Has anyone here bought one of these and taken the heads off?
I'm wondering what you get... bored .060 over?
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Dear Perry,
Interesting. ATK is also doing business as the Powertrain Company and, by coincidence, is located in Oklahoma City. I called them. Here is the deal.
If you want a 351C, then it comes in two flavors: $2875 or 2120. Other than price Bob the salesman did not what the specific differences are between them.
If you want to buy one, then they don't have them in stock. They then check with their vendor, who is located in DFW ( Grand Prairie--I think). They then have to locate a core and proceed to build the engine. If they can't find the core, then the date of delivery is off in the very indefinite future. Bob did agree that the engine would have to be over-bored to some degree, but that would depend on the core condition.
So, it is not a true option for someone wanting a stock 351C and such a person would be better off pursuing an engine build from a reputable engine builder local to them.
Warmest regards, Chuck Engles
Honestly - I would be worried on either of those two.
"Cheap" engines can be very expensive!
Rocky
ATK is an alright outfit for their market niche, you know you're not paying for or getting custom performance machining up front. there won't be any hard feelings like some guys have after paying several times that much and not realizing the quality level they aimed for. ATK engines run every day, their product should not disappoint. it is too bad they don't have a more knowledgeable salesman. IIRC ATK does mild performance builds as well but i'd skip that and just have a long block minus cam, lifters and pushrods delivered
from what i hear Cleveland cores are very hard to come by in that region. did Bob offer the possibility of finding your own core and sending it to them? i'd get someone other than Bob on the phone and see if you can arrange a build bored no more over than necessary with a .030" limit
i just saw this on FB, not mine, 'friend of the forum', no personal experience with him but he seems like a straight up guy. never heard any complaints regarding him before etc.
https://www.facebook.com/group...k/10156906673937685/
it's a DOAE-L casting, the early blocks were better than the later D2 series even being 2 bolt main. they were built to higher output standards with potentially thicker cylinder walls.
are you interested in a ready to start assembling block? that way you can spec your own components and be sure of what you have when completed.