Thread: Autozone engine

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Anyone ever buy an autozone engine? I called em up and they sell long block 350's for about 1,200.... I figure that would be an easy swap, a good engine, and then allow me to work on my stock engine for a while.
Anyone think it would be worth it? Because Right now I need a second engine because my stock one is dying, buring oil, lumpy/warn out cam, bad distributor and about 200,000 rough miles on it.

Originally posted by weylinthedirty
Anyone ever buy an autozone engine? I called em up and they sell long block 350's for about 1,200.... I figure that would be an easy swap, a good engine, and then allow me to work on my stock engine for a while.
Anyone think it would be worth it? Because Right now I need a second engine because my stock one is dying, buring oil, lumpy/warn out cam, bad distributor and about 200,000 rough miles on it.

I'd rather have a used motor with 60,000 miles on it, out of the junk yrd. for 600.00 than a mass produced rebuilt one for 1200.00

i'm new here so forgive my boldness. couldnt help but notice your question. has no one suggested a NEW 350. i just installed one in my nova. cost about $1500 or so. call your local chevy parts dept.

That's what I'm asking; is a NEW chevy 350 worth paying 1,200.00 for from autozone.

Originally posted by weylinthedirty
That's what I'm asking; is a NEW chevy 350 worth paying 1,200.00 for from autozone.

They are called "New rebuilt" old block, crankshaft, rods and heads. The motor is only as good as "how good they stand behind their warranty".

...brand NEW GM crate motor 350, part # 10067353, 249 HP, 304 Tq, $1359.95 {Scoggin-Dickey Chevrolet, 1-800-456-021, www.sdp2000.com} complete less carb, intake, distrigutor. 3 year/ 36,000 mile warranty... Bill

I have a friend who rebuilds motors for a living. He uses name brand parts and his 350s are about $1,400 with an exchange. More if he has to replace the heads or other components. The work is done right. He sells to individuals and to shops. And he offers some performance options, like cams, compression, at reasonable cost.

Most mechanics will not use Autozone or other discount rebuilt motors because even if they come with a replacement warranty, they still have to stand behind the installation. So, they prefer to pay a little more and go with a trusted rebuilder.

The Autozone price is based on exchanging a rebuildable core. If you don't turn in a core, or if your core is not rebuildable, you pay more. I think you have to pay the core charge up front and you won't get your deposit back in full or in part until your core has been taken apart and inspected. This is a common practice. When your motor is rebuilt locally you know in a few days. When your motor is trucked to an out of country location it can take longer.

The base GM crate motor is a slug. Plan on swapping out the cam if you want some zip. Or upgrading to a higher rated and more expensive motor.

Look in your phone book or ask around. See if you can find a local rebuilder with a good reputation.

The GM crate motors referenced is NEW, (absolutely every part is new, not rebuilt, just like an engine put in a new car at the factory). They also come with a very good warranty, which chances are you will never have to use. "Rebuilt/remanufactured" engines on the other hand are reconditioned used engines, and in many cases put together using the lowest cost (quality) parts available. Don't get me wrong, there are several rebuilders out there that produce VERY high quality rebuilt assemblies. I've have personally seen several AutoZone engines that were junk.

"......Most mechanics will not use Autozone or other discount rebuilt motors........"

You are absolutely correct. Of all the suppliers of rebuilt parts I have dealt with my personal experience is that the ones from AutoZone were of the lowest quality and I would not sell them through the shop.

On the very rare occasions that a customers would ask about using any autozone part (such as bringing me the car and telling me that it has "life time warranty" on an AutoZone part already installed, or would want me to install one of their rebuilt engines) I would tell them my policy:

1. The customer would be responsible for picking up and paying/exchanging for the parts directly from AutoZone.

2. The customer would be responsible for delivering the part to my shop.

3. If the part installed was bad, the customer would be responsible full labor rate to remove and reinstall the part (however many times it took to get a good one).

4. The customer would be responsible for transporting the part back to autozone and returning a good part to the shop.

5. If the replacement part could not be delivered in a timely fashion (i.e. a special order that would take a "few days" to get in), storage charges would be charged on the car.

6. Absolutely no warranty on parts or labor would be given on rebuilt AutoZone parts, and that would be written on the receipt and the customer would sign it. (My normal warranty was a minimum of 90 days warranty on parts and labor, and possibly longer depending on the warranty given with the parts).

Note: I would always apply this to Auto Zone rebuilds, I could not afford to tie the shop up doing free labor over and over because the customer wanted the cheapest parts possible. The old adage about getting what you pay for applies to rebuilt parts, spend a little more and only do it once.

Well what I'm looking for is a complete replacement engine with some okay power, like 250hp and around 300lbs/torque... My stock engine is dying and I still need to be able to drive the El Camino to school, work, and around town... So I want to swap the engines out, and take some time in rebuilding my stock engine, so that I can get what I want out of it and learn all the stuff I need about rebuilding engines...

i would then reccomend the GM crate motor, you cant go wrong there... well accept GM is having a lot of problems right now... one thing i've already noticed... is a lot of BRAND NEW from the dealer GM cars i've been running into... have oil leaks.... might have to do with laying off a lot of people, some of which inspected for such errors

Napa sells rebuilt/ reman'd engines too, some even build them up right there at the store, using there off the shelf parts. My teachers son bought a 302 from them and this is exzactly what they did, they ordered the block from NAPA then put it on the stand, took a week building it then when it was done, called him and rolled it out to the loading dock and on the back of his truck, then when the bill came up, everything was seperate with own part#'s on the receipt, and somthing like 100 bucks labor, all in all he said it came to like 1,350. GM probably has the best deal for what you want tho.

hello.
I wouldn't go with an autozone engine if I were you. if you have never delt with the purchase of an engine before, then you most def will run into alot of un expected expences.

my example is fact . just call you'r local autozone they will tell you, and if they say they don't know anything about the warrenty details then hang up the phone.

in my experience with engines, in order for them to honer any warrenty claims.

1st you must show you have replaced all cooling system with NEW /not used components.
plus belts and hoses.

2nd if for some reason the reconditioned engine you bought ever laid down on you and you had to get it pulled out for autozone to stand good on the warrenty. it doesn't cover ANY amount of money you paid for labor or other install parts. thats you'r loss

3rd 99% of the time if you were to take a defected engine back to them they will tell you that it was you'r falt it went bad.

like I said .it will be your loss, not mine or anyone on this web site.s just you and your money, make a choice but think first.

I used to work for them back in 1996 . I worked with autozone here in my town for 4 years. and every single person that bought an engine from us in some way or some how got the shaft. that was one of the many reasons why I had quit working there. I couldnt face the people on the streets knowing that I was partly responsible.

do all the research you can , call all the local shops and ask who do they buy from.

my suggestion would be to go with a NEW GM engine. call you'r local gm parts dept. and ask for the crate engines.

if you can spend a little extra cash you could get a performance crate engine . most if not all are ballanced and dyno'd with a 3 yr 36k mile warrenty.

good luck I hope you make a wise choise.

what jack said... for under $2000 you can get a new 350 from chebbie...

Not sure what the others said but here is my oppinion and a story that will get you to NOT buy one. What autozone basically does is use whatever parts they find. I hear that they dont even use all the same brand parts, etc and just THROW them together. A buddy of mine put a 350 in a truck for his friend and for some reason the truck didn't run right and had internal problems, etc. They couldn't fix it and tried replacing TONS of things. Well long story short, they found out that Autozone put TWO different heads on the thing!!! If I were you I'd find a 350 block, get machine work done and get the plain 350 Federal Mogul pistons, rings, etc and start from there. Maybe you can find a nice block with a crank and rods that dont need replacing and do it that way. For 300 bucks too you can get Vortec heads on it if wanted (600 total). IMO that is worth it and the heads are fully assembled. You can get out much cheaper that way and actually LEARN and KNOW what is in your engine. People have told me crates are cheaper, etc and some said no but I have been doing my own pricing and actually in the END building your own is cheaper and you can put better parts in it for the bottom end if wanted and come out at the same price as a crate or cheaper.

This is a no brainer - buy a GM crate motor.