S & J Engines

[adjudimo]

Has any of you had or know of someone who has purchased a engine from S & J Engines located in Spokane, Washington? I have been on their website and read info, viewed videos and they appear to offer quality work, but you know how that is; especially if you live 300 miles from the east coast.. The reason I ask is my current 396/325 seems to have a lifter noise that will not adjust out and I suspect a possible cam lobe problem. It also has two cylinders falling out of specs with the others on a leak down test. I am trying to weigh out the pros vs cons of buying new instead of overhauling. It's not the original engine. A local machine shop gave me a quote of at least $3000+ with pretty much everything machined, decked, bored, honed and polished while keeping a hydraulic flat tappet cam, lifters. Hyd. roller assembly is a lot more money. One of my concerns is that I want the motor to be more suitable for todays stinking gas. I just put a new 700R4 overdrive trans in and I don't have money to just throw at the car. I still want to stay with a big block, but can't seem to be able to find any other engines locally. We use to have real speed shops here, you know, the shops that sell real racing parts and actually built engines and drivetrains; but the last one finally shut down about 6 or 7 years ago. Need to do it right, but as cost effective as possible. Found a 1972 454 with a whopping 210 hp, but probably needs gone through. Any info on S&J or other much appreciated. thanks. If you wish you can also PM me.

[X33RS]

Where are you located?

Never heard of S&J.   There is only one engine builder I trust and whom I consider one of the best in the country and that's Tony Bischoff, BES.  Located in Southern Indiana.  He ships all over the country and out of the country and worth paying the expense for top notch work.

Others I have used is Koerner Racing engines in Tucson.  Excellent work and Jeff used to do all the carb work for Michael Waltrips Nascar team (when they used carbs) He also does most of the engine work for the Nascar Southwest Tour series. He knows his stuff, knows how to make power and make them last, and is meticulous about machine work.   He did my last 454, no complaints, excellent machine work and done in a few weeks.  I know some guys up in the North West Spokane area who have shipped there stuff back and forth to Jeff and were also extremely happy.

I've used Mike Zimmerman Racing Engines in Phoenix as well.  Excellent work, he also ships all around the country as well as out of the country building a lot of high dollar stuff. I recently had a Windsor done for a customer there and extremely happy with the work, had it done in a month with custom spec roller and all the parts necessary for me to assemble. 

All of these places have a dyno or access to one, which I highly recommend.   It's not cheap to do a motor and do it right.  Your quote of $3,000 for machine work and balancing is right in the ball park if you are supplying the block/heads/crank/rods.  Add another $1,000 if you want to go roller.

Never heard of S&J but maybe others here have.  I'm not from the North West either.  Definitely pays to ask around for quality work though.  I'll pay more for quality and not worry so much about saving $$$  if I know I'm going to get a better product in the end. 

[buenymayor]

There is only one engine builder I trust and whom I consider one of the best in the country and that's Tony Bischoff, BES.  Located in Southern Indiana.  He ships all over the country and out of the country and worth paying the expense for top notch work.

 

Nice to hear a shout out to a local guy. BES does top notch work: http://www.besracing.com/
Mark Jones is another: http://www.vortecproperformance.com/

[ko-lek-tor]

X2 on Bischoff.

I had Cropper Racing Eng, Flemingsburg, Ky. do my work. They have a Dyno. Barker Machine in S.W. Ohio is top notch as well.

[adjudimo]

Thanks for the heads up guys. I'm looking into those as well as a couple others. Hopefully will get it all sorted out soon. J.R.

[Kelley W King]

I fellow named Charlie Hemphill in NC is well know. I read in one of the Hot Rod mags where someone sent heads from CA for him to work.

[X33RS]

I would tend to think that just about any shop in the Carolina's would have to be pretty good being in Nascar country.   I can't imagine a sub par machine shop staying in business very long in that part of the country.   I chat with a lot of guys online racing that are affiliated with quite a few of the Nascar teams down there working with them in different areas.  A lot of those guys branch off and start their own shops.  Whether it be chassis work or engine work, those guys are good at what they do.

[Kelley W King]

A neighbor of mine (now passed) built Busch car engines. As a favor he did my 327 365hp. We used the stock cam,heads,and dropped the comp to 10 to1. He told me I could DRIVE it at 7 grand and I do. Lots of top shops small and large in NC.