Timely subject. I was at a All Ford Car Show at a local dealer, this weekend. I won't use names but was speaking to a Cobra Dealer. I asked if he bought crate engines from that dealer, he said "a few" but he now uses Roush mostly.
He told the last two 392's they installed went bad. The first one the customer drove home 58 miles taking car to be "gentle" on the new engine, and pulling into his drive a rod went through the
oil pan. They replaced that engine with the second one they had in stock (bought from the same Ford Dealer) an at 59 miles the engine developed a major "noise". This is not the first crate engine that went bad. A rep from that same dealer said they experienced about a 25 percent failure rate on these engines. Now is Roush worth the money, maybe. I would think a complainant local guy could build an equally good engine. The parts are available, after all Roush does not have any secrete metals like "kryptonite". My engine was done locally with an Eagle forged crank, H beam rods, AFR heads, dart block. If they were put together correctly with care I can't see why a Roush built engine would be better.