Piece together a built motor?

[PamAndJim]

I know þhere are a couple vendors that sell already assembled, which I very well may invest pin at some point. However, I got to thinking the other day about the possibility of gathering the needed items piece by piece and having some local assemble it. That way I could buy parts as funds allow and end up with a really nice finished product. I thought maybe you guys could help put together a list of what is needed. Obviously, there's the block and crank (I'm thinking I could p or probably find a good deal on a used motor), the rods and pistons, what else? For the heads/cams I probably would just go with one of the available oprions already available.

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[xXANCHORMONXx]

Don't. I know it sounds good right now but think of this.

Your gonna spend thousands of dollars on these parts to have someone who has never touched an Ecoboost motor assemble it.

Without any sort of warranty as well.

Save your money a buy from a vendor.

 

[Dirty-EB-Chicago]

I would have to agree with Anchormon completely, and adding onto that you don't know what you'd be getting out of a 'potluck' style built engine. as where buying from a vendor who is designing built engines for the ecoboost platform you'd have some degree of confidence. I would say saving up for a built vendor motor would be well worth the wait.

 

[Slow89]

Guys it's a 4 banger with nothing too crazy about it. Assembling a shortblock like this shouldn't be too hard from a reputable shop around your area.

 

[xXANCHORMONXx]

Guys it's a 4 banger with nothing too crazy about it. Assembling a shortblock like this shouldn't be too hard from a reputable shop around your area.

Go spend 4K on a motor at your local machine shop and let us know how it goes.

 

[Slow89]

Go spend 4K on a motor at your local machine shop and let us know how it goes.

Basing this solely off your pic of an Evo and just throwing a name out there that's 10 minutes away from me. Would u have road racing engineering throw a motor together for you? AGAIN there is absolutely nothing special about this shortblock any reputable shop can do. KEY WORD reputable. And in the world of of getting a motor put together. 3-4K isn't much at all for an entire shortblock. There's bareblocks on v8s that cost more than that that these shops put together.

 

[xXANCHORMONXx]

Basing this solely off your pic of an Evo and just throwing a name out there that's 10 minutes away from me. Would u have road racing engineering throw a motor together for you? AGAIN there is absolutely nothing special about this shortblock any reputable shop can do. KEY WORD reputable. And in the world of of getting a motor put together. 3-4K isn't much at all for an entire shortblock. There's bareblocks on v8s that cost more than that that these shops put together.

That's different RRE is great for Evos but I wouldn't bring my EB motor there. It could be reputable but can it pin the crank correctly? How about the cams? When it blows in less than a year will they take care of it for you? Or better yet burning oil like no tomorrow?

 

[16COEBM]

Define reputable. I had an engine built by a "reputable" mustang shop once. It immediately came apart and instead of standing behind an 0 mile motor they built that came apart, they called me names and blamed someone else.

The local guy I had do it the second time did a fantastic job. He knew I was paying out of pocket for someone else's fuck up and did it for near cost. He put new pistons in it, honed it, assembled it with new hardware for 2k. My friend had an identical shortblock done there and when a piece of Mallory came out of the crank and locked the oil pump up, he rebuilt it for free in less than a week.

Point being you don't just drop your shit at the shop down the road, you need to have a relationship with your builder. Pick their brain and find out what they know. Any good machinist can find out how to put the engine together, if they can't or don't want to mess with it they'll tell you up front. Aside from that, if something does happen by their fault or not they'll be more likely to help out a person that comes into their shop and talks to them about it. And you don't have to pay to ship anything out anywhere.

 

[16COEBM]

PS pricing for parts being what they are for these motors, it's probable that it would be cheaper to have one of the vendors build it. There's not alot of deals going on with internal parts or "used" parts. When putting together an engine there's alot of stuff you need that can get over looked. Gaskets, bolts, fluids, tools, sealant, fittings, ect. Buying all that yourself gets expensive. Machine shops that specialize in EB stuff will have gaskets, bolts, and specialty items on the shelf and may not charge as much as a shop that just needs it for a single job. It's cheaper for places to buy in bulk if they're going to use it.

It wouldn't hurt to buy rods, a crank, or headstuds on your own. But don't buy pistons before you know what condition the block is in. It may need a bore or sleeve and if the piston you buy is a sad bore, and you need a .010 bore you outta luck. If you're in the market for a shortblock now, I would buy one from a vendor. If you looking down the road gather some parts and send them to a vendor when you're ready to build.

 

[ForYourOwnGood]

Instead of piecing it together, just take the money you would spend on each part and save it until you can afford the vendor motor.

 

[PamAndJim]

Thanks guys, you aall make good points. I figured it wouldn't be too difficult to find a good engine builder here in DFW. But, I didn't really think about the warranty aspect. If I have 20 different parts from 20 different sources it becomes easier to shift blame on someone else. I'll just start putting money away now. I'm probably a year or two away from a built motor anyway. I'm sure at that point there'll be even more options available.

 

[Edkiefer]

Technically it shouldn't be an issue for any real engine building shop, but with one caveat.
They do need to be up to date on handling a sleeved cylinder type block, be able to support it properly during honing etc.
The stuff like crank balance, rod bearing crush/clearances, piston clearances, ring end gaps etc etc should be no problem.
The pistons may have wide selection of machining depending on company. I mean blanks are same but how they cut valves, spark chamber area etc (you'd have to check whats available).

The thing is, you may not save anything really and be better with known engine built by like companies on this site.
Not sure you save much if your not the one doing all of it.

 

[perfweld]

Earlier in the year I bought a new long block from Ford and had Sigma Six tuning go through it and put good rods , pistons, valve springs, did the deck deal, Kevin did a great job on it, I highly recommend him if your on the east coast, awesome guy and a great tuner for the Cobb as well.
I just put it in a few weeks back and have taken the original long block to Esslinger in Calif. to have the same done for a spare since there somewhat local and there is no shipping involved, the shipping gets expensive on coast to coast shipping on a complete engine. Gotta say Esslingers shop is definitely well set up for the 4 cyl. Ford engines, they have a lot of machining equipment they've built over the years to accommodate the 4 cyl. engines, that pretty much as far as I can see all they do, 4 cyl. Fords.
My personal advice to anyone that is planning on keeping there car and gonna race it or modify it pretty hard and plan on doing an engine, get the ball rolling early cause its a long process, no one seems to have anything in stock if you need to buy something in a hurry. I don't see that you'll really save much money trying to piece an engine together, I also thing its smartest to have a long block built, that way its a drop in piece, all race engines are specialized, its best to make it easy on yourself so you can just drop the engine in over the weekend without having to change the head, oil pan, ect ect.
It would be neat if vendors had a long block engine rotation program, a new engine and the core charge is about $3600 - $3800, but these cars being so new still, there's no used cores out there.

 

[DavidHuff]

Great Deal on Craigslist in Salem,Oregon if a member is interested.
2016 complete Ford Mustang Ecoboost Motor with Auto Trans,Wiring and Computer.
Price:$3500
Mileage:2,036

 

[Slow89]

Earlier in the year I bought a new long block from Ford and had Sigma Six tuning go through it and put good rods , pistons, valve springs, did the deck deal, Kevin did a great job on it, I highly recommend him if your on the east coast, awesome guy and a great tuner for the Cobb as well.
I just put it in a few weeks back and have taken the original long block to Esslinger in Calif. to have the same done for a spare since there somewhat local and there is no shipping involved, the shipping gets expensive on coast to coast shipping on a complete engine. Gotta say Esslingers shop is definitely well set up for the 4 cyl. Ford engines, they have a lot of machining equipment they've built over the years to accommodate the 4 cyl. engines, that pretty much as far as I can see all they do, 4 cyl. Fords.
My personal advice to anyone that is planning on keeping there car and gonna race it or modify it pretty hard and plan on doing an engine, get the ball rolling early cause its a long process, no one seems to have anything in stock if you need to buy something in a hurry. I don't see that you'll really save much money trying to piece an engine together, I also thing its smartest to have a long block built, that way its a drop in piece, all race engines are specialized, its best to make it easy on yourself so you can just drop the engine in over the weekend without having to change the head, oil pan, ect ect.
It would be neat if vendors had a long block engine rotation program, a new engine and the core charge is about $3600 - $3800, but these cars being so new still, there's no used cores out there.

I was just about to bring up esslinger is local to me too... Sorta spoiled living here in SoCal lol.

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