More good news from Indy

Things are looking better for us Mopar guys

That is good news, too bad there's no where to use it. Hopefully soon.

Wow they are pretty and I really think the Wheatcraft family will make ICH a much better supplier to deal with

Gus

Its amazing how a business can thrive when run by the right people.
Doug

I like that procharged predator in the background.

they have been working on a mild procharger build for some serious steam. I knew one was going in a dragster but the pandemic canceled Vegas. I believe it was headed there when the race was cancelled.The dyno sheets I believe are with -1's and not Predators. Wishing them continued success. Birdtracker

With Russ and Keith sent down the road this is a wonderfull thing for the mopar world!!
This comes from from someone WITHOUT a single in part in my car!!

Have the Wheatcrafts moved the manufacturing to Ohio?

That dyno sheet is indeed for a -1 headed procharger piece. All sourced form indys catalog. Russ and company are still there for now, and no they have not moved it from Indy YET, but that's coming.

Thanks Al.

Why would they not cut out the cancers that everyone complains about?!

I know I haven't spent a nickel with them and they are the reason why!

I've been to the Indy trade show with cash in hand and could not even get anyone to acknowledge me. I guess they tote all that hardware and those engines around in a Semi because they want to turn around and haul it home.

"Russ and company are still there for now" - old news - he may live there but he don't work there..........

My understanding from Chris was they were helping with the transition of ownership. Also that the company would be relocating to the Dayton area where they live and that construction was already going. If you call you will not talk to them at least we did not have to even two months ago, maybe they have been phased out already, have not talked to Chris recently

As I understand - the help with the transition recently ended for some reason

Good to hear. We just got a block for a B1 project a few weeks ago. Seems much nicer than the older pieces for sure.

If INDY had been run properly all of these years - it could have been bigger than Dart - they had a lock on the market - I am glad its in good hands now

Mike Schaefer is working the machining end now at Indy - super nice guy and a real talent - conscious about the work they put out being quality

Would you guys feel safe having Indy build a short block now?

I wouldn't. If I was in the mid-west I'd probably have Best Machine build it. If they wanted to use an Indy block which they machined that would be fine with me. I've seen way too much poorly machined stuff out of Indy over the last 20 years to trust them with a short block.

Hope mine is one of them!

With Mike Schaefer handing the machining now its my bet that the machining issues will be a thing of the past. Good guy
Doug

FWIW....

The short block pictured in the screen shot of the post by Chris Wheatcraft belongs to a lifelong (40+ years) friend of mine.
It's a beautiful 636 that Kenny Lazzeri put together.

My buddy and 2 of his family members took off early Monday morning, and drove to the INDY compound to pick up this new aluminum 636. They spent a couple hours there visiting mainly with Charli, and some with Lazzeri. They had time to tour the 4 main buildings of the compound, and were simply amazed by the machinery and all the parts on hand. Kenny told them that he is the only one that does assembly work, such as the 636, and anything that goes out the door assembled, from short block to fully assembled engine, has been assembled only by him.

The transition to and moving of the business to the Wheatcraft's home location in Ohio, is one that will not be done rapidly; but rather, it will be done in the best way possible, so as to not create disturbances in customer service, to the best of their abilities. There is an incredible amount of equipment to be moved, along with everything else that is the physical sum total of this business. Quite an undertaking, to say the least... especially while trying to continue to serve the customers.

Without any other details, Russ and Fred are no longer there... period.

Kenny is going to continue building the engines throughout the transition, and is expecting to continue in this capacity once everything is moved to their new facility. My friend's personal take and perspective is that Kenny seemed to be excited and happy about the new breath of fresh air that the Wheatcraft family is bringing to the business we've known for so long, as INDY Cylinder Head.

With Russ and Fred out of the picture - I have no doubt Kenny Lazzeri is more than capable of assembling quality engines - everyone forgets he worked for and got his start with Herb McCandless - Kenny is a good guy who had horrible management and did as instructed under an environment of hostility. The sooner they can get moved the better it will be in the long run - but that is a huge financial commitment and nightmare to keep production rolling for cash flow - give it some time and watch it grow!

I wish the Wheatcrafts all the best in this venture

Did they recently raise the prices on their blocks? I don't remember them starting at $6500.

Are people comfortable buying blocks from them at this point? Were they already before? Can you get them?

The block that went to Canada was spot on with one exception, but that appears to be a clerical/transcription error on the order not a machining issued,and not a big deal honestly.

A friendly 2 cents worth from the peanut gallery here...

1). Yes.

2). Yes.
My buddy who picked his up this past Monday was told all of the blocks are from the new foundry, and have been for a couple months or perhaps a bit more, now.
I am of the impression from my discussions with him, that this new foundry is owned by the Wheatcrafts. As I mentioned previously in my earlier post, he spoke with both Charli Wheatcraft and Kenny while he was there, so I am assuming a high degree of accuracy in the information I got from him.

3). If you are only wanting a bare block to work with, call and inquire. If you are wanting a short block (or more) built by them, it will probably be a fairly long wait. Kenny told my friend that he has 80 some more orders that followed on the list after his, yet to build. In addition to the continuous numerous orders from here in the U.S., they get orders from other countries as well. Their business has not slowed down.

Quite amazing... the amount of business they are doing.

With all the back orders for engines to be built, I would think that the Wheatcrafts would be able to recruit some outstanding engine builders to gone the NEW team and Indy Cylinders Heads.

I’m sure that they have a list of people that would be willing and able to jump at the opportunity.

I would really be interested in what kind of horsepower that 636 would make.

Stay safe out there.

Al what was the difference in the old blocks/new blocks? i'm doing a search on the improvements the new owners have done with these blocks.

The casting quality appears to be MUCH improved over the previous version of their blocks, material and finish. They are also working on am entirely new block architecture as well right now as well.

Thanks Al. .....kind of on the fence about purchasing a new block , thought i'll look into the indy blocks and see if there were any changes. I remember there were some oiling issues at one time with the older blocks. I'll see what the owners have to offer.

Acually,Kenny has been at it long before he was with HM. He was building stuff up here at shop in the NYC area. I forget the name of the shop...."something" Machine. It started with an "M". Mansur......or something like that.

current block price?

One more ? for you Al.......i no you build some pretty serious engines , what kind of HP you putting though one of these block ?

For me, I would love to see Indy leave engine building behind, and focus on quality parts, quality castings, upgraded castings and machining, and supply the Mopar community with excellent parts/customer service...it seems when businesses take on too much, some aspects of that business get less attention than other aspects leading to poor quality or service...or both. JMO...
I'm super happy to be doing much more business with Indy since the new ownership, and you can tell the change is very POSITIVE!!
Brian

My counterpoint is that it is good for Indy to be building engines since that forces them to eat their own cooking. If their castings are bad then their own engine shop will see it first.