Has anybody had any experience with the GM Crate 427 motors?? I may be looking for a new motor for my ss396 and was just wondering what everybody thought. I have seen the crate 454 and 502's but I am intriged with the 427. Any help would be appreciated.

I don't think GM Performance sells 427 crate motors. They sell Blocks, cranks, Heads, etc. The 396 and 427 parts are very reasonable on the secondary market, unless you need a number correct high performance motor. I have 396 and 427 parts, and they do not sell very fast. On the other hand, 454 parts bring a premium. Don.

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If you are up to piecing together your own engine you might find all the pieces to put together a pretty healthy 427 with some of those slow moving (read cheaper) parts. A 427-425HP engine can be a pretty strong performer with nothing more than headers, slicks, 4:10 gears and sharp tuning. Mine went over 160,000 miles needing nothing more than a timing chain set and one valve spring. That's reliability. I guess that's why GM gave our cars the 5-50 warranty.

I have seen the 427 new or rebuilt from Chevy Performance/Mr Goodwrench on the internet. I don't know the price yet but it sure could be great engine since it looks like I will have to do an overhall of my present 396. I'm sure it would be cheaper to do the later but a 427 tri-power would look and perform great. By the way my original 396 blew up and although the engine in the car is from 1969 it is not numbers matching. Thanks for the info.

Sorry hit the reply button too many times!
Steve

[This message has been edited by Steve D 64 SS (edited 01-05-99).]

Hey Lightwave,
Why don't you take the 396 crank and by a remanufactured 454 block for about 600 bucks(estimation there) put the 396 crank in the 454 block and build yourself a 427? Might cost about the same as rebuilding the 396 and since you said you're not numbers matching you could pull out some extra cubes and a little more power and not hurt the value of the car.(quite possibly improve it)
Just an idea, Steve

That is the way I went about it. Headers,
heads, intake, cam, and aqay we go . .

That sounds like a great idea. I will look into it right away. Thanks alot. Tom

Tom(Lightwave)-
Hey I thought you might be interested in that one so that's why I threw it out there. I just want to say one more thing. That 600 bucks was a Guess just wanted to make sure you knew that. I just figured through assumtion(yep I know what that does) that you can get a 350 block that's remanufactured for about 500 bucks from places like speed-o-motive in CA(nice shop they have there I might add) and so I added a 100 bucks to that. I feel though that you might only be able to find a block in the 750-900 buck range but that's just about what it might cost for you to get the 396 block machined.
Good Luck and sorry for the rambling, Steve

Might also be a good idea for you to check out the popular "Big Block Chevy's" book (I forget the author - I have it at home). It describes what SteveD refers to but it also describes in detail how the crank was counterweighted differently in the 427 than in a 396 ... I'm sure someone out there has the details on this important difference.

See the new thread on "Crank Counterweighting In 396 vs 427" for more info if interested.

Heres a block for you.
http://www.rpmcat.com/
Has two four bolts, std bore, $600. & $650

Guy's, I believe the 427 sold by GM now is a replacement for the medium and heavy duty trucks. As such, it would be a tall deck block. I believe that the compression on these motors is also quite low, about 7.75 to 1. Not the best muscle car replacement!

Your right, when I checked with a GM supplier that is what they said. They suggested the 454/425hp replacement for my 396. About 4000.00 dollars. We'll just see what happens. Thanks for all the info. Tom

Tom-
The 454/425 motor is one nice piece of work! My mom put one in her 67' Camaro it's a nice motor. Just one thing on that if you've got stock wheels on your malibu don't mash the gas off the line..well err stop light, my mom had no traction doing that, 90 lb. sewer plates(2) worked a little but she decided to spend her money and tub the thing now the car sports 15x14 Weld Draglites outback.(not really needed it all that was required was just wider wheels, but she likes the look http://www.chevelles.com/forum/wink.gif )
Steve