Thread: Custom crate engines.

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A long time customer of mine thinks I should try and market a line of custom crate engines.
I would like any ones input on this.
My customer does lots of marketing.
He said take some polls on here and find out what brands people like and what they are looking for in an engine.
What do you think of the idea of having a "menu" and you would for example click on carburetor.
Then you click on a brand Holley,Demon,Edelbrock etc.
If you wanted a "flowed" carb. then you would click on AED,Quick Fuel,Pro Systems etc.
In other words you build the engine exactly how you want it.
I will be posting some polls in the next few days.
Lets hear your idea's good or bad and why.

Sounds interesting. So post the poll. Not currently in market but knowing options and pricing could help someone move further along in the process.

sounds pretty cool to me , if you had a website as im sure thats what your talking about you would surely get A lot of traffic just from car nuts makin virtual engines ... might work out great i have not seen another site where thats possible .. let us know and good luck erik

In other words you build the engine exactly how you want it.

That would be cool - but would need to be a 'smart' program.

For example - if you select a particular set of heads and pistons, the cam selection would be limited to only those that worked well with the prior selected criteria.

Or at least be smart enough to warn the user of invalid or questionable selections.

I like it!!!!

Of course, everyone is going to say "yes" because it's not their time or money going into the project. Why do you want to let the customer screw up the combination by choosing the "name of the week" part? Part of your service is selling your knowledge and expertise. Letting the customer choose a weird combination will certainly help your engine building reputation.

Instead of letting someone choose parts, why not ask the customer a set of more general questions....like what engine type, engine size, engine use, installed car specifics, powerband range, etc. and then you quote him some specifics....that way, you can market "custom crate engines" but not "stupid custom crate engines". You can make an Excel spreadsheet that will allow you to price components, etc. fairly quickly.

Your biggest challenge is how to keep the cashless nimrods from wasting your time asking for a price for something that they could never afford. One way we use is to shoot them a "Budgetary" price that is not exact but close and lets them either faint or proceed. Also, forcing them to physically telephone you keeps them from hiding behind the internet shield.

Feature the "Custom" idea but control the product.

mike in tucson

I think the engine cores would be a problem . Trying to get good used cores to build up . Or if you use all new blocks this will bring up the co$t . I do think one way around this is a base engine like the Chevy LM1 350 . This engine is like $1400.00 buck for the long block . Most guy wont want to run the #993 76cc heads That are on it . But you can removed and sell them as stock replacement heads online . Also the new cam and lifters can be sold this way . Now you have a 4 bolt short block with the tin . This short block has LT1 powdered metal rods that you can build up with ARP bolts . Then change the cast pistons with hypereutectic flat tops . Then for heads go with the #1 selling Vortec heads . Set up the heads to handle up to 525 lift . Then give the customers there choice of cams intakes and carbs dist . This is an idea for a street/strip all new SB chevy . With the right cam this set up will make 400HP .

I like the idea.

Sallee Chevy (now Gilbert) offers crate engines with some options. I bought their ZZ502 with some port work and a little bit larger Crane cam. What really sold me was the Dyno results they had on their own ..........

You might need to prove out some of the combos or otherwise demonstrate that you can reliably predict the perfromance of the various combos.

Kitz

Ummmmm, maybe I'm missing your point, but the terms "custom" and "crate" don't seem to go together. Most think of a crate engine as an off the shelf configuration that is "mass produced" (loosely used) to save money. By definition that would require the buyer to make compromises on configuration that he either learns to live with, or modifies from the base configuration because it offers a cost/availability advantage over the classically defined "custom" engine. Most folks I know, myself included, basically back into the decison based essentially on hp/$ and vendor reputation, with possibly some secondary considerations like personal preferences for 4 bolt crank or not, brand loyalty, flat or roller tappet preference, and so forth. I'm mainly refering to street engines in those thoughts as race stuff (except for the possibility of "claimers") is almost always custom.

It comes down to how you want to market your business. And I admire you for wanting to grow/improve your business. Any of us who've ever had to make those decisions about our business have had to wrestle with these types of questions. Do you want to do business the same way as most of your competitors (and how your customer base defines/perceives who they are means more than your definition/perception) and fight for the thin profit higher competitive part of the marketplace? Or do you want the higher profit, more discerning, and ultimately more rewarding in many ways, portion of the potential market? The first choice is the easy one, that's why most businesses occupy that portion of the market. Differentiating your business from the others takes more effort. As one example; pick any business category, go to the yellow pages, look at how the ads are worded, the claims made. In most cases you could switch the names on the ads and the message still fits. If the customer doesn't know much about the particulars of any given business then in his eyes they're all the same so the choice is made on other factors like price, or who will come out or deliver first. As a business person who understands your product about now you're probably thinking, no, I REALLY am better than the other guy, or my product REALLY is better, or more reliable, or a more economical choice than his is. The challenge is to convince the customer of that, or better said, give yourself the chance to educate the customer about how to tell the difference between you and your apparent competitors.

Which might be what you're really trying to ask about. If you're proposing to have a website that has tools to allow your potential customer to "custom build" his own engine from a series of menus then I would say that's a start...............of sorts. But that concept assumes the customer has some level of knowledge sufficient to a) do that, and b) give himself the confidence to attempt to build the engine. Now, if you think that taking a shotgun approach and having people "play" on your site virtually "building" engines, then you're a free video game. As a business owner, my preference would be to use the site as a mechanism to capture the attention of "serious buyers", and identify them to me so that I can engage them in a discussion (perhaps written at first, leading to a one on one conversation). Successful sales for the small business owner is about educating the customer for two primary purposes. First is to help them make better decisions for their needs (afterall, isn't that what happens on a site like this, and don't folks like you who demonstrate competence gain the confidence of the reader? That's the sales process in it's purest form), and second, to recognize that you're the business that will best meet those needs. Most business people will never wholly get those concepts, that's why they wallow in the cutthroat end of their business sector. It also explains why we get so many stories like we see here about bad experiences with unmet promises, blown budgets, and shoddy workmanship.

BTW, polling is interesting, and sometimes fun, but it's what you get from it that matters. With all due respect to our friends here, I would guess you'll get lots of opinion/speculation here, but I'm not sure you'll get much more than that. Personally, if I were in your shoes I'd survey my existing customer base to determine why they bought from me, if what you're thinking about doing would be of interest to them or not and why. Beyond that, you can also learn as much or more by polling those who contacted you and DIDN'T buy from you but did buy from someone else. The best opinions/feedback will come from people in your target market (actual buyers of assembled engines), not those outside of that circle.

All new budget SB 4 bolt 350 /400HP with Vortec heads will sell any day always ! COOL

sounds like a good idea to me.many people donot have the ability or resources to build thier own engine.but with some help in the right directionwould be willing to purchase one.

Maybe I am giving the customer to much credit.
What if I had hp packages.
This could be some examples.
A 350 hp 383 small block Chevy or a 325 hp 347 small block Ford.
The customer would then click on the hp level they want and then choose the manufactures of the crank,rods,pistons etc.
Is this getting any closer?
I do welcome any thoughts or comments.

One that I like is a 350 350HP iron heads . But with a lot of torque .

good luck erik there is alot i could say about this but i am to whip from working all day on customers engines in short you know what someone needs by talking to the customers . there are the basic numbers to run down like rpms. low speed rpm top rpms and cr and what fuel there willing to buy for it. there is alot they want.you see here i said is want not what the need for hp. how much do they have to spend .bottom line is they all want 500+HP for less then 2500.

I know,they all want 500 hp for $1,500 because they read an article from a 1982 Hot Rod magazine.
Don't laugh this has happened before.