Ford Crate Engines... Your thoughts ?

[NHVANA]

My crate engine looked fine in the box but when unpacked we noticed the inlet manifold was not sitting properly on the gasket. We removed the inlet and found that it wasn't port matched to the SCJ heads (out about 25%). We decided to dig a little deeper and upon removal of the heads we found all eight bores rusty. Dig even further we found the crank miss-aligned and the big end bearing toast. Add to this the wearing cam problems; all summed up to a total and complete rebuild. I was lucky that the budget extended to a rebuild and now have a great engine that is extreamly strong with forged components and roller rockers etc etc. In hind site, when you purchase these crate engines their wacked together by semi skilled labour with no passion, fine if you just idle the streets but if you want the occasional track and drag then look to something better enginered. Remember, these things will need fuel systems, alternator, decent sump (although I note the new engines now have better sumps) so it all adds up. Do the sums as to the total cost of a crate motor compared with RDI/ KC/ Roush etc, if you want a turn-key engine with the right documentation I don't think you would regret spending a little extra on one of those.

Regards
Bruce A