Hey everyone,

Looking at selling my e-headed 493 RB motor to help fund my HEMI build. Wanted to get opinions on if I should sell as a longblock or part it out?

69 block .030 over
84cc e-heads (porter racing stage II)
solid cam
crane gold roller rockers
diamond pistons
eagle rods
eagle crank
ARP hardware


Thanks!

Sell it piece by piece, seems others have done well selling that way. Unless someone makes an offer on the whole package

i parted out my 493 yrs ago. only thing that didn't get sold was the cam & lifters.

This is a totally screwed up question to ask.

That said I ask it too. I have had some great engines that truly I wish I had back the way they were when I had them. Seems when I want to sell a shortblock everyone wants the heads in the deal. When you have a complete engine they want just part of it. Plainly stated in My Opinion the guys shopping are idiots. They always think they can do it better or cheaper. Time and time again I waste my time talking to a perspective buyer who wants to do their own deal. They claim to have already started. I talk to their engine builder and it just aint so. They call a few years later stating they wish they had bought my junk.

Hey, I know why people are skeptical. I have bought new stuff from engine builders that was totally screwed up. I have also bought things that were a simple put it together and rock on. To find it is a total mess. Bearings worn out, miss matched rockers, and then it just would not support the dyno numbers stated.

That said, if a person looking to buy can hear the engine run. Take a little trip up the road or watch it run at the track. Just how can you beat that. Time and time again I have had just that and some blow hard tells my buyer my stuff is not what they want.

My last deal I bought and I really had the heaby jeabies. I called to ask them to leave it in the car so I could hear it run and see there was no leaks or whatever. Called and it was already out. Go there it was in the floor. This was a one in a million find, mind you. Actually another deal popped up right after I pulled this trigger. I remove the tape from the carb pad to find green oil everywhere. Pulled the intake and it was pooled on all the closed valves. The open ones you could clearly see with a light was laying in the valve pockets. I explained that I must be dumb as H... but I would take it and if something was different than quoted and he did not make some gentleman's attempt to make it right. I had the GPS location stored in my GPS. And if I had to drive 5 hours to make it right it would end up on the 6 O'clock news. Needless to say the engine has been pretty darn good so far. The only issues are from a builder that did not realize a part he was using worked different than he thought.

Most of the time a buyer is better off buying complete and understanding those pulleys, MSD, belt drives, and such cost money too. But, I have to say as a seller I do better separating things which is just retarded.

Leon

Thanks guys. Now I guess I need to start putting prices on things.

racing junk is a good starting place. I sold all my parts there. Good luck.

Makes a big difference on what the price tag is...
but if you get .50 on the dollar you doing great
EDIT
also if they(buyer) can see it run that helps... even
if its on a break in stand

I would 1st try to sell it complete before I started parting it out.You should end up getting more $$$ out of it or a least not selling off just the good parts and be struck with the rest. Another thing to think about is at a later time you can always use a spare engine,but when you separate it then if you need it you have to go and rebuy the parts.

I'm same boat.
mine has less then 20 run's on it and I just put 1/2 of what I'm asking freshing it up.
lot's of ppl. have seen it run and no bite's on it .
so I either keep it and not build a diff. engine or try to part it out and hope for the best.
brad

How much are you asking for it? I know someone trying to build an engine like you have and he would be much better off buying a complete engine than running around trying to find parts every where.You can send me a pm if you don't want to post it on the board.

thanks john

Anytime B-rad !

I have been trying to sell my 493" with no luck. People for the most part want things for free and I'm not letting it go for .50 cents on the dollar.

I think the problem is that people don't have a lot of cash laying around, I know that's the case for me ! I think people understand that it may cost more to piece something together but it's easier to come up with 500- 600 bucks at a time than it is to say go with a complete motor for 6,500 or more ! That's what a lot of my buddies are doing ! Plus I think people are scared of spending 6,500 and up only to find out they there are big problems with what they have ! Now they may be out another 2 or 3 grand ! Just my good luck in how every you decide to go !

i agree john it is hard to come up with that kind of coin all at once.
plus a lot of scum bags that pawn there junk off on ppl.
so that leaves the honest guys with tearing a good engine apart to try and piece it out .

With mail order parts yes 50 cents on the dollar is going rate unless it looks like it just came out the package.

The problem is with engines you can't always do that. A lot of guys pay way too much to start with. But, 50 cents on the dollar for a builders advertised price is about right. Most of us can build cheaper than that and refuse to take a 50% cut on a good build.

If you part it out advertise parts on the high side but, negotiable. This way you are protecting yourself from giving away the best parts. If you can do well on the harder to get stuff and get most of your would be cash for the engine sale then you can afford to sell the rest at a negotiated price. Don't sweat it. I was very surprised how much of the stuff I thought would not be worth much was actually what added up the most together.

But, there is no crystal ball. Just got to take a chance. I would recommend doing what others have suggested. Try to sell complete first. You don't have to have a fire sale yet.

personally i'd sell it complete. if someone only wants part of, tell them to buy the lot & sell off what they don't want. less hassel for you in the long run, & if they're onto it, what they sell off might make what they wanted cheaper.

Wish you were closer, I would like to drop that in the Challenger I'm building.