....I'm guessing there's not much of a market for it anymore due to the crate engines but I was just curious if there would be a market into working in a machine shop and possibly building custom engines? Those of you that do this for a living I'd like to hear it first hand from you.

Im not a professional engine builder but I have rebuilt a fair amount of motors and the problems with making money is you have to have the quality and performance at least matching those of crate motors and you have to do it at a price competitive to the crate engines. I would love to get paid to build engines and tranny's but I have a house payment lol

Thanks,
Jon

I think the warrantee most crate motors come with is another issue. It's hard to match their warrantee. Maybe if you started a semi-custom deal...what I mean is have your customers buy the unassembeled crate engines and flavor them up with reputable parts where needed and then hand them over. I know if I had that opportunity I would have had AFR heads and a different cam installed on my ZZ502 crate motor and wouldn't have minded paying someone to do it. I'll probably get slammed because I said I would pay someone else but after 26 plus years of turning wrenches fixing aircraft, it's nice to finally keep some skin on my knuckles.

I'm having one built by a custom shop. Dude is busy as hell and its taking alot longer than I thought. So I would say there is a market. It would be nice, and I would be willing to pay extra, if he had an apprentice program where people not experienced with engine building and matching the parts such as myself, could assisting building the engine so I could learn more about what they are doing and how it all goes together.

Not sure if your question is about starting your own machine shop, or just getting a job in one.

I don't do it for a living, but as a consumer I think if you can do it at a competitive price with comparable warranty and offer just a SMALL BIT more then a crate engine then you have a product to offer. Then you have to build a customer base. The biggest thing, is can you do it and be profitable? Bottom line with any buisness is you still have to make a profit, and that means low overhead.

Larger companies are always going to eat the little guys for lunch, but there are laws that protect small buisness owners. You should read into them..

If you just looking to get a job in a shop and want to know about that, then sorry I can't help there. A machinist makes more then I do, so I would say SURE it's good :D!

Thanx fellas...pretty much there's a statement that says "do something you love and you'll never have to work".....I won't say that's 100% true but lets say you loved to build and work on engines.....

I always thought I'd like having a job building custom engines for people but wasn't sure that (and didn't think) there was any money in it....that it was more of a hobby than anything....

Another thing to think about is most machine shops probably do more stock type rebuild on motors that crate motors arent available for. such as the nissan, volvos,400m fords and such. There probably isn't enough money to just build hotrod motors. Jim

Most of the shops I know of are building high end stuff only. You can buy a crate motor, sure, but if you want to go with a .400 long rod and a differant piston your outa luck. If you put in a dyno room, the sky's the limit. Some shops charge $300 for a few hours on the dyno. I'm OK with making $100/hr for tuning an engine. People pay it willingly. All the really fast, trick motors out there on the road right now, didn't come from a crate. Case in point: a friend has a 1,200 hp 468 that he drives on the street alot. It runs 9.0's in the 1/4 and can run on pump gas. I've never read about a crate engine that small with an advertized hp like that. There's plenty of market for high end hotrod motors out there. Don't think cheaper, think better. People pay for quality.

Another thing to think about is most machine shops probably do more stock type rebuild on motors that crate motors arent available for. such as the nissan, volvos,400m fords and such. There probably isn't enough money to just build hotrod motors. Jim

I have to agree. Wrenching on ordinary Civics and Taurus' pay the bills and wrenching on classic cars are the exception. Unless you have a great reputation and specialize in that area only, I couldn't see making a living just wrenching on classic cars. Would love to, but just can't afford to.

The other hard thing to beat about a crate engine is its immediate availability. Need a motor but can't wait two weeks or a month for a builder to "get to it?" pick up the phone or click away at your mouse and its there the next day or two. You even get to keep the old engine for collectability or to sell to recoup some cost.

The machine shop we used didn't assemble many engines. They did alot of block work, head work and repairs.

As someone who has sold crate engines for many years, here's my take:

Crate engines are perfect for someone who is looking for exactly what you offer. They often are entusiasts who don't have specific needs for engine styles. Very often, they still end up adding thier own small custom touches. They also may not have the mechanical skills to build one or even pick out the parts to spec one built for them.

If it was me, I would try it. Most shops also do basic rebuilding services too fo rthe local jobbers, not everything is hi-po unless that's specifically what the shop is set up for. The successful shops I have had contact with are able to take you fron start to finish, including planning and installation. There's plenty of guys who want specific parts or specific power output, so that's where the builders have the edge vs crate engines. If you have a crate engine supplier close, you may want to ask about doing upgrades for them. This way, they can sell thier engines to a broader base of customer, you may get some extra work, and everyone will be happier. The other benefit is that everything is already machined, clean, and probably re-sellable.

I love building engines!

I stay very busy and I do as many engines as I can and I turn away alot of work I don't care to do.

I also work at an Auto Parts store and get a nice discount on parts, that helps!

Custom built engines are leaps and bounds ahead of crate engines. This is why: You get exactly what you want the first time. I have read so many times that I have lost count, about how guys buy an engine, and then want more. So they swap cams, heads and intakes to get it right and search for the right combo for the car they drive.

I take it one step further and offer installation as well as a custom built engine. You can't get that from all the big companys, they offer engines only. I can also do custom detail work to the engine bay.

There are alot of great shops out there that make a good living building engines for Hot Rods and Muscle cars.

We are living in good times right now! :beers: