP vehicle and send them on their way.
my first vehicle was an old 83 chevy with a built up 350 pushing 400. I did just fine. It's not about the power the vehicle has, its about the responsibility the person driving it
You mean your daughter is due to be born next week?
Meaning you have 16 years for the build?
Then build a motor for sure
Might take a while to find a reasonable, reputable machinist and it will cost a bit more than a crate engine
I would bronzewall the valve guides and install hardened valve seats
Neither of those (longevity fixes) will you get in a crate motor
Have fun
Yes I mean she's due to be born in a week. Im mechanically stupid and am going to have to watch a bunch of YouTube videos read a bunch of manuals and ask for a lot of help. But I think it would be really cool and special to build her a truck so that's exactly what I'm going to do. Just trying to figure out where to start. From my understand a 429 or 460 can be put in to basically any of the 72-77.5 highboys or the 77-79 250 4x4. I've seen a few in my are on fb that I can pick up for $500-750. So trying to figure out if I should pick one of them up and start building the motor now and then search for the right truck to drop it in to and then work on the truck. Or if I should get the right truck first and then drop a crate set up in to
start with the truck , motor wise bigger is not always better here is a 28 we built 12 years ago,that has more than enough go power, gm forklift 3.0 l converted from propane to gas ,marine cam . 5 spd trans from a s10 9.0 inch ford rear
I go for odd-ball shtuff... I had an emissions-legal ~400hp 393W in a 'Box' '89 Crown Vic that ran a best of 13.06 @ 106.55 in the quarter... and was still able to tow 4000 pounds of car/trailer with ease. Ultimate sleeper!
we dyno'd that little 4 banger at 155 it's more than enough to push that model a down the road, no special firewall section needed can't see what it is under the hood, sounds like a v8 at idle changes to the tones of a modified banger A as it gets moving , a stock A 4 banger only had 40 hp,
start with the truck , motor wise bigger is not always better here is a 28 we built 12 years ago,that has more than enough go power, gm forklift 3.0 l converted from propane to gas ,marine cam . 5 spd trans from a s10 9.0 inch ford rear
Now this is cool, but one way or another I'd ditch the flex hoses.
