Quote Originally Posted by Don Shillady
Keep in mind that you can probably build a nice SBC 350 for under $2000 and a Buick V6 rebuild should be similar, how much for an Ecotech engine? Maybe I am not up to date regarding the Ecotech engine, there must be available parts since they raced them but what is the approximate cost? Just some rambling comments.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

I first became aware of these (btw the correct spelling is without the H at the end in case anyone wants to do a search) at SEMA about 4 years ago (I'm not that much into the tuner sort of thing), when walking past a huge display in the enormous GM booth (a somewhat inadequate word for the size of it). I was surprised by the amount of factory hop up stuff as well as the range of pallet engines they had. This caused me to look around some more at the target market................it's pretty big. Lots of these in the tuner world and they crank some very good times at the strip. Of course, from my perspective, what caught my eye first was the twin overhead cam configuration and how much it looked like a mini Offenhauser, which clicks in my brain to track or lakes roadster. Well, for me it's pretty much a mind exercise since I'm already committed to V8s in the builds in process and don't think I'll do any more than that. But that doesn't keep me from maybe inspiring someone else. Somewhere here Robot should pipe up as we've been kicking this around for his roadster the past few months.

Anyway, just a few references to give you an idea on cost comparisons. Yes, factory crate engines are up there with the SBC, especially if you go for the supercharged ones. However, in the rest of the market these things are CHEAP. I've seen them in the local Craigs list with computer and harness & less than 50k miles for anywhere from $100 - 500. Here's one on ebay right now for $250 that hasn't had an opening bid even after 6 days, though it lacks the computer: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2-2-E...spagenameZWDVW. In the recent past I've seen several new ones on ebay in a crate for anywhere from $600 - 1000 for the 2.2, and just under $2k for the 2.4 WITH 6 speed manual from a Solstice with less than 10k miles.

Again, I only know this little bit because I'm mildly interested and did some minimal research. Apparently there're some years (generally newer) more desireable than others because of upgrades. I checked with a couple outfits on carburetion and distributor adapting with the idea in mind that a more traditional looking roadster would forego the computer and injection, and they are available, though not widely marketed because of limited appeal. And there are some logistic issues, for instance the distributors I've been told of are driven off the back of one of the cams which would cause firewall issues in a front to back mounting. Anyway, it looks like a rock solid, good hp potential, nifty looking engine that's already been around long enough to have a good reliability record, and advanced enough to be around a while longer (unlike the Quad 4 that had a relatively short cycle and some early teething problems).