Thread: Autozone engine

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Another Sad Story:

Had a friend buy one of the AutoZone "rebuilt" engines. He installed it over a weekend. When he fired it up, it had an engine knock. Went to the 'Zone and showed them....."no problem, just pull the engine and bring it back." He did so the following weekend and Zone gave him another motor.....put that in and it had a fatal problem......"no problem, just pull the engine and bring it back!!!!"

Duh, it didnt sound like the inexpensive solution to me.

Lolz, thanks for all the advice guys. I did a little looking around and I found a store that specialized only in engines. They make completely brand new (even the block) engines that are made stock. The associate I spoke with will get a brand new long block 350 to my house for about $1,500. He said their long blocks come with everything on the engine already. All I gotta do is take my old one out, drop my new on in and bolt her on.

Guy I'm gonna get on ya a little bit here,just don't take it wrong because I have nothing but the best intentions...
Man youv'e been given nothing but the best answers and advice and thats why I didn't post on this subject. BuTTTT then you come back and tell us your gonna make a stupid mistake and buy your motor from this specialty house,did you investigate this joint ???? what is their warranty policy ??? I do not believe they make their own blocks (ever heard of patents) and I positively do not believe they come with everything as a drop in unit ( But I could be wrong ) Man what happens if you put this thing in and it knocks or blows up do they pull it and fix it for you ???? I'm tellin you this for your own good, Go to any G.M. parts counter and buy yourself a universal goodwrench 350,I'm sure they are under 1500 bucks it has a 3 year 36,000 mile warranty and if any thing goes wrong (except stuff that is your fault) you can take the whole vehicle to the dealer and they will pull and replace or repair it for you under warranty. I'm telling you this with 37 years of experiance turning wrenches for a living. But then again it's your vehicle,your money,and your time wasted if you go the other way and things go bad.....Believe me when I say I have had experiance with companys that have promised the world,and then weaseled out with me holding the bill
when things go wrong.....G.M. will stand behind the Goodwrench engine.

I'm going with Hworrell on this. The new block is possible but not feasable for 1,500 and a non GM company. Dart and a few other companies sell new blocks but there well over 2k, which would be far more than the 1,500 quoted when done, there probably just tanked old 1's or GM blocks that can be got from GM dealers. If you want cheap, some junkyards will put 20k mile warranty's on some compleate motors if you replace gaskets and seals, but they won't give you a new motor, just another 1 from the yard, and to retain the warranty, you have to replace gaskets and seals. Just does not make sense even that way, about the only logical way I would go ( if you are not going to the dealer for the best deal which has arleady been mentioned ) is go to a reputable engine rebuilding shop and have them build a stocker long block, they probably have a block sitting around that someone never got, and they might be able to get you somthing for 1,500 or less, and normally they will supply a warranty ( there not too good if they don't ). GM did have some problems with the goodwrench 350 at 1 time, because they were defect blocks that were sent to Mexico to be built and they were thrown togther, much like the Autozone engines, and the company your looking at most likely.

there is nothing wrong with a used block, some people says a block sitting out in the weather makes for a better race motor than a new block. "thats what some say, i dont know".

Originally posted by Matt167
I'm going with Hworrell on this. The new block is possible but not feasable for 1,500 and a non GM company. Dart and a few other companies sell new blocks but there well over 2k, which would be far more than the 1,500 quoted when done, there probably just tanked old 1's or GM blocks that can be got from GM dealers. If you want cheap, some junkyards will put 20k mile warranty's on some compleate motors if you replace gaskets and seals, but they won't give you a new motor, just another 1 from the yard, and to retain the warranty, you have to replace gaskets and seals. Just does not make sense even that way, about the only logical way I would go ( if you are not going to the dealer for the best deal which has arleady been mentioned ) is go to a reputable engine rebuilding shop and have them build a stocker long block, they probably have a block sitting around that someone never got, and they might be able to get you somthing for 1,500 or less, and normally they will supply a warranty ( there not too good if they don't ). GM did have some problems with the goodwrench 350 at 1 time, because they were defect blocks that were sent to Mexico to be built and they were thrown togther, much like the Autozone engines, and the company your looking at most likely.

Matt the Goodwrench never had any problems and all the parts are new,the one your thinking about was the G.M. Targetmaster.

Lol I didn't call a G.M. shop, I called a performance shop. They just do most of their work on building stock engines for the year and vehicle model. The long block model has varrious parts such as: the oil pan, water pump, heater core, a/c core, and various other parts. The warranty is 3year 36,000 mile. And if anything is wrong I take my vehicle to their shop and they will service it free of charge.

Originally posted by weylinthedirty
Lol I didn't call a G.M. shop, I called a performance shop. They just do most of their work on building stock engines for the year and vehicle model. The long block model has varrious parts such as: the oil pan, water pump, heater core, a/c core, and various other parts. The warranty is 3year 36,000 mile. And if anything is wrong I take my vehicle to their shop and they will service it free of charge.

.....ps, If there not out of business, sold to another owner, changed there shop policy, sobered up or whatever.......
I also don't want to sound to 'harsh' but this should be what's called a 'NO BRAINER'...... A good example is; I live close to a big time, quality engine builder. I had him build a motor for me once and used to stop by and talk to him often. You know what he says about 'where to get a motor'??? THE GM PARTS COUNTER!!! {he does mostly specialty stuff}. Why??? The warrenttee and quality. Bill

You can get a new 4 bolt main block from GM for $700. If you are a manufacturer who buys in volume, you could probably get them as cheaply as $450-$500 a piece. Not much more than a normal core and considerably less if it doesn't need much or any machining at all. So, $1500 is a reasonable price for a fully assembled motor using a new block. That is what you'll pay if you guy the new GM motor and include shipping. Now, some of these builders offer better warranties than GM, even on their reman motors.

After reading this thread, to someone that don't know any better you would think the only place in the world you can buy a good motor is from the dealer and thats a bunch of crap. I've installed a lot of motors over the yrs. and never bought a dealer motor and I survived somehow. I rather find a good local indenpendent motor shop and deal with him. With the dealers its always been them and us, so i didn't deal with "them" unless i had to.

Originally posted by 76GMC1500
You can get a new 4 bolt main block from GM for $700. If you are a manufacturer who buys in volume, you could probably get them as cheaply as $450-$500 a piece. Not much more than a normal core and considerably less if it doesn't need much or any machining at all. So, $1500 is a reasonable price for a fully assembled motor using a new block. That is what you'll pay if you guy the new GM motor and include shipping. Now, some of these builders offer better warranties than GM, even on their reman motors.

I couldn't find one for less than $2,300 -ISH. That was on a stock 350 with the basic 250hp, 315lbs/torque. Thats why I went to this performance shop, and not GM... I'm poor lol and I need a new engine soon.

Originally posted by weylinthedirty
I couldn't find one for less than $2,300 -ISH. That was on a stock 350 with the basic 250hp, 315lbs/torque. Thats why I went to this performance shop, and not GM... I'm poor lol and I need a new engine soon.

if the people does good work and stand behind their warrenty, it dont make no dif. where you get it.

Originally posted by HWORRELL
Matt the Goodwrench never had any problems and all the parts are new,the one your thinking about was the G.M. Targetmaster.

That is the 1 I was thinking of. My Auto Shop told us about them

Originally posted by lt1s10
if the people does good work and stand behind their warrenty, it dont make no dif. where you get it.

Ya but my main problem is price, I need something thats less than $1,500. I get all my taxes back in Feburary because I'm a full time student. That will leave me with about $1,200 and my part-time job can supply another couple hundred as long as I don't have to buy groceries.

Originally posted by weylinthedirty
Ya but my main problem is price, I need something thats less than $1,500. I get all my taxes back in Feburary because I'm a full time student. That will leave me with about $1,200 and my part-time job can supply another couple hundred as long as I don't have to buy groceries.

then I'd find me one out of the salvage yard with 50 to 60,000 miles on it, and put that in. I 've had better luck with low miles salvage than i have with mass produce ones. I've done a lot of both.