Blue print engines

Anyone out there have a 383 Chev "Blue print " crate engine sold by Speedway and other vendors? They seem like a good buy. Thanks, RR

 

My cousin put one of thier 396's in a '70 camaro. The heads were junk, the balancer bolt was broken off in the crank, the crank was cut .040, they left an oil plug out, and while it runs good now it doesn't have great oil pressure. I'm glad I didn't get my 351 from them.

 

I just put one in my off topic Cutlass. Bought the full dress carb to pan 383 with iron vortec heads for $4200 from Summit. So far so good. Plenty of oil pressure, lots of power, only a minor oil leak around the fuel pump. Only have about 100 miles on it though.

 

Consider a local engine builder that will build one for you. Even if its a few hundred dollars more, in the long run it might very well be worth it. The way the economy is, there should be no reason a reputable local engine builder cant build one and you wont need a high volume oil pump, for the just in case. Best of luck sir. TR

 

I recently bought a drop-in 383 from Smeding Performance (low-end E-Series 360hp, 430tq). I don't have it running yet, just sitting in the frame... very impressed so far.

They have their own in-house machine shop and blue-print/machine all new blocks for their engines. I've never seen a bad review on them... only good.

http://www.smedingperformance.com

 

X's 2 if anything goes wrong you can easily take it back and you can build a friendship with the machinist. Maybe even be involved somehow. That's the route I went with. Other than that I would only buy directly from GM if it's a crate your looking for. You have a more reliable warranty I think...

 

Buddy put a blueprint 350 in his work truck, no oil pressure, called them, they said 'run it" he did , seized up , called again "pullthe pan" twisted off oil pump drive shaft, "well ,YOU did something wrong, went thru the lawyers, blueprint refunded half the cost of the engine STAY FAR AWAY!!!

 

Sounded like a guided step by step plan to get the off the hook for their faulty engine....sounds really slimy of them...

 

Keep a local shop in business.

 

agreed.....

 

agreed again

 

I'll probably catch hell for this but............. 383 ci sbc's are NOT traditional small blocks... Sorry!

 

Agreed 4th

 

use a local shop with a good reputation.its depressing seeing on the small businesses getting overlooked.

 

That list is long,351 -460 Fords,440 Mopars,472-500 Caddys,BBC,anything from the mid 60's on up ain't traditional,right?

 

It's not an assembly line (factory) built motor like a 283, 302, 327, 350... It's more for the resto-mod, pro-touring crowd... They can have it!... Gag!

 

Normally, I assemble my engines but have the machine work done by a reputable speed shop. Always mark your parts so you're sure about getting your same parts back. A friend of mine dropped his forged crank off at a machine shop and got a cast crank in return. I did buy one crate motor because their price was too good to pass up, www.speedomotive.com

 

Who said anything about traditional sbc engines? Ranchero Rick (original post) asked about 383 crate motors.... geeezzzz

 

Ranchero Rick,


My name is Dru and I am the Product Manager for BluePrint Engines. Please let me know if you have any questions that I can answer for you before you make decision - I would be happy to help in any way that I can. Thanks!


Dru

 

When you have some time could you contact me on this? I don't show in our system where there has even been a problem/claim on our 396ci small block chevy engine so I would like to learn as much as possible. That engine uses all new internal parts, so I would like to look into this. If you could shoot me a PM or an email. Thanks!


Dru

 

95 percent of your local machine shops are a shot in the dark, you either take them nice new parts and they do not end up in your engine, or when you go back, they have vanished. They do not check or clean things properly and assume most stuff will last , or they blame it on the customer, which probably 1/2 the time is the cause for the problem. My biggest pet pieve with machine shops is, they never do things on time, then you go back and they tell you next monday, next friday, next week and so on! Im glad your asking around, if you do a local place, make sure you get some good insight on how well they take care of there customers.

 

I would also look to a local shop, one who`s warranty isn`t written by a lawyer. I always try to shop local when possible. If you support your local bussiness they will support you.

 

what's a blue-print machine?

lmao, I don't know what it's like where you live, but 95%? damn must suck to live there... there are plenty of good machine shops around here. and a few quick questions will put you in touch with a good one.

 

zman, its sad, its more like 99 percent

 

It"s good to get to know a GOOD local machine shop.

 

Since the original question was about Blueprint Engines and their 383 motors, not compare this to a local machine shop, or what is traditional, I will keep my comments to the OP. I bought a 383 Blueprint through Summit. I figured for the price I couldn't go wrong as i wasn't looking for a race motor, just a torquey motor for my Cab Over. I was was very happy with the motor and it ran like a champ. i put a bunch of miles on it before selling the truck and it is now happy and living in Sweden and still running perfect.
I was happy enough with it that I bought two 347 stroker Fords from them as well, with the SAME results!
And Kudos to Dru from Blueprint for coming on here and offering to take any heat for "Real" problems that may or may not have occurred. That shows some integrity on the company's part in my book.

 

I bought a Smeding 383 efi for my truck about a year ago when first introduced and they had an introductory price. I'm very pleased with the power and performance. Smeding seems to understate their hp/tq ratings in their advertising. What I bought was a 370 hp, 430 lb/ft of torque; what I got was 419 hp and 465 lb/ft of tq at the crank. The only problem was my new coil died on me ... other than that, no leaks or other problems.

And I remember how lots of us with 265" small blocks in our 55's and 56's bored them to be equal to the 57+ 283 motors ... I guess that was untraditional too.

Barry
anything worth doing is worth doing to excess

 

I agree whole heartedly 100%!!

 

I'm with Hotroddon. The question was about Blueprint engines if I remember corrrectly. Now that someone of note from Blueprint has come on here directly, and offered to help a customer with an issue, I'd say that is good customer service.
It also might appear that he's called B.S. on a claim that someone had all kinds of isues with an engine, and didn't have satisfaction, as the claim hasn't been validated yet.
I for one would like to see the person with the grievance and the Blueprint guy work on this without a bunch of clutter and opinion added to this thread...

All the opinion of "keeping it local" is all well and good, until the one or two man shop goes under, the owner gets ill, etc, etc, etc. Then you go to get your stuff and the doors are locked and the cops have a chain locked around it. THAT's the problem with too many local shops.

 

I know dyno numbers vary. My engine came with a dyno sheet from their shop that matches what they advertized. It was drop-in ready... just bolt on the flexplate and starter.