Has anyone had any experience with http://golensengineservice.com ?

Its time for a new motor and these are not only local but seemed reasonable in price. Unless of course anyone knew maybe a another place to look at locally.

 

I bought my 383 shortblock from him last year at this time. The motor was done in less than 2 weeks. They're definitely nice people too. I haven't had any problems with the engine. I'd definitely recommend them. I think they're up in NH now though.

 

They seem liek they are pretty good I have heard god and bad about them just like every other company out there. I would go with them though.

 

TurboTA, if I may ask which 383 did you go with? I am looking at the cheapie 383 build up, i know the car my wont see any more than 450 RWHP.

 

Although I can't say from personal experience, I'd stay away. I've heard more bad than good about them regarding the build quality of their engines. Save yourself the possible trouble of something going wrong. Go with a reputable shop. Things usually get messed up when you try to cut corners.

 

Anyone have a better place to recommend to have a 383 shortblock built?

 

Reid's Automotive in Whitman have a good reputation. They also have one for their pricing! But you always pay top dollar for the best. I had the bottom end of my 406 built at a hole in the wall place in West Bridgewater called Sheehan's Machine Shop and its been so far so good.

 

Mine came with a cast crank, forged rods and forged pistons for 9:1 compression.

 

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Most of the people I've heard complain about Golen's have turned out to be idiots. Anyone else have first hand experience with them?

 

You might try asking here: http://www.northeastdragracing.com

I do not have firsthand customer experience with them so any comment I would have would be heresay (good or bad).

I always recommend meeting the people you are going to do business with first, so as little trip over to their shop to see their operation and get aquainted would be a good first start in determining if you want to work with them. That way you have a much better basis for making your decision.

 

I bought a set of heads for my '79 from Chad last year. I picked them up at his shop. I have a few observations; one, the shop was immaculate. Everything was clean and well organized. Chad is a smart guy and seemed to know what he was talking about. The had some nice balancing equipment, as well as all line boring/milling equipment. Second, Chad also builds AIRPLANE engines! Think about it, if you car's engine dies, you pull over and get a tow; your airplane engine dies and you are SOL in a big way. If pilots trust Golen to build their engines, I think I could trust him to build a 383. The heads are still fine by the way. (mild pocket port, and flashing clean up) When it comes time to build an engine for the '95, I know where I'm getting it!

Dave

 

Since I work on Hanscom base and Golens was there at the time, I decided to give them a shot building my 383 blower motor. I had asked this list and seemed to get about the same lukewarm responses. Having gotten no definite consensus I went ahead and gave them my business. Now some of you may remember that I was having some coolant loss issues with my Stage II GTP heads - indeed after removing and replacing both head gaskets to no avail is what caused me to rebuild the motor.

So I met with Chad - he is very personable and has pretty good knowledge. I specced the engine out and told him about my coolant loss - thus to go thru the heads, check for flatness, pressure check. It took them about 2 months to build my engine - I think they first ordered the wrong rods, then forgot to have the heads flowed. After I got the engine back I tossed it back in the car and guess what? Coolant loss!! Having my own cooling system pressure checker I took the intake and headers off and found a crack in my exhaust port! Chad fed me what I think was a line about the crack only showing up when the head was torqued down. Chad felt pretty confident about getting it fixed by a welder he knew. At this point they moved to Hudson, NH. After that it was one delay after another - it was almost comical - I'd call every week and something was up. In the end they wasted 5 months and told me they couldn't fix the head. The head is now at some race shop in Wisconsin awaiting repair.....

I did put about 120 miles on the engine discovering the coolant loss and everything looks to be okay so far. The oil pressure is a little lower (idling) than when it was stock, but I guess that's to be expected since the bearing clearances are a little looser on hi-po rebuilts. Perhaps I should switch to a heavier oil...

As a positive note Chad built me another engine using my crank and rods in under 2 weeks - so they are good at cranking out their standard motors. I think it was a great deal. The motor was for a friend and hasn't been installed yet though.