Average time for a built engine to be done?

[Ashkon]

Quick question guys. What has been you guys average time to get a built motor done? Not installed, just a long block built and picked up. My motor has been at LME since November, starting to get un happy and just want to see what other people’s experience is with other engine shops.

 

[Wild one]

Quick question guys. What has been you guys average time to get a built motor done? Not installed, just a long block built and picked up. My motor has been at LME since November, starting to get un happy and just want to see what other people’s experience is with other engine shops.

That is a bit excessive.I haven't had a Hemi built,but i've had lots of other motors built over the years ,and if it was longer then a month,the shop better have had one hell'va good reason. Have they gave you a reason why it's taking that long?

 

[Ashkon]

First one was that my pistons weren’t in yet. That was mid January. They got them In early February. 3-4 weeks ago I call and they said that bearing tolerance was to tight on the main bearings. He said he ordered another set. Early last week I called and I was told I had the wrong locators for the springs. I supplied those, came with the cam kit. But I doubt they are wrong.

 

[GTyankee]

Good Machine Shops are getting harder to find.

When you do find one, they are so backed up with work, that the customer better smile & agree with the conditions they set, when you are there to have anything machined

 

[Ashkon]

That’s true and that may be the case with my motor. I have always thought LME to be a top engine builder.

 

[GTyankee]

I just looked at their Facebook reviews

https://www.facebook.com/pg/LateModelEngines/reviews/

 

[Burla]

got to put time is of the essence in contract are you are screwed, I guess work with him I assume he wants to do it. Most people wouldnt be in business if they screw people, hopefully they have a good rep looks that way. tell him you would like it done asap and see what he says.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

I bought a 78 k5 blazer a few years ago for $600 ... a friend built a 383 then a 434 ... he built it at home and it took him about 2 months on each on his spare time from work ..... 4 months if it's being built at a shop that might be busy as hell is probably not too much time ...

I don't build engines so no clue how long it should take but doesn't really sound like too much time ....

 

[retired]

did they have an estimate on time frame when you started the process? I can see being delayed due to parts as Covid has affected everything that way. Seems odd he would not have main bearings on hand being a large high volume builder. what cam kit? I agree seems odd any known maker would include the wrong spring locators.

 

[Ashkon]

Cam kit was from jay. I’ve installed a few of his kits and never had issues with wrong parts. Timeline was 8-10 weeks, which would’ve put me around mid January.

 

[Ashkon]

I know they primarily do the ls/lt platform. Maybe that’s why they don’t have any of the hemi stuff in stock.

 

[James OBrien]

For what it's worth I'm going through exactly the same problem except mine is just a short block! I'm doing a complete forged rotating assembly and building it to be a 383 stroker (Scat kit) with ARP main bolts and everything else bored/honed/cleaned up.

I dropped it off at the machinist/engine rebuilder around November 15th. It's a small shop where the owner does most of the work, he's very well known in the area and has built some of the best motors used at the local drag strip. He's close to retiring so has slowed down a bit. At first I was just in the backlog, a two week expected wait for him to get to the motor turned into almost two months of waiting while his shop helpers went out (covid stimulus-folks can make more money not working!), had health issues etc. When he finally did get to it we had to search to find the right combo of pistons to get me to about a 10:1 compression ratio. Manufacturers are backlogged also, took a month to get my parts in from Scat. There are weird part shortages going on for specific items right now also so your entire engine rebuild can get delayed due to some obscure part being out of stock. I had hoped the guy would order the kit early, but he waited to see how the cylinder boring/honing turned out to get the right (over) sized pistons. Anyway, with a good reputable shop in my area they're all backed up 2-4 months.

 

[Pull Ya]

IMHO---after a couple of months you should start to ask questions. Even with all the virus crap going on and misc. part shortages it seems like a good shop would be reaching out to you with some sort of reasonable updates. It shouldn't take you long to figure out if they are "waltzing you around the block" or whether they are sincerely trying to get your engine completed.
Jay

 

[ScLeCo]

It took 3 months for my 426 from BES. I thought that was excessive.

 

[Ashkon]

It took 3 months for my 426 from BES. I thought that was excessive.

see and I wanted to go with bes from all the recommendations but I figured lme does good work and it’s close enough for me pick up my self and I can actually have input on my build. Looks like I shoulda listened and did bes lol

 

[ScLeCo]

see and I wanted to go with bes from all the recommendations but I figured lme does good work and it’s close enough for me pick up my self and I can actually have input on my build. Looks like I shoulda listened and did bes lol

A good month of that wait time was waiting on the heads from Thitek. At least that's what BES said when I asked what was taking so long.

 

[GTyankee]

For my rebuilds, i used a little local shop, they had maybe 5 employees
The shop manager told me to call him weekly, the shop was only 7 blocks away & i used that street often, so i just stopped by weekly, to see if anything came up

Schneider Racing Cams is only 20 miles away, i always drove there & bought their Cam packages.

Crower Cams is about 30 miles away, but sometimes their cams were found to have soft metal.

Edelbrock is about 90 miles away & they have a delivery truck that drops off parts around at the San Diego shops a couple times a week

Unfortunately El Cajon Machine Shop closed, but i met the owner of another local shop, Accurate Machine,
Milan Mandich, his shop has built several engines for 1 of the car building TV shows

 

[Ashkon]

Called them today no answer. (Been getting that quite a bit lately)
Called off a buddies phone 4 rings later they answer and was told they are working on it. 30 minutes later got pictures to me email of the pistons rods and crank. LOL my shxt been there since November and I get that 5 months later.

 

[James OBrien]

Man, I'd be livid... I got lucky on my heads, found a guy here locally who's been doing them for 30 years and had them back in two weeks. Found out from my shop today they have most of my parts now but got the wrong size overbore pistons. Waiting on the factory to ship the right ones...

 

[Lyle Longboat]

I have had stupid shops that talk the talk, however when it comes down to them walkin the walk, they crippled! I understand parts being back ordered and what not, but they should be keeping you updated.
I had to wait 3 months for my Hellcat lifters so I can see how the parts are jamming the progress up, however still no need to “ignore” you.