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Anybody ever bought a Shafiroff Short Block?

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 8:45 pm
by 67SS
My stock Block is shot and I only have 11.5:1 compression. I was going to find me a new block and do all the machine work and stick my callies stuff in it along with a new set of pistons, but I was thinking of stepping up to a 540.

Any one here have any experience with them?

shafiroff

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 5:17 am
by 69firebird
my buddy purchased a complete 540 from them. the day we went to pick it up,we were given a tour of the shop,they dyno tested it for us (863hp@7000rpm) and we actually met scott shafiroff (nice friendly guy)
we installed the motor,went racing,and run alsmost every tuesday at a local track and have had no problems and have run consistently. i hope this helps
george

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 3:14 pm
by 1320quick
I have an entire 540ci BBC from Shafiroff. Had it since 2002 and I've had exactly ZERO problems with it. Been freshen by them once and had a couple of sets of valve springs. I would not have any issues purchasing another engine from them. Solid parts, good workmanship and good service....

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 4:57 pm
by 67SS
1320Quick,
is that motor in your nova in the sig that runs

8.89@153mph
71 Nova - 3650lbs w driver


If so, any power adders? Transbrake? What Carb?

Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 9:04 am
by jmarkaudio
I'm sure a Shafiroff shortblock would be fine, never heard any bad. If I had to buy from anyone, it would be Reher Morrison or if for a very large combo it would be Sonny's. David Reher tends to go with large bore short stroke combo's to cut down on cylinder wear (longer rods) and allow for more RPM.

Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 11:33 am
by 1320quick
67SS wrote:1320Quick,
is that motor in your nova in the sig that runs

8.89@153mph
71 Nova - 3650lbs w driver


If so, any power adders? Transbrake? What Carb?
Yea, that's the motor in my Nova in the sig. I do run nitrous on it. I use a transbrake in a TH400. The engine was complete including carb and ignition. It's got a BG 1190 King Demon on it. It is one of their 832hp Sportsman crate motors. Been a very very solid bullet.

Re: shafiroff

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:10 pm
by superbdecals
69firebird wrote:my buddy purchased a complete 540 from them. the day we went to pick it up,we were given a tour of the shop,they dyno tested it for us (863hp@7000rpm) and we actually met scott shafiroff (nice friendly guy)
we installed the motor,went racing,and run alsmost every tuesday at a local track and have had no problems and have run consistently. i hope this helps
george
What engine was this something you had them build??

What cam did they have in it???

I just picked up a 72 Chevelle with a Scott Shafiroff 540 in it but we are not sure what one :( Guy claimed it made 820 HP on 110oct. and had 13.5 to 1 comp. Cams 652 lift int. and exaust. redline on the cam card says 6700rpm
He didnt give us the info on the eng. just the bill of sale for $12,000 complete carb to pan.
Thanks

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:57 am
by Canadian Guy
1320quick wrote:I have an entire 540ci BBC from Shafiroff. Had it since 2002 and I've had exactly ZERO problems with it. Been freshen by them once and had a couple of sets of valve springs. I would not have any issues purchasing another engine from them. Solid parts, good workmanship and good service....
I'm glad to hear they stand behind there products. I hope they do it in my case! :?

I just bought a Shafiroff 582 ultra street engine for my 71 Camaro and after about 1/2 hour of running it developed a bad oil leak from somewhere at the back of the block. At first it looked like the pan gasket as the rear corner on the drivers side was soaked with oil. After talking to Shafiroff it was decided that I take the engine out and take it to a local shop to have the pan gasket replaced and they will pay for it. After putting the engine back in the leak was still there! :roll: Now they wanted me to ship it back to them. I was not keen on that idea as the shipping would be on me (from Canada about $400 one way) and I would be without an engine (and $15k) for at least 6-8 weeks over the holidays just when I wanted to finish other work on the car that I needed to engine in the car for. They think that I caused to problem somehow as it did not leak for them.
Well my friend and I put all our efforts into finding the leak ourselfs before pulling it out yet again! And we found it!!!!!!!!!!!!! :shock: It was coming out the back of the block by the oil filter casting! :cry: After much searching and a few cases of beer we found the "ROOT" cause of the problem. The rear bolt that holds the oil filter bypass valve plate to the block had been drilled to deep and caused a VERY VERY small pinhole in the back side of the block(not visible to the naked eye)! Definelty WORLD PRODUCTS fault! :wink: This is a Merlin 3 iron block and I did not cause this to happen. It would only leak when hot as the engine oil was thin enough to seep up the threads of the bolt then out the pinhole onto the ground. The good news is the with a bit of thread sealer on the bolt and some JB Weld on the back of the block the problem is now fixed!!!! 8-) :D

I am now asking for compensation for all my troubles with my brand new engine. I spent SO much time and money on sorting out this problem and am asking for a reasonable amount to cover my costs and time to fix there problem. At first they said NO but after telling them the "ROOT" cause of the problem they said they will get back to me about it. :? I can only hope that they are fair to me about this issue and use this valuable information that I have found and feed it back the the CNC machine/operater that is drilling those holes and correct the problem on there side so no one else has to go though what I did! I have been in contact with World Products about this as well. I am asking for $1k as compensation for this. I would think that if they split the cost at $500 each that would be way cheaper for them than to replace the block and rebuild it with the parts from the other one while I wait with a big hole in my car and my wallet!

I will find out next week how this story will end and can only hope they will do the right thing for the customer. :-)
A friend of mine that runs a dragster is in the market for a short block and this outcome (if it goes bad for me) will make him buy a DART over a WORLD block that's for sure.



If Shafiroff and World does as good at job at customer service as they did in building of the engine this will be a happy ending for everyone involved. :-) I will keep you posted as to what happens. :wink:

Oh btw the engine runs great and sounds Awesome! 8-) Can't wait to race it in the spring :D

Thanks to Scott Shafiroff and Bill Mitchell for there attention in this matter. :-)

Brad

Re: shafiroff

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 3:01 pm
by 1320quick
superbdecals wrote:
69firebird wrote:my buddy purchased a complete 540 from them. the day we went to pick it up,we were given a tour of the shop,they dyno tested it for us (863hp@7000rpm) and we actually met scott shafiroff (nice friendly guy)
we installed the motor,went racing,and run alsmost every tuesday at a local track and have had no problems and have run consistently. i hope this helps
george
What engine was this something you had them build??

What cam did they have in it???

I just picked up a 72 Chevelle with a Scott Shafiroff 540 in it but we are not sure what one :( Guy claimed it made 820 HP on 110oct. and had 13.5 to 1 comp. Cams 652 lift int. and exaust. redline on the cam card says 6700rpm
He didnt give us the info on the eng. just the bill of sale for $12,000 complete carb to pan.
Thanks
Sounds kinda like the 540 sportsman engine that my car has. Mine made 823hp on the dyno. The only weird thing is the cam. Mine is in the 780 range for lift and I don't remember the RPM range but we twist this one 7200+ all the time. It twisted 7800 in Vegas last month. The price sounds right for the sportsman engine as well. If you have the guys name, give Sharioff a call and see if they can send you the parts list for it. I know they keep that on file as they know exactly what is in mine and what they have done to it. Hope you have as much luck with yours as I have had with mine.....

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:16 pm
by Bob West
I hear Sunsetracecraft.com is pretty decent too.

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 7:23 am
by Canadian Guy
A few picture of the oil leak and my car. :-)

Oil on floor after it warmed up and was run for a few minutes
Image
Bottom of engine showing oil dripping. :?
Image
Image
Engine bay.
Image
And my 71 Camaro. :-)
Image

Still waiting for a response from Shafiroff on this issue.

What would you expect them to do about it? Does anyone have any comments on this? :-)

Brad

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 8:29 am
by 67SS
I guess my first comment would be, why do you have a world products block?

Shafiroff lists it as a

Dart Big "M" 9.8" Low Deck Block w/Splayed 4 Bolt Main Caps •

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 8:33 am
by John_Heard
Was this engine dyno tested? If so, they should have noticed the leak then I would think.

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 8:43 am
by Canadian Guy
67SS wrote:I guess my first comment would be, why do you have a world products block?

Shafiroff lists it as a

Dart Big "M" 9.8" Low Deck Block w/Splayed 4 Bolt Main Caps •
Looks like they have changed over to all Dart blocks since I bought my engine. :? I picked it up Sept.18. 07 from Shafiroff's shop. I didn't get it running until early November. Looks like they may have had some "issues" with World's Blocks, but I know about that! :x

Brad

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 8:51 am
by Canadian Guy
John_Heard wrote:Was this engine dyno tested? If so, they should have noticed the leak then I would think.
Yes the engine was dyno tested. I watched it make 768hp and 726tq. No issues then. It ran in my car for about 1/2 hour before the leak started. The hole is SO small I guess it took that long for it to open up and show it's ugly head! They think I did it but how and why would that be the case?

Here is a link to the video of the dyno run.

http://s48.photobucket.com/albums/f245/ ... V00466.flv


Brad