touring power, build an engine !!!! Options

[orangecrate]

So I been workin on the orangecrate off an on for what seems like forever... seems I now have rod issues. Knock knock.... Any way I'm lookin at building a motor, or rebuilding. Inexpensively (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif) I have only 2 real conditions I want to meet. 1- It will run 80 mph all day thru the desert in the summer in Phoenix and sit at stoplights with out cooking itself. 2- It will pull the 6% grades that you hit leaving the valley at 70 in the summer without cooking itself. 75 would be nicer. Guess I"m talking a torque motor. This is a stock 72 with stock gearing. And maybe one size up tires. Did I say it needs to be reliable? Like Phoenix to Portland and back any time of year reliable. And inexpensive.. I'd love to buy a Raby motor but $$$. Oh yea. I will be doing the assembly myself. And I'd like to use as much of the 1.7 as possible if possible. Thanks for the input. Build away. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

[VaccaRabite]

1911 can be a great engine making similar power to a 2056, slightly more peaky torque curve, slightly more rev happy.

If your bottom end is in great shape, you will still spend a lot of money on heads. And if you want power from non-stock EFI or carbs you will need a different cam (which means splitting the case).

On any engine you build, your biggest ticket item will be the heads. Buy the best you can afford. Don't go budget here. I'd be very wary of an $1800 1911 (I learned that lesson the hard way) as you can't buy the parts for that price, let alone the cost of building it. So you have to ask - what corners got cut (and if the case was align bored, lots of corners had to get cut to make selling at that price possible - unless the guy is taking a loss on the motor just to get it out of his shop.)

Stock or not, you will have a hard time getting a reliable new engine for under $5K. Sure, its possible, but not likely. Not any more.

Not much sucks more then buying a performance motor for ~$2K, and finding out you probably have to rebuild the whole thing after 15 minutes of run time and a sad compression test. My experience only, YMMV.

Zach