As the dollar becomes harder to earn yet buys less at the grocery store or speed shop, frugal performance becomes more important. Of course, it’s tough to build performance on a seriously restricted budget, but it’s not impossible. Using a small-block Chevrolet as an example, we set out to build a decent street engine for under $795.
At that price, nothing would be fancy. (We did end up buying an engine that came with roller-tip rocker arms and a factory windage tray that was used on early Z/28 engines, but we didn’t pay extra for those pieces, and they certainly aren’t necessary.) There are only a few areas, however, where we compromised quality to make that price. The gaskets, rings, bearings, timing set, oil pump and cam set were all excellent quality and will be just as durable as more expensive parts. We just shopped to find the least-expensive source, which turned out to be No. 1 Performance in Salt Lake City, Utah. We did buy a more expensive cam (still a deal at $119.95 for the cam and soft-contact lifters) to give our budget engine good torque and crisp throttle response. Also, the machine work that Chris Bieganski at Engine Pro performed on our engine is the quality he uses on Gary Harter’s big-block Chevrolet in his ’93 high-point Champion hydroboat. That’s another example of shopping for quality for the right price.
The first part of the low-buck equation is shopping for a rebuildable engine. You can’t be in a hurry, and you have to be able to sort out usable parts from junk. It’s often a roll of the dice or an educated guess, but the closer you inspect the parts, the better chance you have of making the right decision. You have to plan on machining and rebuilding the engine, so a disassembled engine gives you more opportunity to inspect the parts closely.
The engine shown in this article is typical of what most of us on staff built as our first engines. They weren’t the most powerful engines we’ve owned and certainly contained no advanced technical features (besides the fact that they held together, which they did for the most part), but they got the job done and were plenty of fun.
