If it were me, I would go thru one of the major builders, From what I hear, the price difference is not that much and the peace of mind would be worth it. I bought a 528 crate that was built by Cummins and all I can say is that if they build their diesels to that low standard, I don't understand why anyone would buy one! I tore the engine down with less than 200 miles on it and here is what I found. Assembled in less than sanitary conditions, some bearings had imbedment, luckily the crank was not scratched and polished up, but I found little bits of dirt and tiny flakes of silicone sealer in the valley and the pan. The tops of 5 of the pistons had heavy oil/carbon build up from excessive valve guide clearance, pistons and rods were otherwise perfect. Rod bearings were chamfered for radius clearance by a mongoloid gorilla with a hatchet, never seen anything like it! NO windage tray at all. Alum heads casting quality not terrible, but no comparison to the new Edelbrock made crate heads. Sent the heads to Jeff at Modern Cylinder Heads and told him to make them right and CNC port them. The heads barely flowed 300 on the intake, I thought this was a Hemi !?! My wedge Ebrocks flow 325!!!(ported) Now the hemi's flow 440, but I had to replace all the valves because the factory stems are undersized, not a guide issue like I thought. Jeff sent all the parts back and all of the MP valves had Bad oil fouling on the backs of the heads. Replaced the crappy fitting retainers with new ones with 10* machined keepers and all new Ferrea valves, milled heads to make them flat and we are ready to go! I got this engine for a really good price off a member here, and with the money I put in it, I am well ahead, BUT, If I had payed the full retail, I would be sueing MP. My first engine build at 19 on my dads garage floor had better quality control! The new ones are supposed to be much better, but I would sure talk to FHO and maybe Arruza before I plunked my hard earned cash down! Just my .02.
