Buying a crate engine means...
Buying a crate engine means buying the expertise of the fellow that bolted it together. With Scott Hesselgrave of D&D Motorsports standing behind your engine, you're in good shape.
Horse Sense:
D&D Motorsports uses a 5.400-inch rod with the company's big strokers, which places the piston pin slightly into the oil-ring groove. D&D figures its "full-size" 31/416-inch oil ring gives as good oil control as the 3mm oil rings used by those employing shorter con rods and packaging the oil ring higher on the piston.
It's amazing how many shops are assembling crate engines these days. And why not? Shipping is relatively affordable, economies of scale keep the costs down, and fewer enthusiasts than ever have the time to gather all the parts, much less do the wrench-turning.
Perhaps even more importantly, as we were reminded while watching D&D Motorsports bolt together a 408 Windsor, when buying a crate engine you also get the benefit of the assembler's knowledge and experience. In addition, with engine builders specializing in one brand or type of engine, such knowledge can become fairly comprehensive. Compared to the alternative of an enthusiast who may build 3 or 5 or maybe even 10 engines in his life-time, or the local shop that has assembled possibly 12 performance-oriented small-block Fords in the past decade, a specialist such as D&D Motorsports-which assembles that many engines a month and works up parts or assemblies for 50 to 60 engines a month-is bound to have a technical edge.
Certainly D&D Motorsports...
Certainly D&D Motorsports chooses its parts from among the best in the industry, but as is nearly always the case, it's not so much the parts as what you do with them once they leave the box that matters.
The edge at D&D is Scott Hesselgrave. A dedicated engine man with roots at Child's & Albert-along with several forms of drag racing including Top Fuel-Scott is in charge of D&D's engine program and assembles all the company's engines. He does the job with a tenacity and attention to detail not often seen in the crate-engine business. From special "mouse milk" assembly lubes to sweating details such as properly adjusting crankshaft thrust, Scott takes considerable pride in how his engines go together.
He assembles a lot of 331, 347, and 408 small-blocks, along with some performance import engines for D&D's sideline of seriously hot sand rails. (D&D Motorsports covers a lot of ground for a relatively small but rapidly growing company. Mustang suspension bits and the aforementioned custom-built sand rails figure in the company's bottom line.)
All said, keeping the burgeoning Mustang market supplied with stroker small-blocks is what really keeps D&D Motorsports owner Dave Cremarosa and Scott busy all day. Their basic engine is a Super Hawk. It uses a stock crank and rods, and forged pistons. These are typically sold as short-blocks, with a 306/308 5.0 going for $1,595 and a 351 Windsor 357/361 for $2,095.
Scott had already laid the...
Scott had already laid the CAT cast-steel 4.00-inch stroke crank when we arrived. Its installation is straightforward, other than Scott's attention to thrust clearance. Block preparation includes no more than a 0.040-inch overbore, honing with torque plates, decking, align-honing, brass core plugs, a bit of oil-passage relieving, and whatever hand clearancing is required for a stroked rotating assembly. Scott says the cylinder notching seen here is more than is required, and in fact, the 351s need little grinding to accept 400-plus-inch displacements.
The one-step-up level is the Pro Hawk, which utilizes a used but well-prepped block, as does the Super Hawk. The Pro Hawk moves up to all forged internals. The cranks are 5140 steel forgings, the rods are 4340 H-beam units, and the pistons are from JE or SRP. Typical displacements here are 327/331, 342/347, and 383/408/418, depending on whether the block has a standard or 0.030-inch overbore. The two 302 varieties bring $2,395; the 351 variants $2,795.
For those feeling racy, D&D offers its Pro Hawk 1 line. This mainly brings a Ford Racing Performance Parts block to the party and raises the 302 short-block prices to $4,995 and the 351 fare to $5,495. Pro II short-blocks are also available. They're all-billet and cost around $9,000. All prices are for assembled short-blocks, and all assembly and porting is done in-house. D&D does not have an in-house dyno and typically does not dyno engines, so you're basically on your own there. However, there are engine dynos in the area D&D can deal with, if desired.
Naturally, there are all sorts of rotating assemblies and stand-alone parts, including stud girdles and such available from D&D. So, if you have something a bit custom in mind, the company can handle that as well as an off-the-shelf short-block or com-plete engine. Cylinder-head services are also available.