I am looking @ putting a GM factory crate motor in my 71. I remember the target master motors that were made in Mexico were garbage. Two shops have told me to stay away from the crate motors cause they too are made in Mexico & cast very poorly. GM says they are new motors.
Does anybody have any feelings? I am looking @ the pre 1985 260hp model. Thanks, Mike

I have heard positve things about the GM crate motors. Another crate motor company that I've also heard very positve revues about is Jasper Engines (http://www.jasperengines.com/). Check out the 36 month / 75K warranty. Gonna be tough to beat that.

Best of luck.

I work for a Company with a Fleet of Trucks and we have used Jasper motors and transmissions and had a lot of problems with them I would highly reccommend you stay away from Jasper Products. I would use the GM crate motor ( If your car came with a 350 you get a 3 year /50,000 mile warranty ) and I know of a couple of people who have used them with no problems. If you go to the GM performance motors I believe you still get a 12 month / 12,000 mile warranty (Need to verify that) .Another thing about Jasper also is if the original part is replaced by Jasper say a motor (and it doesn't matter how many times) the warranty is only from the original purchase (found that out the hard way with one truck that had about 5 Transmissions in less that 35,000 miles but was out of warranty on time).

While I have heard good things about Jasper, I have no first hand experiance with them like razor376 has. I would probally go by his experiance.

I stand corrected.

I HAVE A FRIEND WHO RECENTLY BOUGHT A GM CRATE 502 FROM OUR LOCAL DEALER AND HAD NO PROBLEMS WITH IT. HE SAID HE JUST INSTALLED IT AND FIRED IT UP WITH MINIMAL TUNING.GOOD LUCK!!

I wouldn't hesitate to buy a crate engine from GM no matter where it was made. Crate engines from other manufacturers have to be evaluated individually-some may be good and others junk. Go with GM or some other crate engine builder with a good reputation. I have gotten good recommendations about Recon, Bill Mitchell and Edelbrock.

I've also heard some pretty bad things about jasper engines and transmissions.

7 year / 70,000 mile warrenty (http://www.rebuilt-auto-engines.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_prod.html?p_prodid=230&p_catid=&sid=1AlF2z0-9HgC0e6-56104263565.45) is hard to beat, and the price is better then most other places.

I have had a 350 Target motor from GM that a bought new in 96. That is a damn good engine even if it was built in mexico. For the money you can't beat it. It's got good power and I never had any problem with it it's got over 75000 miles on it now, it still runs like new.

I have installed and run JASPER Engines for many years and have never had a problem. I have one in my 1977 elky and I am very pleased with it.

Any remanufactured motor is only as good as the person who does the machine shop work and assembles it. If you go with a reman or new, get a warranty.

Any remanufactured motor is only as good as the person who does the machine shop work and assembles it. If you go with a reman or new, get a warranty. Thats what I like so much about this site. (http://www.rebuilt-auto-engines.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/home.html?sid=1AlF2z0-JH9DEYk-59104222785.d8) Pretty hard to beat thier 7 year / 70,000 mile warranty !!!!!!!!!