help, which crate motor?

-

73dodge

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2007
Messages
65
Reaction score
0
I've narrowed it down to 2 crate motors. Both are from blueprint engines and both are 408 strokers. One is the 375 horse and 460 ft lbs of torque, and the other is 440 horse and 500 ft lbs of torque. The smaller has a cam thats 233, 240 duration with 474 lift. The other a cam thats 239, 246 duration with 484 lift. Although i'd like to go with the higher horse version, I'm afraid that with power brakes i won't get enough vacuum. It seems like a lot of cam for a daily driver. If i could run high 12's with the smaller one that would be good enough for me. I have a 69 valiant with a dana 3.54 gears. I know most of you would lean towards the 440 horse version, but honestly it's a daily driver. Which do you guys think i should go with? Also what do you think the car would run with the smaller crate? thanx
 
the 484 cam will give you a slight lopey sound but is a geat cam as I have used several of them in different engines & it is very drivable on the street. If the engine is dynoed be sure to get a printout to see where your powerband is & you may want a smaller stall converter for street-strip. as long as you have good carburetion, exhaust & igntion, you should be able to run high 12's fairly easily with the higher horse engine. Good luck
 
I went for the first one. I want strickly a driver. I went through Blueprint themselves and not Jegs or Summit and they painted it Mopar red. Heres a print out of the dyno sheet,on the first page it says it pulling 13" vacum at 1100 rpm.I worked with a guy named Doug([email protected])and I was very happy with there service.459lbft@3900-386HP@5200
img001hi3.jpg

picture006tl5.jpg
 
A friend of mine has a 383 big block in a scamp,,484/284 mopar cam,,with power wheel disc brakes,,that cam doesnt make enough vacuum for power brakes ina big block,,but we put a canister on it for the vacuum,,
 
I recieved the engine last Friday. I'm still working on getting everything together-picked up the radiator today- and on Xmas I hope to get it installed. shipping to my door was $5,129
 
wow i shoudla just bought that over rebuilding my 340..got all edelbrock stuff..will get a pic soon..she's SCHWEEEET!!!
 
the mopar performace crate 360 CI 380 horse engines dyno at 397 horse power,,not sure what they cost these days,,,are those 408 motors new blocks or ???seems the mopar performance makes more power with less C.I.
 
i knew most of you would lean towards the bigger crate, but something tells me the smaller of the two might be better suited to a daily driver. I still have some time to decide, I just don't want something thats going to be a pain to deal with driving around the city.
 
i say go with what ur comfortable with man..u'll still be outrunnin' vettes and sych...
 
Seems pricey for the output and the parts. Let us know how happy you are with it. For full street car, I'll always lean to milder. It's easier to live with. If you're happy, that's all that matters really.
 
ok i havent heard of any one with problems wit ha mopar crate engine..ide like to hear some info on that,,sorry didnt meen to hi jack your tread,,,
 
ok i havent heard of any one with problems wit ha mopar crate engine..ide like to hear some info on that,,sorry didnt meen to hi jack your tread,,,

I talked to an older gentleman at a car show in Commerce about a mont ago.

He had a 360 crate motor from mopar performance in his 67 barracuda notchback.

He had the 380 horse package and had electric cut outs on the axhaust..cool.

He and his wife had been taking the car all over the country for get togethers for the past two years he said.

He said the motor has been extremely reliable and maintenance free other than coolant flush and oil changes regularly.

He seemed to be very pleased with the motor and he said he likes to get on it every now and again, and took it on the track at Atlanta motor speedway and buried the speedo.

Now that's one (good) story, and I'm sure there are bad ones, but the bad ones seem to be second hand, and I have not personally heard any first hand bad news, so you may want to browse or do searches for Mopar performance crate motor issues on the web.
You'll have better luck talking to the racers.

As a side note, most guys who have had engines built or race their cars will tell you to just have a professional build performed with good quality parts and great machine work, and lot's of documentation with tons of technical terms that most guys would have no clue what they are reading, but it sounds good.
Theese build are usually comporably priced to crate motors which are supposedly notorious for having grab bag parts and not very good tolerances internally.

I'm going with a locally pro built engine with lot's of attention to detail with the assembly, machine work, balancing and good quality parts just so I can actually know what I have, and don't have to play games across the country if I have problems.
 
I am running the mopar crate 402 and love it. The cam specs at 501/513 284/292 and it idles smoother than my 360 did with the 484 cam, but I think that is due to the fact that the 402 is a roller motor
 
-
Back
Top