[Tony Radford]

Just because an engine comes with a warranty doesn't mean it's going to hold up under stress. I can't believe that a crate motor gets any where near as much "hands-on" attention at a hand-built one does from a specialty engine shop. There's something to be said for the balancing, blue printing, hand porting/polishing, port matching etc. etc. Maybe you get some of that with the crate engines, but I would doubt it at the prices they charge. The big guys operate as a mass-production house and have what they consider to be "acceptable losses" when it comes to field failures. Over the past two years I've been participating on this forum, I've heard some crate motor successes and plenty of hard knocks. Even if they stand behind their products, an installed engine is a hard thing to turn around for replacement or major repair.

Just a thought.