[Randy Rosenberg]

Hi Van,

My only experience in San Jose has been with Mustang Corral (Elliot Franklin), however he moved to Auburn. My other experience is with Top of the Hill in Livermore - Craig Hill knows the in's and out's of SPFs very well, since he's been working on them for about 10 years now, and with his recent partnership with Ted Yamashiro, TOTH can build you a killer motor to your liking, fulled spec'd, dyno'd and broken in, ready to go. TOTH ain't in San Jose nor are they inexpensive.

In my opinion, you need to look for a shop that can R/R your engine with some knowledge of SPFs, assuming you don't R/R your engine yourself. And I suspect that any local engine builder will want to use their own supplier for stroker parts, so if I were you, then I'd shop builders, not stoker kits. Many owners have had good luck with buying crate engines - they seem to be consistent and a good value for the money spent. The only down side is if you have any problems with a crate engine, then who will fix it, and if the engine needing R/R and shipping back to the builder, then you're dealing with added expense and down time. So, finding someone local to do it all has some conveniences, however in the short term a local builder will most likely be more expensive than purchasing a crate - the long term may include a risk.

Last, if I were to need a new engine, I would have TOTH build me an engine and install it. That why if any problem arises, then I only have one place to go to get "whatever" broke fixed.

YMMV,
Randy R...