Price of crate engines

[gmm]

I'm in the market for a new chevy crate engine for my 1986 K10. I first started looking into a replacement engine a couple of years ago. I am shocked how much the price has increased for the exact same engine, it seems to have increased by 100%. Has anyone else noticed this?

[sick472]

Engines and engine parts have gone up a fair amount in the last 2 years. It's a matter of shops/factories not being able to get folks to work and they raise the prices to make more with less production. Not to mention wages going up for those that will work. I looked into a crate motor for my 85 last year and decided to rebuild using my labor to pull and push the works along with a local machine shop/engine builder to put together the short block. My other option was to buy a used truck...jeez! I have a rebuilt 350, rebuilt 700R4 transmission, and rebuilt transfer case for about $6K. That beat the snot out of a crate motor OR a used truck. It's time to work for yourself if you can't be a top payer for engines or assembled parts. Supply is short and demand is normal to high...prices reflect that.

Luckily, most any shop can schuck out a good running SBC. I'm in the process of building a Pontiac 400...there's not many who can do that in an affordable manner.

A %100 increase seems high, certainly for my neck of the woods, but you may have to source a rebuildable core and go from there. Best of luck to you, you can save some coin by thinking of your time as a part time job. That's what I do.

[cadillac_al]

It is depressing. For many years you could buy a basic Targetmaster crate engine for around $1500. In the last 2 years I can believe they are double now.

[Factory Guy]

Price is also reflective of Supply AND demand. A Mechanic friend of Mine says it is NOT uncommon now o wait 6 months to get a crate motor. I know in his shop he has several on the wait list.

[1957 Chief]

Originally Posted by Factory Guy

Price is also reflective of Supply AND demand. A Mechanic friend of Mine says it is NOT uncommon now o wait 6 months to get a crate motor. I know in his shop he has several on the wait list.

Same here in Arkansas. I was floored at how much parts have went up for just a basic builder on these trucks. More reason to have a stash of trucks/parts available.

I have bought several trucks over the last few months and they have SBC drivelines in em, one a 383 crate motor and the other with a 355 from a local machine shop. Ill tuck those boogers under the bench and save em for a rainy day.

Bubba

[SunSoaked]

Originally Posted by gmm

I'm in the market for a new chevy crate engine for my 1986 K10. I first started looking into a replacement engine a couple of years ago. I am shocked how much the price has increased for the exact same engine, it seems to have increased by 100%. Has anyone else noticed this?

We had this thing called a pandemic. It basically shut down the worlds manufacturing and supply lines. Then our wise government thought it would be a good idea to print trillions of dollars and incentivize people not to go back to work. So people have free money and nothing to spend it on. You seeing how this works?

Have you noticed the ridiculous price increase isn't specific to crate engines? Noticed your grocery bill, gas, appliances....

[bennylava]

Yeah the whole theft by inflation thing really hurts us commoners.

[Bloodhound]

I just went back and looked, my Chevy Performance 350 crate motor that I paid $3,300 in 2019 (and free shipping) is now $5,400. Ouch.

[SBTork]

It's the same for all vehicles too really. I work in parts at a Chevy dealer and it's common place now to wait 3-6 months for a replacement engine for some vehicles. The last couple 6.2 V8's I've ordered took 4 months each to get. It's impossible to find most stuff in a reasonable timeframe.

[69Tom]

This thread seriously jump started me to go get a big block engine I've had at the machine shop for far too long. Life and continued (un)expected expenses kept coming up and preventing me from getting it. Sold some stuff to pay the balance and going to get it Monday.

So thanks for the push!

[kipps]

Low-demand items, such as SBC crate engines, can see some wildly fluctuating prices. The manufacturing process for these is intermittent, not continuous like it is with other products.

For example, an engine builder might make a run of 5000 engines, and then stash the equipment to prepare for the next run of something else. Those 5000 engines are pretty quickly stored in their own warehouses, or are shipped to retailers like Summit, and stored there. For the three or four years it takes to run through that batch of engines, the price will likely stay consistently low. As that batch runs out, the retailers need to look for someone who will make a new run of engines. The price is likely to be much higher, because production of this new run will directly compete with other sales by that engine building company.

[Axle]

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[bennylava]

What is the good 5.3L crate engine to have?