Engines from the states

[v8 jago]

I am looking into buying a bottom end from the states, Is it a wise move ! Ive heard that if you buy a full engine from over therethey arnt always what the are supose to be. It is from a company rather that a private seller. Has anyone delt with bill mitchell ? Are they a reputable company? They sell a motown alloy block with pistons, rods, crank etc all machined and built up bottom end for around £3K. I know there is tax and shipping costs to pay for. Does anyone know how much i might get charged for tax and shipping ??

[BB-Q]

v8 jago said:

I am looking into buying a bottom end from the states, Is it a wise move ! Ive heard that if you buy a full engine from over therethey arnt always what the are supose to be. It is from a company rather that a private seller. Has anyone delt with bill mitchell ? Are they a reputable company? They sell a motown alloy block with pistons, rods, crank etc all machined and built up bottom end for around £3K. I know there is tax and shipping costs to pay for. Does anyone know how much i might get charged for tax and shipping ??

If you know anyone over there who'll do you a favour you can get a cubic metre shipped for about £200. Or is that $200? I can't remember which, but it was bloody cheap as long as you don't mind waiting a month for it to get there.

With you a cubic metre you can also fill it full of other nice stuff that you can sell when it gets over here. Tyres, for example.

[marT350T]

v8 jago said:

I am looking into buying a bottom end from the states, Is it a wise move ! Ive heard that if you buy a full engine from over therethey arnt always what the are supose to be. It is from a company rather that a private seller. Has anyone delt with bill mitchell ? Are they a reputable company? They sell a motown alloy block with pistons, rods, crank etc all machined and built up bottom end for around £3K. I know there is tax and shipping costs to pay for. Does anyone know how much i might get charged for tax and shipping ??

I bought my diff from the states an got the company to put "contence worth $50" on the box and got charge no tax !

[Taximan]

v8 jago said:

Has anyone delt with bill mitchell ? Are they a reputable company?

I visited both Bill Mitchell and Shafiroff in Long Island, NY. Hardcore (BM) is a huge shop, they also produce their own enginecastngs. I did a shoptour with a salesman and was treated very nicely and everything looked top! They had 3 dynorooms in house and every engineorder got professionally dealed with.
Shafiroffs shop was a bit smaller and more raceorientated, but also very professional.

[redvictor]

why don't you look at UK engine builders? They are here with very competitive prices,and some have as much knowledge as the USA,if not more...
They also able to help you face to face rather than on a phone 5000mls away.
Trying to save a couple of quid sometimes means you end up spending twice as much.
Also there is usually an "english" shelf and an "american" shelf when it comes to shipping abroad,which HP figures to match... my 10p's worth...

[ss64ii]

I agree with redvictor, if something is wrong and you buy it over here at least you can take it back or talkto them face to face.God knows where you'd end up returning an engine abroad.
A mate brought in a Big Bear chopper kit and had problems with the motor, Big Bear Choppers didn't really want to know saying the warranty was invalid out of the USA.
At least if you buy an engine over here you can look before you buy and you know what your'e getting.
What you thinking of getting?

[v8 jago]

I heard they were a good company but as it on the other side you just never know !
I have looked at the surface of getting an engine for one of our lads (so to say) I would rather put money in someones pocket from over here for an engine. I looked at real steel and for a 427sbc with dart block and the machining that it needs is about £3700 but over there they do there equivelent of dart called motown and made with alloy with all the machining needed and everything to make a complete bottom end for about £2900. I know there is shipping on top of that and tax (maybe). Its the price that attracts me as im a low budget racer who wants to be as fast and reliable as poss for the money. If anyone knows who might beable to sort me a deal out anywhere near similar to what the states could do for similar spec i will be more than willing to give them a try. I spoke to real steel and kenny coleman and they said they were going to phone me back in 2 or 3 days. That was 3 weeks ago! So i feel at a bit of a loose end.

[Furyous]

May be worth speaking to the likes of Ice or Jeff Bull ?

Others on here will have way more experience in this dept than me though.


http://www.iceautomotive.co.uk

The only contact details I can find for Jeff Bull are the top of this page:

http://www.eurodragster.com/classifieds/default.as...



eta links.

Edited by Furyous on Sunday 10th February 21:07

[v8 jago]

Thanks for that ! Ill try them. Its a little out of my depth but im thankfull for any advice or help.

[redvictor]

also try Knight racing engines 01327 871177.They have excellent prices and service....

[TheMighty]

With import duty and VAT on your US motor you're talking £3748 I would think if I've got my sums correct. The £3700 from a UK source is sounding better already isn't it!

[Flying Toilet]

redvictor said:

also try Knight racing engines 01327 871177.They have excellent prices and service....

I will back this up, when we rebuilt our engine a couple of years back, Pete and the gang were cheaper than importing with the bonus that Daventry is closer!

[Bigmouse]

Flying Toilet said:

redvictor said:

also try Knight racing engines 01327 871177.They have excellent prices and service....

I will back this up, when we rebuilt our engine a couple of years back, Pete and the gang were cheaper than importing with the bonus that Daventry is closer!

Triple back up!! I dealt with Knight Racing Services for the engine in the camaro - Pete Knight is definitely worth calling; excellent company to deal with, very friendly and know what they are talking about - my small block produced 700+ hp just on the motor!

Redvictors point about having a local face to talk to if things go wrong or need changing is very valid; lots of US companies don't operate an international warranty, not just engine builders. And HP figures often do suffer from the effects of the exchange rate by time they get here

Edited by Bigmouse on Monday 11th February 15:04

[moparmick]

redvictor said:

why don't you look at UK engine builders? They are here with very competitive prices,and some have as much knowledge as the USA,if not more...
They also able to help you face to face rather than on a phone 5000mls away.
Trying to save a couple of quid sometimes means you end up spending twice as much.
Also there is usually an "english" shelf and an "american" shelf when it comes to shipping abroad,which HP figures to match... my 10p's worth...

Nothing personal Andy, i wanted to have a set of Edelbrocks ported, so i contacted Hauser and Dave powell, these people wanted a lot of cash for a very inferior port job with no extras, in the end i sold the heads bought a new set from a very reputable head shop in the states, first they fixed the poor valve job and deshrouded the valves, then milled the heads .050 off the head side and .060 off the intake for me, to raise the compression, then they cnc ported them to a very high standard, all at a damn good price and they also helped me keep the shipping and duty costs down. None of the english porters could offer any flow numbers.

[v8 jago]

Thanks for all the replys and advice. I will give them all a call and see what they say and what they can recomend or do for me
I know of someone who ships a container over every month or so, And he told my mate who knows him that he can ship him anything over in the container for £50 as long as its not much bigger that a big pair of rear wheels. I would say an engine should fit in that space! How would i go about import duties and any sort of taxes that might come with it ?? Would this be a wise move to do if everything else fails ?

[redvictor]

moparmick said:

redvictor said:

why don't you look at UK engine builders? They are here with very competitive prices,and some have as much knowledge as the USA,if not more...
They also able to help you face to face rather than on a phone 5000mls away.
Trying to save a couple of quid sometimes means you end up spending twice as much.
Also there is usually an "english" shelf and an "american" shelf when it comes to shipping abroad,which HP figures to match... my 10p's worth...

Nothing personal Andy, i wanted to have a set of Edelbrocks ported, so i contacted Hauser and Dave powell, these people wanted a lot of cash for a very inferior port job with no extras, in the end i sold the heads bought a new set from a very reputable head shop in the states, first they fixed the poor valve job and deshrouded the valves, then milled the heads .050 off the head side and .060 off the intake for me, to raise the compression, then they cnc ported them to a very high standard, all at a damn good price and they also helped me keep the shipping and duty costs down. None of the english porters could offer any flow numbers.

I'm surprised Dave Powell couldn't give flow numbers as he has a head flow bench.Geoff is a chassis builder??
Hand porting heads cost lots because it's very labour intensive.CNC porting is cheap because a machine does the work.Also head flow numbers can vary with different ways of measuring the air.Sometimes the numbers just dont add up....If you go to the right place here you can get as good a job as the USA,but obviously not at the same rates.
btw,nothing personal here either...

[moparmick]

Andy
TBH, you may be right about Dave Powell and the flow bench, he just came over badly on the phone, as for head porters being as good in this country, i would stack Modern cylinder head, who did my heads up against any head porter in this country.
Mike

[redvictor]

moparmick said:

Andy
TBH, you may be right about Dave Powell and the flow bench, he just came over badly on the phone, as for head porters being as good in this country, i would stack Modern cylinder head, who did my heads up against any head porter in this country.
Mike

lol,you're kidding right? People in this country port heads for everything from karts to F1 and everything in between.I know for a fact that guys here are making more HP on some engines that they would only dream about in the USA. Only pro stock guys have a better record and that's because they spend 24 hrs a day on the dyno flogging different port sizes/shapes for that extra 5hp...
I'm in contact with some very good head porters in the US and they ARE good,but so are some(not all) here... you just have to go to the right people.

[moparmick]

Andy
Unfortunately, i've obviously not spoken to any of the people you are refering to, for instance, when i wanted my torque convertor loosening up, i contacted one of the top auto trans people in this country and they freely admitted that they couldn't confidently predict if it would be usable after, so i sent it to PTC in the states and it was right on the money when it came back.
Mike

[kestral]

Now I remember why I stopped drag racing.