Crate engine vs. rebuild, what are your thoughts?

[Bart K]

My 69 Coronet more door is matching numbers as best I can tell. I know this does not matter much on a more door, but just sayin'. I have a noise in the engine (318) that is really hard to pin down. I took it to a shop because I could not tell if it was lifter or exhaust, and they also could not clearly pin it down. They did a few tests and they "think" it is a rod bearing or wrist pin. The noise is driving me nuts. I sit there at a stop light, and tic tic tic.......I FUCKEN HATE IT!!!

The speed limit on most of the freeways where I live in Arizona is 75 and you can get away with 80 all day long (and people still pass me!). I DO NOT want this engine coming apart on me 80 MPH and do barrel rolls through the cactus in the median or on the road side. This brings us to my question.

The easier and quicker thing would be to go with a crate, the swap could probably be completed over a weekend. If I went with a rebuild, that would take a few weeks due to waiting on the machine shop. I am not in a hurry, and a rebuild would result in me keeping my original engine. I have priced crate engines from $1800 to $2800. I will call today and ask about the cost of a rebuild and report back here. I just wanted to run this by you all and hear what you have to say.

 

[moparnation74]

You also have unknowns.....What if the block is not rebuildable do to that noise? And it may be rebuidable.....Do you have a Mopar reputable machine shop?

IMHO the prices you posted above for a crate and if it carries a warranty is the way to go......

You can easily spend 3k to rebuild an old motor.......

 

[chargervert]

I did both! I bought a brand new Mopar Performance 472 Hemi crate engine,and due to the issues that people had with them,I am having a machine shop go through the engine and dyno it before I run it. I bought the engine in 2004 and I never ran it. I just rotated it regularly. I brought it to the machine shop yesterday. If you go the crate engine route,do your homework. I thought I was all set going with a brand new engine,and after I purchased it,I started seeing and hearing about all kinds of problems with them.

 

[jamie]

First off I would take it to an old school shop if you can find one. A lifter tick,exhaust leak,rod bearing or wrist pin all sound very different to a trained ear.
Second,if it needs replacement or rebuilding,do your research.Some machine shops that are good may take 6 months to a year to complete and every popular "crate" rebuilder I have had experience with is hit and miss.

I would personally get a second opinion on the "tick".

 

[Darter6]

Blue Print Engines seem to have a good reputation. Just a thought,maybe timing chain slap is the noise ? I re-gasketed the 318 in my truck,did the new timing chain and steel gears but didn't install a slack tension kit. Man is it noisy at idle.

 

[Don Frelier]

Tick Tick is usually an exhaust leak, collapsed lifter or bad cam lobe. If it were the chain it would make noise right up front.
5.9 Magnum if you decide to do a swap but you will need to do some fuel system changes.

 

[747mopar]

Those prices scare me, seams awful cheap but 318's are readily available too. I guess it comes down to whether or not these crate engines have a well earned reputation because at that price you can't hardly go wrong. Myself I rebuild all of my own so I know everything has been triple checked and done right.

First step NEEDS to be diagnosing the problem, could be something simple.

 

[BeeKool]

Get a crate 318, hold on to the original motor for an ornament.

 

[Billccm]

I believe 318 engines from this era do not fail catastrophic. Even when abused these motors would provide 100K miles of trouble free service.
How many miles on yours?
I believe I would wait and get another diagnosis.

 

[mopar_chuck]

Sounds like a good excuse to put in a big block....

 

[Bill Monk]

You also have unknowns.....What if the block is not rebuildable do to that noise? And it may be rebuidable.....Do you have a Mopar reputable machine shop?

IMHO the prices you posted above for a crate and if it carries a warranty is the way to go......

You can easily spend 3k to rebuild an old motor.......

I agree and if you go with a crate engine, a 360 would give you a little more scoot. A 360 is a pretty painless swap, they are externally balanced though which would require a new harmonic balancer and converter

 

[Bart K]

You also have unknowns.....What if the block is not rebuildable do to that noise? And it may be rebuidable.....Do you have a Mopar reputable machine shop?

IMHO the prices you posted above for a crate and if it carries a warranty is the way to go......

You can easily spend 3k to rebuild an old motor.......

I tend to agree and I am leaning in this direction. The crate motors in the Classic Industries catalog are by ATK and run $1959.99 for a 1967 to 1974 318. These engines have a 3 year unlimited mileage warranty with a gold warranty program available for another $225......seems like a pretty good deal to me!

 

[Bart K]

Sounds like a good excuse to put in a big block....

In a 4 door?????

 

[mopar_chuck]

It may seem like a lot of money but deals can be had. Example: I just picked up a motor home 440 and trans for $300. Owner told me it was running when parked and the rv only had 42000 miles on it. It may or may not need a rebuild but even if it does, it can be done on the cheap and still make 400hp. I plan on getting it running in the engine test stand and flipping it to fund the Road Runner resto.

 

[moparnation74]

I tend to agree and I am leaning in this direction. The crate motors in the Classic Industries catalog are by ATK and run $1959.99 for a 1967 to 1974 318. These engines have a 3 year unlimited mileage warranty with a gold warranty program available for another $225......seems like a pretty good deal to me!

Do you research...ATK doesn’t have a good reputation and the warranty is bogus........

I always hear good things about Blue Print.......

 

[mopar_chuck]

I tend to agree and I am leaning in this direction. The crate motors in the Classic Industries catalog are by ATK and run $1959.99 for a 1967 to 1974 318. These engines have a 3 year unlimited mileage warranty with a gold warranty program available for another $225......seems like a pretty good deal to me!

That is a good deal though. If you are happy with the power of the 318, then you probably can’t go wrong

 

[Bart K]

First off I would take it to an old school shop if you can find one. A lifter tick,exhaust leak,rod bearing or wrist pin all sound very different to a trained ear.
Second,if it needs replacement or rebuilding,do your research.Some machine shops that are good may take 6 months to a year to complete and every popular "crate" rebuilder I have had experience with is hit and miss.

I would personally get a second opinion on the "tick".

My Mopar buddy Carl listened, I listened, and my shop owner Tom listened and none of us can pin it down. Tom said that when you pull the spark plug for #5, the noise mostly goes away. It looks like we will need to tear down the engine to find it, and if I go that far, I am either rebuilding or replacing this engine.

 

[Bart K]

Do you research...ATK doesn’t have a good reputation and the warranty is bogus........

I always hear good things about Blue Print.......

Thanks man, I will do some checking on Blue Print. Anyone else use a crate engine they were happy with? Who built it?

 

[Bart K]

That is a good deal though. If you are happy with the power of the 318, then you probably can’t go wrong

Yeah, for this 4 door, the 318 is fine. It is actually a peppy little engine. I am also trying to keep costs down as the 4 door cars do not bring a ton of money when you go to sell. I am already upside down in this car, so I plan to keep it longer term.

 

[moparnation74]

My Mopar buddy Carl listened, I listened, and my shop owner Tom listened and none of us can pin it down. Tom said that when you pull the spark plug for #5, the noise mostly goes away. It looks like we will need to tear down the engine to find it, and if I go that far, I am either rebuilding or replacing this engine.

Have you checked the spark plug itself? Also, the spark plug wires etc