[DeTomaso] A new engine in my future?

[boyd casey]

I have been researching this topic for some time and regardless of your
ultimate choice I would strongly recommend that you steer clear of any
engine builder that does not provide a "run in period" ( if there are going
to be problems you want them to be identified before you install the engine.
And I think even more important an engine with out a dyno sheet ( and allot
of builders provide a dyno sheet of a comparable build<in other words they
have built ten identical engines and you get a dyno sheet they ran on the
first engine NOT THE ENGINE YOU BOUGHT. Without a dyno sheet on your exact
engine you are buying a promise. Even a dyno sheet is worthless if you don't
trust the builder because it's simple to hand you a sheet and say it goes
with your engine.. I personally would not buy an engine with out it being
run in and set up on a dyno and with a sheet that documents the engines
performance for the exact engine I am buying not a similar build even though
they will say "we have built loads of theses" There are always defective
parts , builder error, and fraud as possible issues to contend with . Cavet
emptor! The lowest price is very rarely the best deal. I would also try to
find a builder that is as close as possible to your location  There is
nothing as nice as resolving problems in person and nothing as frustrating
as trying to resolve an engine problem with a builder that is located
hundreds of miles ( or more) away. Also besides relying on someones ebay
points I would google there business name with search words specifically
looking for problems .

Boyd

P.S. RED ALERT!!!!!!
 This guy does business under several different names :This is not a good
sign. Just google "Tuff Dawg Engine reviews"
Tuff Dawg You know,

 Phoenix Engine Rebuilders
(www.phoenixengine.com)

They also sell in Ebay under: phoenixmusclecar
http://stores.ebay.com/Phoenix-Engine-Crate-Turn-Key
 He has listings for corvette owners , Bronco owners, Jeep owners ETC. You
get the idea.
I just did a quick check and there were way too many dissatisfied customers
for my liking. Even the best builder will have some complaints because you
can't please everyone. From just this one sit it seemed like every other
person had some sort of complaint and some had catastrophic failures within
a few hundred miles!!  I woul pass on this guy.
http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136059&referrerid=15729
A quote from one of his corvette customers.
'I bought a 350 motor from Phoenixmusclecar on eBay. It was a total piece of
sh!t. Was advertised to have 380hp with 400lb of torque. It was more like
200hp with maybe 250lb or torque. With-in a thousand miles on the motor it
blew a headgasket & bent a rod. I pulled the motor and disassembled it to
find out it had 305 heads with the absolutely cheapest rods, crank and cam
known to man kind. I concluded that I paid $3000 for a nice carb and water
pump, which is all that I reused on my new 383 that I built my self. I built
my 383 for $5500 with all high quality parts that is estimated to have 490hp
with 510lb of torque. You could build yourself a quality 400hp motor for
$2500 to $3000 with the motor you have. Do yourself a favor and built it
yourself or find a local guy that is reputable. I never did get any of my
money back because I installed it after the warranty.
Quote: Getting ripped off across the entire country “priceless” '



On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 9:00 PM, Tim Morgan <morganuci at gmail.com> wrote:

> My 73's existing engine is somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 HP.
> Recently, it was making a strange noise, and the oil smells of gasoline and
> there are a lot of metal filings on the oil drain plug.  Assuming it's
> toast, that leaves me with a few choices:
>
>   1. Rebuild my existing engine
>   2. Buy a new block, transfer everything else (heads etc.) from my old
>   engine
>   3. Buy a crate motor
>
> I'm leaning towards #3 because it seems like the fastest and easiest
> choice.  I also want to end up with a better, more powerful motor than I
> had, as long as I'm doing this, and buying a crate motor gets me a bunch of
> new, hi performance parts all in one package.  Then the question is,
> Windsor, Cleveland, or something else?  I'd like to stick with Cleveland
> for
> a number of reasons, including being able to reuse a lot of what I already
> have, such as my fuel injection system.  But of course, Clevelands are much
> less plentiful than Windsors.
>
> So, I was looking at this particular engine:
> http://www.tuffdawgengines.com/ford_351C_445hp.htm.  It goes for $5195 as
> described.  He will install my intake manifold (sorry, I don't know what
> model it is, but it has the fuel injectors installed in it) in place of his
> normal manifold.  His price includes testing, balancing, shipping, etc., as
> in the description, but not breaking it in or dyno testing it.
>
> Is there an alternative that I should look at?  He has 100% positive
> feedback on eBay (on 19 transactions in the last 12 months), but does
> anyone
> have experience with Tuff Dawg engines, good or bad (you can write to me
> individually rather than post if you prefer)?  I'm in the greater Seattle
> (Issaquah) area.
>
> Also, what cam or cam specs would be good for a fuel injected Cleveland for
> street use?  He thought that the optimum would be different than with a
> carb.
>
> Tim
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