American Speed Engines

[454]

Hi guys,

My car goes in for body prefit next month so the time has come to make that vital engine decision

I know the spec I am after and I am hoping that Gail at American Speed can build it for me.

My question is to those of you who already have on of these AS engines :

When the engine was shipped here to the UK how much did you end up paying in VAT and import duty etc or did the nice man at customs not notice the rather large crate as it passed through ?

Thanks in advance for any advice, help etc

Jez

[Stig]

Jez - it depends on the declared value of the engine

Expect to pay about 1k on top of the cost of the engine by the time it's been crated/shipped/duty/get it home etc.

[454]

Thanks Stig

Who declares the value, AS or the buyer ?

I presume there is a receipt/documentation in the crate or is this sent under seperate cover ?

Jez

[Stig]

AS declare value when they ship. You just wire the money and wait for it to arrive. Gail will put you in touch with the shipping agents in the UK so you get it sent to your most local port of entry (airport), then either pick it up from them or pay a little extra and get it delivered to the door.

It's dead simple and AS take care of 95% of it for you.

[steve_D]

Find out from AS who they ship with. Then talk to them yourself for the delivery to your home.
When my engine parts came in from the States BAX Global, the shipers, said have it sent to Bournemouth as the port of entry.
It then comes into Heathrow and down to Bournemouth by bonded truck. It then goes through customs in Bournemouth which for some bizzar reason is cheaper than Heathrow.
The same sort of thing may apply in your area.
Steve

[Alan 2]

My A.S. engine came via Bax Global into Heathrow and then on to Gatwick (my nearest airport). The engine left A.S. on a Thursday, arrived at Heathrow on Saturday and was in my garage on Tuesday. Absolutely no problems. A.S. declared the value and the shippers rang me with amount of import duty I had to pay. I paid the duty and UK shipping charges by credit card over the phone and asked them to deliver the engine to my home which they did. The only difficulty I had was when this very large package arrived in the back of a very small Ford van and the driver asked me where my fork-lift-truck was. We managed to slide it out and I used my engine hoist to lift it off the wooden pallet (to which it was bolted down) and manoeuvre it into my garage. Incidentally, the bolts used to secure the engine to the pallet can be used to lift the engine if you don't have a suitable sling as they are the same thread as the holes tapped into the ends of the cylinder heads. You'll understand what I mean when you look at the engine. BTW, A.S. will give you a consignment number for your engine and you can follow its progress through Bax Global's web site.

[gtr-gaz]

If you decide to pick it up yourself, as I did, be prepared for a lot of waiting around.

Into the BAX office at Heathrow, pick up paperwork, go next door to the customs office, queue up there for nearly an hour until your number is called, fill in forms, go to payment office, pay and get forms stamped, back to BAX office, wait till your crate has been found and loaded onto your truck.
Took 3 hours from the time I arrived at BAX until I left.

If I was doing it again I would arrange to get it delivered.

Gary

[454]

Thanks for all the info, this has made it a lot clearer

It sounds like my best option is to get it delivered straight to my door and have a few mates round and an engine hoist to help me get it off the truck.

I'm estimating the complete engine will come in at around 200Kg so 4 of us should be enough to shift it around.

Where is the best place to attach the hoist to avoid damaging my shiney new engine ?

[Alan 2]

The gross weight of my engine (427 ci sbc with efi) including the packing materials and pallet was 263.5 kg.

[BobM]

454 said:

I'm estimating the complete engine will come in at around 200Kg so 4 of us should be enough to shift it around.

My crate was labelled as 225kg. Me plus 2 neighbours plus driver (just!) managed to lift it off. Mine was delivered on a 7.5 tonner so couldn't have used my hoist, but he did have a pallet hand fork lift thingy which was OK for getting it up the drive into the garage.

[scooterb]

Does anyone have total costs, delivered to door, for say the 500hp 383cu.in American Speed Ultima engine?
Thanks

[454]

Looks like I am going to need to get a few more mates round then.

Scooterb,

Gail at American Speed is very good at replying to e-mail requests quickly so I would suggest dropping him a mail if you need a quote for an engine.

Jez

[gtr-gaz]

Jez,

For attaching to your hoist, you will need 4 (long if poss) bolts into the ends of the cylinder heads and sling it from them.
3/8" UNC I think.
As mentioned before, the transit bolts in your crate will fit.

Gary

[454]

gtr-gaz,

Thanks, sounds simple enough, I have a few mechanic and engineer type friends so I'm sure between us we will get it shifted.

Just got to get on with the rest of the build now, body prefit is booked in for the 10th of July

[ultimacz]

Just want to note that American Speed was extremely helpful to specify and source all the parts which we needed for our new motor. They checked all parts we ordered for our custom engine and assured that it would go together, excellent job.
Gail is also very responsive and the AS prices, speed and correctness of delivery are excellent. What I liked most was that they never try to sell expensive parts just to make money but would also recommend cheaper parts if quality is on the same level. I can only recommend AS as a supplier, and that not only for "typical" Ultima engines packages but also for special projects and spare parts.

Some pics to show you the result of our cooperation: