This is a warning to members - I bought a Blueprint crate engine from Rocket Industries and after it ran hot all the time for 3 years it eventually seized No 1.
This is the add I posted to warn people against buying one:
For sale - 1 x 'Blueprint brand' Ford 408 Stroker Piston from a Rocket Industries Crate Engine - mine turned out to be what can only seem to be described as Chinese junk that only lasts 2000 km after overheating constantly.
Warning - if you buy one of these crate engines from Rocket Industries, please be aware they are cheaply made in the USA from what I (and my engine rebuilder ) imagine are all Chinese parts. The only name brand component that I could see in this motor are the ARP head-bolts and the oil pump (which has USA on it), I imagine that is because the head bolts are visible on the outside and when you see them you think you are buying a quality motor! ;-) You will probably need a couple of new pistons at some point like I did. I ended up having to buy a full set of 8 for my rebuild and get it all rebalanced.
If you have one of these motors and buy one of my pistons now you'll have a spare for when you need it (note when, not if!!!).
After only 2000 kms, No 1 piston had badly seized and destroyed No 1 cylinder. 6 of the valve stem guides were badly worn and had to be replaced. The engine builder said he’d seen this many times before with Chinese heads as the brass used for the valve guides is very soft. He also had to port the intakes on the heads as they had large casting ridges in them which disrupted the airflow.
I am selling the 7 leftover pistons from my $8600 motor (now selling for $10,500 on Rocket's website) after I had to spend $7.1k getting it rebuilt which included re-sleeving no 1 cylinder. I could have built a nice motor with name brand parts like Scat crank and rods for around $12K, a lot less than the $15,700 it finally cost me and I still have no-name parts inside.
7 pistons available in total, however 2 of them have some minor scuff wear which can be sanded away (8 available if you want to buy my seized one for garage art which is hanging on the wall!!!).
These motors come with a dyno sheet, but I have been reliably told that they dyno one motor and then build hundreds more and just wet test them by starting them and making sure there are no noises before shipping them out.
If you buy one of these motors, from my experience, you will need pistons sooner rather than later when one seizes like mine did due to bad tolerances when built. My motor ran hot from day one and after only 2000km it started a knocking sound. When I removed the heads I could see that no 1 cylinder had major scoring from seizing up which explained the constant overheating.
Rocket showed no interest in helping me when I contacted them and when I left negative feedback about this motor on their website it magically disappears in 24 hours.
As I said, from my bad experience with these motors, do not buy a Blueprint (brand) crate engine from Rocket Industries or you will waste a lot of money.
Get a motor built at a quality engine builder and save yourself a lot of money and heartache.
