Well, I tore into the Chevy II motor today... AKA "F**K Speed-O-Motive!"

Lunati.....welcome its good to see more of the industry here! i take it you are the Lunati we know?
Interesting to hear they are still using China for forging....i heard different but i think i would rather take your word, i'm just about to purchase one but & not too concerned about Scat's quality as i've never heard one going bad, it would be nice though if it were 100% US made, out of our hands i guess & very little other choice for a flathead.

Kev.

 

Glad to hear you're jumping in to this deal. If you need anything from me, let me know and I'll do what I can to help ya. I told you this before and I meant it.

~Scotch~

 

I just went out and set the main caps back on to see how snug they fit the registers...

Sorry if this takes a while to load, but you should look at this before you give Speed-O-Motive any money...


http://www.inkandsteel.com/HAMB/PICT1409.MOV


A couple of the rods got hot (One is gold, the other is BLUE! ) due to no oil (spun mains block oil passages), but the bearings didn't spin. I figure those need to be replaced.

In light of the carnage that I found in there, I just don't have the money to get it back together right...
I have a stock 400 block, and $1000, and that's all I have for machine work AND parts.

The local circle track guy (he runs a machine shop out of his polebarn) said that if the crank would clean up, and the rods looked good, I'd be looking around $400-$500 for all of the machine work to get a shortblock back together; and then I'll have to buy parts (Roller lifters, a couple of Eagle 6" rods, rings, bearings, gaskets, and I should probably run new valve springs too) as well.

The numbers aren't coming out in my favor, and that's assuming that the crank WILL clean up!!!



I think I might just take the cash I have and put that into the '64 Impala I bought for my girl, and make a cool family cruiser out of it...

 

Jeezus! That aint good. Does Speed-O-Motive have any windows that would benefit from having some greasy main caps tossed through them?

Oh, and I asked the boss about sponsorship... he said yes, but when I reminded him about all of the door prizes you won at the open house, he changed his mind.

 

Geeee... Thanks Mike!


Honestly, It's a good thing that Suck-E-Motors isn't local, or I would probably end up in jail....

 

HRH

I feel your pain bro.
Not to slight you but there is a lot to be said for building your own mill.

Ok let em clarify that. We're not all Race Fab. A good Automotive Machinist is hard to find. But there isn't any reason in the world why anyone reading this post can't buy their own parts, get the machine work done by a local with a good reputation and drag it home and do the final fitting and assembly themselves. That way you can be sure that the machine work is done right and know that the mill is right when you crank it for the first time.

HRH you got a good head on your shoulders, and a pair of hands. Just get your machine work done localy where you can see that its done right, and do the final assembly yourself.

And thanks for the heads up bro. You done good.

 

It would be interesting to see what Speedomotive's reponse would be if they were told about this thread. Here's the E-mail address they have posted on their site:
[email protected]

Dave
http://www.roadsters.com/

 

"It was fine when it left..."
"Must have been abused by the owner..."
"Improper installation..."
"60% leakdown is an acceptable number..."
"sucks to be you..."
"All short blocks are checked by Bongo the sockmonkey."

I'm making light of this, but I know "sucks to be you" will probably be the response. At this point its been too long and too many hands have been into it for them to want to do anything.

ALthough, I'm sure they would like to see this post.

 

As far as main caps are concerned,the ONLY main caps to use are made by Pro-Gram Engineering.http://www.pro-gram.com/ .I have actually been to Speed-o-Motive about 5 years ago.Place was pretty grungy,and the counter guys were absolute jerks,so I wasn't surprised to hear about this incident.
Very few guys I know that have purchased any type of crate engine have been totally happy.Always support your local machine & speed shops.

 

Yeah, I know.... I've always built my own motors (And even did a lot of the machine work - I used to work in a machine shop), but I was feelin' like a "gold chainer" at the time, so I thought I'd pay to have a motor built...

I added up the cost of all the parts involved and subtracted that from the price I was quoted, and they weren't charging me much at all for machine work or assembly... I thought I was getting a good deal...

We all see how that worked out...



Maybe I need to go take the engine machining class at the local vocational center...

I took it when I was in high school, and got the only A+ the teacher had given in 18 years of teaching!

It was free for HS students, I wonder how much it would cost now?

I have a bunch of "cores" that could use some machine work! Maybe the class could actually make me money!

 

BTTT to warn a few more HAMBers...

 

"Lunati.....welcome its good to see more of the industry here! i take it you are the Lunati we know?
Interesting to hear they are still using China for forging....i heard different but i think i would rather take your word, i'm just about to purchase one but & not too concerned about Scat's quality as i've never heard one going bad, it would be nice though if it were 100% US made, out of our hands i guess & very little other choice for a flathead.

Kev."

First let me say that any resemblence between my username and the company known as Lunati is strictly coincidental. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Second, Lunati cranks are 100% USA forged and finished, and the price (and quality) reflects that fact. They have introduced a lower priced line of cranks (rhymes with "Sludge whammer") that utilizes a forging at least as good as the Scat piece.

 

But them sludge whammers AREN'T made in the USA... are they? You worded it very well to make it sound like they are. I thought I was told they were forged elsewhere...

 

You take that class bro and maybe I'll ship you my block to practice on.

 

Yes, I worded it very well.

Scat forgings are Chinese, finish machined in the USA. Sludge whammers are comparable. Careful examination might even indicate that they come from the same forging.

Note I still haven't said where sludgewhammers are forged. Sorry, I'm not allowed to share that information.

 

Lots of stuff is done off shore any more. Some of it is good and some is not.

Long as you keep the quality up you shouldn't have any trouble sleeping at night.
Make you a deal if you donate me one to thrash I'll makes sure everyone knows of the quality.

 

This is an old postbut it needs to be resurrected now and then so fellow hamb members don't get screwed by these bozos. I had a 408" Cleveland built by them as a blower motor, put my blower on it and starteditupon the Dino, immediately water started s
Racing out of my "manga fluxed" block. We ran it anyway for awhile, low numbers. Tore the whole thing down, loose rod bolts, way out of balance, all kinds of dirt and grit in theoilpan. They wanted it back.....I know fools when I see them, I kept the engine, bought a Dart block, redid the whole thing....about 3500 dollars later... Runs like a scalded cat, street boost 690 horse, on the track with pulley change and better gas 803. Stay away from Speedomotive.....in particular George!

 

I must have got a fluke. I ordered one of their 500 hp 454's because they had the best prices. It was a long block with an upgraded cam. Except for the valves not being adjusted, it was a great motor that I ran in a '65 Biscayne.

 

Orig poster was from Mi. Their should be quite a few local machine shops with in 90 min drive. I have all my machine work done by local machine shops............ I have 5 mach shops within 15 minutes that do a lot of race/high performance work......................... I buy parts from them that way they can blame no one. Be sure to buy and support Local.................................... Now to the other part. During the time period of 1972 to some where around 1988................. I purchased a lot of part's from Speed o motive. {{Ring's, oil pumps,rod and main brgs] They were of a good quality and the price was very fair. The last order I made had some damage. They were not packed correctly. I asked them to replace damaged part's. I was told to make a claim against the shipper. The shipper said S.O.M was at blame. I stopped doing any bussiness with both.. I then bought local or from speedy Bill.

 

I stoped ever doing biz with those greedy butt heads long ago,1979,they tryed to charge me very near as much for one replacement piston as the hole set cost,was a standard piston too . Screw them. They been shafting guys for a long time.

 

Last I heard, they are no longer in business.

 

GOOD!
I had a car I was doing the bodywork/paint/assembly on, that had one of their engines. Had about 5 hours on it, just idling in and out of the shop. Blew out side of the block. They never torqued down the rod nuts.....only needed 10 lb/ft torque to break loose the ones that didn't come apart in the first place.
Yeah, must have been my fault in installing the engine!
Had a great local guy do a new one for the car, and for the same price, got a bigger engine (406 compared to a 383) and MORE hp....as well as reliability. For NJ guys, it's Bontempo Brother Competition, Linden.

 

Last year I picked up a bunch of Yblock parts (listed here) from a guy who was cleaning out his Dads garage after he died. All the dates were from 68 & everything came SpeedOmotive. Everything was just parts except the crank which I assume they turned & balanced. I'll find out how good when I drop everything off today for complete balancing later today. Anyway, I emailed them to let them know what I picked up. They got back to me saying they hear stories like that about once a month. Their site says they have been around since 46 so I guess thats possible.

IMHO chinese parts & young, inexperienced & unsupervised help could contribute to most of these problems. Part of the way business is done nowadays. Hire young, pay the minimum, show them how to turn the machine on once then turn 'em loose. I would think someone with 10-15 yrs. experience would have more pride than to turn out work like that. I dont know their employment situation but it wouldnt surprise me.

 

This is one of those times I fell fortunate to not have any money, then this high priced F.U. won't happen to me. Good luck with the mill! ~sololobo~

 

I recently built a 400SBC and I went through several Chevy blocks and all of them were rejected by the machine shop. I bought a new SHP block from Dart and the quality is amazing. The block comes blueprinted and decked and has priority main oiling. My local machinist finish honed it to fit the new pistons then I assembled it with Eagle crank and rods. All clearences were at the low side of specs. With Vortech 170CC heads and Comp Cams hydralic roller it makes just under 500HP and 508# of torque.

The cost of the Dart block is less than buying a stock block and doing the machine work.

 

Even a blind dog gets a bone once in while!

 

I have had several motors built over time and in a SBC I nor my motor builders will build a stock block SBC 400 with any power adders. Stock 400 blocks are just weak and don't hold up to good HP. I would use Dart or World Products blocks JMO.