Who is the best FE engine builder?
 

Thinking of replacing my street tuned iron 427S/O + iron MR heads with a more radical street/strip spec. all alloy Pond or Genesis 482 unit with either 2x4 holley intake or EFI stacks - either way 600+ hp.:D

Who in your opinion / experience is the best engine builder in the US in terms of cost, quality products and service? Keith Craft & Survival Motorsports seem to get good reviews but are there any others I should consider?

Thanks
Stuart

Consider Southern Automotive. Bill Parham builds some awesome engines.

:JEKYLHYDE:JEKYLHYDEJasper?:JEKYLHYDE:JEKYLHYDE

I think Keith, Barry & Brent would be my only three considerations. Keith built my 482" Pond years ago and I couldn't be happier!

Can't go wrong with Keith Craft. He has built a ton of these FEs and really knows his stuff and is very reasonable in price and will build what you want but also has a nice 482 FE crate motor package. He built my all aluminum FE 496 last fall and I'm extremely happy with the motor.

Keith Craft.

Brent Lykins, Tom Lucas, George Anderson and Mike LeFevers-all participate here. Including Barry and Keith, 600+ HP is easily available from all of them. And they support their product.

Best Builder
 

Kinetic Racing Engines in Michigan

Excellent reliability, honest horse power numbers and great service. Ask the Kirkhams about Kinetic engines track performance vs other builders, you get what you pay for.

Gessford Engine? He rebuilds lots of original FEs.

That's George Anderson.

Blykins, Survival motorsports, Keith craft, Kinetics racing.

Thanks guys! Thats should be more than enough contacts to get me started on that trail for a seriously quick FE!

kROYER ENGINES, Las Vegas Nev. Built motors for shelby spec racers, factory authorized full comp 427 cars, dodge NASCAR, off road, engine builder of year several years in row. Have 660 hp 468 shelby fuel injected engine that runs on pump gas, drive around town, in couple of parades, over hour in one, no problems. Has engine dynos and full chassis dyno in house.

I've been there many times, what a nice facility, by far the nicest i've seen ever, and shelby is right next door, there trophy truck engines are awesome.

Keith Craft

Coach has one of Keith's stroked 428 in his Cobra. Monster street motor. Very streetable. Very Fast

Lainhart had Keith to rebuild his 427 s.o. Now it's a 487 c.i. 619 hp street motor.

I have driven both of these Cobras, several times, and I would drive them anywhere, anytime.

Keith gets my vote.
Oh yes, Keith did my heads and cam for my small block.

Two Votes for Keith

Dwight

Probably George Anderson at Gessford

All of these names are good. I really like blykins technical approach... the engineering stuff!

They are all very good choices, but for my money Bill Parham (Southern Automotive) is one of the best. He builds you what you want for the purpose you want it for. Good prices, great service and he stands behind his work.
I have almost 15,000 miles on my FE and it's just getting broke in and running great.
Thanks, Southern Automotive :D
Bill B.

I'll try to get into this without it being too "self serving".

First is that there is no "best" FE engine builder. There are several good ones, each having an advantage in one aspect or another based on history, geography, and experience. Several have already been mentioned and there are several others. There are also some folks to avoid - but you'll need to research that on your own - I am not bashing anybody here even if they deserve it. Each builder has a competitive advantage that gives them an edge in one aspect or another. Only you can make the decision based on a number of parameters, weighing which ones are important to you.

Lets get price out of the way first. All the builders purchase the parts from a fairly short list of suppliers. The costs for products and services are going to be reasonably similar - some of us get a better deal, some not as much, but nobody has a truly huge advantage. If you see a smoking deal the odds are high that something is not being disclosed. I prefer a certain group of parts that may not be the same as somebody else likes - ask your builder WHY they choose one or the other.

Credibility has to go beyond a keyboard. Each builder should be doing something in a public vehue that proves their relative merit. Or it becomes a simple price competition. As an example George does the road race thing every year, Keith has a bunch of drag racing records, I do the Engine Masters thing. These are a way to document skills, capabilities and effort. There are some ebay guys that you'll never see in any venue where their actual work can be compared to their peers - - you should question why.

Now onto parts quality. I like certain items for a reason. So do the other guys. My personal experience is in 20+ years of parts manufacturing, so I put a pretty high value on the quality/value relationship of products I prefer to use based on that. Somebody else might put a greater emphasis on providing the lowest cost product. Yet another might emphasize faster delivery. And another builder will specify only the highest end race proven parts. There is no single right answer.

Delivery is both time dependent and geography dependent. If you want to be physically present during the process the geography is important - example is my being in the Great Lakes region while Lucas is in California. Trucks and shipping take care of geography for other folks. Timeline can be an issue for some projects. There can be a pretty long lead on some FE parts - availability can be a challenge. My shop tends to run on the long side - wish we were faster but we are not - our process times are kinda long because we spend a lot of time "rubbing" on stuff before moving to the next step.

Service - a warranty really is not worth the paper (monitor) its written on unless the shop owner backs it up. These are complex builds and stuff does happen despite the best of efforts. We truly try to take care of issues that arise. Others do teh same. Research...

Well said Barry. You da man!!!!!!!