Looking for an engine builder in the midwest

[hunt2elk]

Anybody have any recommendations for a very good Mopar engine builder in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, or NW WI area. Don't mind paying for quality work to someone who knows what they are doing. Was leaning to Mike @ MRL Performance, but unfortunately he has recently closed up shop and took a job with benefits.

 

[IQ52]

Man, I would go all the way to Washington, Iowa. Mid America Racing Engines, David Bruns, (319) 653-6282

http://www.2040-cars.com/services/Iowa/Washington/Mid-America-Racing-Engines-83078/

 

[Sixpactogo]

I have had good luck with Wheeler Racing engines in Blaine. Gary used to build all of Al Corda's engines.
Also, SharaDon Performance in Hugo has a good reputation. I know a couple guys that have had engines built there and are happy with them.

 

[toolmanmike]

Grawmondbecks in Mason City, Ia. build a lot of Mopars. Great work! No website that I can see but one on Facebook. They have a engine and chassis dyno. https://www.facebook.com/Grawmondbecks/

A 500 horse 440 they just did for my buddy. 0-90 didn't take long!

 

[Brewzer67]

Best Machine in MI is plenty solid on Mopars.

 

[GetX'd]

Trappers Machine shop built my motor. He's located in Ham Lake/East Bethel. Small shop. Wally used to build engines for Wagomen Bros before he went out on his own. Very reasonable. Honest. 763-434-7378. You get a lot for your money. A little slow but worth the $$

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

Are you wanting to drive there there or ship?You have many good recs so far.

 

[440+6]

Best Machine in MI is plenty solid on Mopars.

These guys are top notch, they will be building my next one for sure (they are two miles from my house), until now I've been using Koffel's.

 

[hunt2elk]

Are you wanting to drive there there or ship?You have many good recs so far.

I really want the shop to be within about a 2 hour drive from me. I have a block and some misc parts that would need to get to them, and also just in case there are any problems down the road, but if none are around I guess it will have to be shipped.

 

[64BEL]

Have you checked out Kilpatrick in Waukesha? I don't have any first hand experience with them, but they're Mopar guys.
http://www.kilpatrickengine.com/

 

[GetX'd]

Trappers Machine shop built my motor. He's located in Ham Lake/East Bethel. Small shop. Wally used to build engines for Wagomen Bros before he went out on his own. Very reasonable. Honest. 763-434-7378. You get a lot for your money. A little slow but worth the $$

By the way - the local I'm referring to is just outside Minneapolis.

 

[Brewzer67]

Have you checked out Kilpatrick in Waukesha? I don't have any first hand experience with them, but they're Mopar guys.
http://www.kilpatrickengine.com/

I've got experience with them and can say stay away! Here's a list of some of issues with the first time I dealt with them:
They tore down my 496 short block to build it into a 526 stroker and just threw all the parts into a box like they were scrap. The short block they were taking apart had only 4-5k miles on it so most of the parts were almost new. When I picked it up, half the bearings and ARP rod bolt nuts were missing. They put a new oil pump on without asking and wanted to charge me $100 for that honor. The pump they removed was no where to be found. Including the adjustable oil pressure valve. Even more annoying is the fact that I had hand ported the pump so I had to do so with the new one. Two of the head bolts on one head weren't torqued down more than 15ft. Lbs. Half of the oil pan bolts were finger tight. The key on the old crank looks like it was hammered on by a 5 year old. My brand new billet March pulleys were also thrown in that box of parts and were all scratched up. When called out on the damage to the pulleys when I was picking it up, the owners reply was "well you shouldn't have dropped of the short block with all that stuff on it". No apology, just condemnation. That was before I found the other issues.

For my second interaction:

I was taking the car back to him to have a full TTI exhaust system put on the car. This was supposed to be done the day before I was leaving for the hot rod power tour. I didn't get to go because when I got there he had sold my tailpipes to someone else and had to order replacements. That delay cost me my all my hotel fees that I had pre paid for the power tour. Once he did get the tailpipes in stock and put them on the car the pipes weren't centered and the driver side was set up rubbing on my freshly painted gas tank. When I pointed it out he said it was too tight back there and that was the best he could do. When I got home I loosened up the clamps, shifted the pipe and it fits fine but I am left with a chewed up tank. He also put in some Shumacher poly loc motor mounts while doing the exhaust. When I double checked his work on that I found the nuts on my ARP bolts on the driver side almost ready to fall off and both of the washers missing. No thread lock on anything.

There's still more but I think you get the idea.

 

[64BEL]

Yikes, Brewzer! Sorry to hear that, but thanks for the info!

 

[Sixpactogo]

Joel,
I would seriously check out Wheeler. They did two 440s for me and dynoed them both. Cams were already broken in and ready to run when I picked them up. MCR uses them for all of their engine builds as well. Just tell Gary what you want for HP and he will produce it.
I told him I wanted the stock 390 horsepower on my sixpack engine and wanted it to run on the junk gas we have and it ended up 405 hp on the 93 octane. I was pleased as punch.