Where is the best place to get a Short block!?
Also agreed on the choice of rods. Who came up with Carillo's being the best? It surely has not been proven.
We use ONLY one billet steel rod in our engines now, only ONE. The Crower's, no other rod has proven to us to be as good. We also use aluminum if they are requested. Groden's.
The Crowers were in our black car for I don't even know how many passes/dyno runs. That's what was in the car when we went 8.95 at 164. I have NEVER seen a Crower fail. The Groden's are in John's engines that I built and have gone 7.72 at 195 mph in an AWD.
Opinions on this matter are worthless. The proof is in the records that have been set with the 4G63 and the races won. Any other point is absolutely rediculous to even bother typing.
There are 4G63's out there being built that are such POS. Companies not taking the time to balance the assemblies. I can sit in an EVO/DSM and tell you if the engine isn't balanced. It is critical to having the engine hold up and stay together if you plan to make any power/rpm with it.
Also, going directly the a companies machine shop is flat out BS. Yes, you can go around myself or AMS and find the places that do our machine work. In the case of our shop, you still won't get what we have to offer as I won't sell them our parts. You will get the same machine work as I am sure you would from AMS's shop BUT where do you think those machine shops got the experience to machine a proper 4G63 engine? It wasn't from their first guess and years of small block Chevy's. It was from doing it, finding out what needed changed, doing it again, finding out what needed changed, doing it again, etc., etc., That experience was paid for you and brought to you buy US doing the work and having the experience to change things.
I'll go out on a limb here and say we have built more 4g63's than anyone in this country. The first engine we built was probably as early as 1991-92. Since then I have lost count. I am sure we've done 500 engines. It's nothing to have 3-4 engines leave here a week some weeks.
Anyway, buy what you want, try what you want. The other way to do it is go with the proven parts and spend the money once getting the best the first time.
We use ONLY one billet steel rod in our engines now, only ONE. The Crower's, no other rod has proven to us to be as good. We also use aluminum if they are requested. Groden's.
The Crowers were in our black car for I don't even know how many passes/dyno runs. That's what was in the car when we went 8.95 at 164. I have NEVER seen a Crower fail. The Groden's are in John's engines that I built and have gone 7.72 at 195 mph in an AWD.
Opinions on this matter are worthless. The proof is in the records that have been set with the 4G63 and the races won. Any other point is absolutely rediculous to even bother typing.
There are 4G63's out there being built that are such POS. Companies not taking the time to balance the assemblies. I can sit in an EVO/DSM and tell you if the engine isn't balanced. It is critical to having the engine hold up and stay together if you plan to make any power/rpm with it.
Also, going directly the a companies machine shop is flat out BS. Yes, you can go around myself or AMS and find the places that do our machine work. In the case of our shop, you still won't get what we have to offer as I won't sell them our parts. You will get the same machine work as I am sure you would from AMS's shop BUT where do you think those machine shops got the experience to machine a proper 4G63 engine? It wasn't from their first guess and years of small block Chevy's. It was from doing it, finding out what needed changed, doing it again, finding out what needed changed, doing it again, etc., etc., That experience was paid for you and brought to you buy US doing the work and having the experience to change things.
I'll go out on a limb here and say we have built more 4g63's than anyone in this country. The first engine we built was probably as early as 1991-92. Since then I have lost count. I am sure we've done 500 engines. It's nothing to have 3-4 engines leave here a week some weeks.
Anyway, buy what you want, try what you want. The other way to do it is go with the proven parts and spend the money once getting the best the first time.
I am with AMS on that one. You said, "Go to a professional engine builder and get it done." What the hell do you think we and AMS are? Back yard amateurs? Do you really think you are going to go down to your local expert small block Chevy engine builder and have them do a better job on a 4G63 engine than the 18 years of JUST building 4G63 engine's that we can do? Let me just answer for you, NO you are not. There are many tricks to keeping a 4g63 engine together, tolerances, choice of parts etc. Nobody's going to build you an engine and get you best one if they aren't VERY familar with what it takes to do it.
As far as I am concerned you have two choices for a quality EVO engine, you can figure out the other one, we are the other.
If you just want a "stock" rebuild, we can do that too. If your block is re-usable and the crank I can do an engine very affordably.
If you need a crank I have plenty of those too. The block is the most expensive part of the build.
As far as I am concerned you have two choices for a quality EVO engine, you can figure out the other one, we are the other.
If you just want a "stock" rebuild, we can do that too. If your block is re-usable and the crank I can do an engine very affordably.
If you need a crank I have plenty of those too. The block is the most expensive part of the build.
. Long story short i didn't do my research and thought any ole machine shop would work shoot my V8 machine shop thinks my 4g63 head is a work of art and needs nothing done
Well the cost of labor to rebuild and plus parts and labor from when the engine was put together was $15000+Last edited by Paul Nelson; Feb 27, 2007 at 09:10 AM.
ifarted, you are speading absolutely INCORRECT information. Please edit your post as it is not correct.
Crower rods are NOT Manley rods. BRIAN CROWER rods are Manley rods. BRIAN CROWER (BC) is NOT CROWER. He is as seperate company and does relabel Manley rods as BC rods. THE ACTUAL CROWER ROD is manufactured by CROWER and THAT is the rod we use, recommend.
We will NOT sell, USE or ENDORSE a Manley rod. Last time I checked AMS will not either. They can correct me if I am wrong.
So the rods you got that were machine incorrectly were MANLEY's sold by BRIAN CROWER (BC). I don't think you will find an actual CROWER rod that has been machined incorrectly. SB uses Manley rods.
Crower rods are NOT Manley rods. BRIAN CROWER rods are Manley rods. BRIAN CROWER (BC) is NOT CROWER. He is as seperate company and does relabel Manley rods as BC rods. THE ACTUAL CROWER ROD is manufactured by CROWER and THAT is the rod we use, recommend.
We will NOT sell, USE or ENDORSE a Manley rod. Last time I checked AMS will not either. They can correct me if I am wrong.
So the rods you got that were machine incorrectly were MANLEY's sold by BRIAN CROWER (BC). I don't think you will find an actual CROWER rod that has been machined incorrectly. SB uses Manley rods.
ifarted, you are speading absolutely INCORRECT information. Please edit your post as it is not correct.
Crower rods are NOT Manley rods. BRIAN CROWER rods are Manley rods. BRIAN CROWER (BC) is NOT CROWER. He is as seperate company and does relabel Manley rods as BC rods. THE ACTUAL CROWER ROD is manufactured by CROWER and THAT is the rod we use, recommend.
We will NOT sell, USE or ENDORSE a Manley rod. Last time I checked AMS will not either. They can correct me if I am wrong.
So the rods you got that were machine incorrectly were MANLEY's sold by BRIAN CROWER (BC). I don't think you will find an actual CROWER rod that has been machined incorrectly. SB uses Manley rods.
Crower rods are NOT Manley rods. BRIAN CROWER rods are Manley rods. BRIAN CROWER (BC) is NOT CROWER. He is as seperate company and does relabel Manley rods as BC rods. THE ACTUAL CROWER ROD is manufactured by CROWER and THAT is the rod we use, recommend.
We will NOT sell, USE or ENDORSE a Manley rod. Last time I checked AMS will not either. They can correct me if I am wrong.
So the rods you got that were machine incorrectly were MANLEY's sold by BRIAN CROWER (BC). I don't think you will find an actual CROWER rod that has been machined incorrectly. SB uses Manley rods.
Here is some pics of my rods. Lesson learned the hard way





Man I seriously wish BR or AMS would open a place in the South. If I had to do a rebuild these two places would be the only places I would trust. The question is, how do you get a torn up engine 800 miles north?
Thanks for the great expertise BR and AMS!
Thanks for the great expertise BR and AMS!
This is OT, but David, what bearings do you guys use in your builds these days? I remember you saying that you used to use stock ones, but you ended up swapping to a different bearing for more durability I presume? Can you shed any light on this?
i am most likely going to slowboyracing on friday to drop my shortblock off. THey are going to basically rebuild it with the stock good parts. new bearings. cut the crank if needed and Eagle Hbeam rods for a grand total which is where I want to be. Plus this way I know exactly what my shortblock has and can handle
MRevo2006, I'm not sure about your timing on your build, but, I'll be going back to BR within the next 4-6 weeks. Since I'll be pulling a 2 car fully enclosed trailer, I could take it with me. I could even possibly be at the 'River' in the next few weeks. PM me if I can help any.


