CME crate engines

[YY1]

I know sweet5ltr runs them pretty hard.

I did research on CME a few years ago, and noticed their warranty specifically does NOT exclude racing.
That's pretty cool, right there.

Just curious from the last two posters-

What products did you buy? size, short/long/complete? What special instructions, if any?

If it was a "catalog" build, what cam was used, and finally, what did the dyno sheet say?

I agree, even if you do most of the work yourself, it's almost a wash on price, and you still have to do labor AND, how many have I built, versus how many have they built???

 

[99ss]

There aren't to many people that will warranty a racing engine or engine that's been raced.

 

[YY1]

Uh, oh, looks like they've changed it.

A couple of years ago, the warranty actually said racing was OK!!

 

[Sweet5ltr]

When I initially purchased, it was their standard 440 longblock rebuild w/ 9.75:1CR. I believe they stated 425HP, but recently bumped that figure up to 450HP on their website and now it has been pushed back to 430HP. They use a basic Comp 280/480 lift camshaft in their rebuilds, and the camshaft can be swapped really (within reason) with no questions asked. I believe I payed nearly identical prices for the .509 MP camshaft they swapped in for me and valve springs are matched to each camshaft they install. They will only do so many modifications to their OEM line-up, as they really push their racing/performance builds for double the cost. Looking at their prices, you pay over $2,000 additional dollars for their performance line. Really the only major difference was forged pistons at the time I purchased between my build and their performance line with Iron Heads. I ran 1 3/4" Headers, .509MP, Performer RPM, and a 750 Holley initially. The engine ran perfect. I have kicked it up a notch since then though.

 

[KnoGood]

Mine was a performance build as described in Hyrdgoon earlier in this post. I added a steel crank for a few hundred bucks, the carb and the msd ignition (these were used on the engine break-in and dyno run). They also sourced a bunch of accessories for me to save me some cash on shipping. The cam is a Bullit racing piece (230deg @.005") that was recommended to me based on their experience. The numbers were great considering this was basically an optimized stock motor (441 hp @ 5300 with 500 ft-lbs from 3100 thru 4700 +/- 10).

Instructions for first fire-up, storage, fuel, oil were provided.

Overall, great. Now I just have to get the car ready - my 17 yr old nephew & I are working on it every couple of weeks.
I need to replace the steering and suspension bushing and am wondering if the Urethane stuff is really necessary and beneficial. The Moog rubber stuff is attractive because of price - it has to be better than my worn out stuff right?? Second, I plan to go with the .960 torsion bars (replacing my .920 originals). The firm feel 1" is said to be of the same ride quality (smooth) but maybe this is not needed for road trip applications. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Speedbird]

Mine was a performance build as described in Hyrdgoon earlier in this post. I added a steel crank for a few hundred bucks, the carb and the msd ignition (these were used on the engine break-in and dyno run). They also sourced a bunch of accessories for me to save me some cash on shipping. The cam is a Bullit racing piece (230deg @.005") that was recommended to me based on their experience. The numbers were great considering this was basically an optimized stock motor (441 hp @ 5300 with 500 ft-lbs from 3100 thru 4700 +/- 10).

Instructions for first fire-up, storage, fuel, oil were provided.

Overall, great. Now I just have to get the car ready - my 17 yr old nephew & I are working on it every couple of weeks.
I need to replace the steering and suspension bushing and am wondering if the Urethane stuff is really necessary and beneficial. The Moog rubber stuff is attractive because of price - it has to be better than my worn out stuff right?? Second, I plan to go with the .960 torsion bars (replacing my .920 originals). The firm feel 1" is said to be of the same ride quality (smooth) but maybe this is not needed for road trip applications. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Just my experiance on the poly busings.
I've got well over 100K on a complete poly-graphite front end. Very happy with it.
And that's encluding the lower control arm bushings.
It's held alignment and is still tight.
I've put them in other cars with zero problems. I know other people have had issues though.

With all the positive reviews of CME, I'm planning to take two engines to them if I like what I hear on the phone. It's a day long day trip for me but I'll save shipping and get to check them out eyeball to eyeball.
From Google street their operation look pretty big.

 

[KnoGood]

Thanks Onlyone for the feedback on the poly bushings. Now that I have the engine I think "should get poly loc motor mounts" and upgrade the bushings so I don't have to do this again in 10 yrs!

At CME I recommend you talk to Mike the owner - after that make your decision. They have a lot of good people there but he's the boss and all things flow down from there. He was the reason I picked them to do the work.

 

[HYRDGOON]

CME is done my build and I just got my Dyno sheet and quick vid from CME in email. I can't seem to convert the video to something that I can upload to YouTube but as soon as I figure that out I will

I chose the 522 Ci 525hp/625torq combo and my peak numbers were 526.5hp @ 4900 and 659.3 ft-lbs @ 3300


Now would be a good time to buy stock in Nitto tires!!

 

[HYRDGOON]

 

[tallhair]

That's great goon! Congrats and I'm looking forward to the video

 

[Boise68]

Congrats on getting your new engine, did a little photoshop to enhance pic for you:

 

[HYRDGOON]

Thanks Boise much appreciated!!

Here's the link to my vid. I'm a little disappointed only because when I got to see KnoGood's video it was longer and showed more of the Dyno Equipment they were using and the printout but it still felt great to hear my new engine Roar!

Patrick (KnoGood) If you see this and want me to upload your video to my YouTube Channel I can convert it and do that for you so a link can be posted here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmeUoY1hB1A&feature=youtu.be

 

[rrTor-Red]

Impresive Hyrdgoon. Did they recommend a size for the headers? I'm sure you noticed the red glow from the headers they put on your motor

 

[tallhair]

Sounded great .. music to my ears

 

[Lenny Arsenault]

Yep! you are correct buy strickly from a mopar machine shop I had a local shop that is known for great quality engine builds not realizing that they really do 75% ford, 20% chevy and 5% the what ever comes through the door. I had them rebuild my 440 had it dynoed 490 hp 536 ftTQ sounds great took it home installed it into the car hooked up thr exhaust started it up with a very noisey valve train and im still battleing this demond with the shop. Can't here it with open headers on the dyno so beware!

IMO like colorado i would never buy a motor unless they did just Mopar, CME does every brand. thus why i went with muscle motors for my stroker kit, they are just Mopar, and very good at it too.

 

[wedge69]

Thay ever bult a blower motor ?

 

[HYRDGOON]

Yep! you are correct buy strickly from a mopar machine shop I had a local shop that is known for great quality engine builds not realizing that they really do 75% ford, 20% chevy and 5% the what ever comes through the door. I had them rebuild my 440 had it dynoed 490 hp 536 ftTQ sounds great took it home installed it into the car hooked up thr exhaust started it up with a very noisey valve train and im still battleing this demond with the shop. Can't here it with open headers on the dyno so beware!

This was a concern I had too... What got me around it is that they explained yes the SHOP does do various brands but they are designated builders i.e. the "performance technician" who did my build was on my build from start to finish and is a MOPAR builder... They even called in December and explained to me my engine was 3 weeks behind because the builder responsible for my motor had to take some time off for personal reasons and they don't mix and match people on an engine. It's all up to you and your comfort level when selecting your builder but it helps that CME's claim of building over 50,000 engine's since 1984 and you can't find any negative feedback anywhere online made me comfortable as well as knowing KnoGood was happy with the customer service and finished product he received.

Thay ever bult a blower motor ?

Wedge they don't advertise blower motors on their website but they are known for race engine's (2 time NHRA Racing World Champions) so I'm sure they have in the past... Best bet would be to contact them directly [email protected]

 

[wedge69]

I have read every posting here and it looks to me these guys are and have a good rep !
I think I am going to calll them as My engine machinest ( my brother) is haveing issues doing work lately ??
Woman and bars !! What a Waist !!
Anyway I like what I see so far !!

 

[HYRDGOON]

I have read every posting here and it looks to me these guys are and have a good rep !
I think I am going to calll them as My engine machinest ( my brother) is haveing issues doing work lately ??
Woman and bars !! What a Waist !!
Anyway I like what I see so far !!

If you have any other questions shoot me a pm and could even do a quick phone convo if you like.

Like KnoGood said you can deal directly with Mike the owner if you like.. I dealt with a salesman named Ritchie.

The only thing I will say is they may tell you 6 week turnaround time but realistically look at 4-5 months before delivery... wanted to communicate that because I knew that going in from KnoGood

 

[wedge69]

ALl good things come to those who wait ! I can wait for a good motor I only have to put in ONE time !!