Anybody familiar with BluePrint Engines?

[StickyLifter]

Does anybody have experience, good or bad, with BluePrint Engines from Nebraska? My Nova has been out of commission all summer because of an issue with one of my heads and trying to figure out what's going on. I'm thinking of buying a crate engine to put in it. I had somebody recommend BluePrint Engines. Thought I'd ask if if anybody knows anything about them before I shell out that kind of money...

 

[Vbb199]

All mixed reviews, there's really no consistent bad or good reviews

 

[75gmck25]

In the past I’ve seen good reviews, but haven’t checked in a while. I bought Blueprint 8002K heads for my SBC and they worked out really well.

One thing to watch out for in any crate engine is that the lowest price engine will usually have components that are not much of an upgrade for your truck, and the good stuff gets expensive very fast. The basic GM crate 350 is a good example ( reliable, but low compression, smogger heads, flat tappet).

In my opinion, if you are spending the money for a complete crate engine you want good flowing heads that will take a cam with good lift, and you want it to be set up for a roller cam. You also have to look at the intake bolt pattern (old design vs Vortec), provision for a mechanical fuel pump, etc. to figure out what additional parts will be needed. For example a new Vortec pattern intake and electric fuel pump adds quite a bit to your budget.

 

[85K304SPD]

Have you considered fixing the head on the existing engine? It may be a better engine than a cheap crate engine. What is the issue?

 

[StickyLifter]

Have you considered fixing the head on the existing engine? It may be a better engine than a cheap crate engine. What is the issue?

The engine in my Nova is a 454. The block isn't anything special; mid 90s truck block. It has decent pistons, a pretty aggressive cam and an aluminum intake. The only thing that's really valuable is the heads. It had 840 casting number heads, which are square port heads that were used on the 1969 396 and 427 engines. I've seen them listed for up to $2000 a pair. Not sure what they actually sell them for.

My engine became hydro-locked this spring and broke a rocker stud. I took the heads to a machine shop that has a very good reputation. They couldn't find anything wrong with the head at first; no cracks showed up when it was magna fluxed and they tried doing a pressure test and didn't find any leaks. They heated the head up to 200 degrees and tried the pressure test again and found a small crack behind the exhaust valve guide. They said the head couldn't be repaired.

I dropped the head off at another machine shop in the St. Paul, MN area that specializes in repairing cast iron heads. He is going to take a look at it this week. I'll put the heads back on and run them if he is able to fix it (He's pretty skeptical that there is even a crack actually, but we'll see). If he says it can't be fixed I'll sell the one good head and will probably buy a crate motor to put in. BluePrint Engines makes several BBC engines that have the same block size and deck hight as my current motor, but they stroke them to get some big displacement.