crate engines?

i was lookin in my t/a catalog a while back and could have sworn that i saw a 455 crate engine in there. now that i found my catalog, i looked and saw it was a 350 crate in long block and short block form.

my question is, whats the difference between a long block and short block?
kind of a dumb question to most be am still a newbie.

and question #2 is does anyone sell a high performance 455?

pete

 

Shortblock - without heads
Longblock - with heads and "head stuff", i.e. valves, guides, seals, pushrods, rockers....etc.

 

thats what i was thinking. didnt want to jump the gun though. thanks. for the info!

pete

 

I dunno if they advertise it as a crate engine (I thought crate's were from the factories??), but the TA 455" was in Car Craft a while back for an engine comparison.

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/0303_crate/index7.html

of course it's one of the more expensive at just shy of $10k

 

yeah i remember seeing that. i think it was a build contest though. it would be fun to get :Smarty:

pete

 

yeah, no kidding.. talk about "plug n play"!! :Brow:

 

Pete, I'm pretty sure both Jim Weise and Erick Racing are building 455 crate motors. Think you have some choice of build based on your needs. You can email Jim via this site. As far as Erick, get a copy of GSXtra- they always have an ad there. PAE Enterprises, in El Paso, may build them, also. Hope this helps, Jack.

 

I think most people think of 'crate motors' as being factory-only, but unless I'm wrong, the only reason they are called 'crate' engines and not replacement engines is that a replacement motor goes in the vehicle, and the crate engine goes on a- wait for it- a crate (well, pallet, really)

 

It's all just semantics, but my perception has been that the builders (TA, PAE, AMP, etc) have started using the term "crate" engine for an assembled rebuilt motor, kind of in comparison to the crate engines from Ford Motorsports or GM Performance. Since not everyone wants to get involved in designing/building there own engine, there was a market for ready to run engines for non-chevy-ford-mopar folks. Hence, a non-factory "crate" engine.

 

I thought they called them crate engines because they came to your house in a crate...

 

diddo :Smarty:

 

crate engines

and they are brand spankin' new . the only things u may is usually the carburetor & also sometimes the distributor .

 

I remember that in TA's catalog 10 years ago or so they were selling genuine '76 Buick 455 shortblocks still in the wrappings from GM.
I'm sure they are long gone.

To me the term "crate engine" says it is new from the factory.

An engine that is ready to go from a builder such as TA, or Tri-shield Performance I would term a "Turn Key" engine.

Semantics

 

I would also say that, to me, the term "crate engine" implies that the builder/factory has put some measure of R&D into the engine and is selling it as a "proven combination." Again, this ties into the idea of the target customer being someone who wants to avoid making mistakes in thier parts selection, or not have to deal with incompetant machine shops.