I was wondering if anyone had bought a motor from Golen and if so were you happy with it. Thanks for the input.

 

i've heard mixed things but have never dealed with them myself..... i have heard pretty good things from victory racing engines also

 

my shortblock is from golen goin on 7500mi runnin strong. I have heard good and bad things, bad mostly from the b-body crowd.

 

I have a golen Short block too, and am very happy with it. He has great coustemer service.

 

I have one with forged bottom end. Chad has been great on the "post" purchase ?'s I have had.

 

Honestly, look for a good shop locally and then focus on finding the right topend, the shortblock is not much different from a gen 1 motor should be easy to find someone fairly good local who is an expert at that. Topend is what makes power though and if you assume you need aftermarket heads then put the whole project on hold becaue you have not done adequate research yet.

I could get into details on why Golen is NOT a good choice, links to weak engines, low milage wear issues, severe oil burning etc., but it probably wont help anyway. People who already made this mistake will have an excuse for each case. As you gain experiance you will find a lot of bad vendors have good reputations, you would think that bad news gets more attention but it is not always the case because the blind believers will attack the few who try and shed light on problems.

 

I went with Golen and it "was not" mistake! None of the problems you've stated above and my friends with Golen packages don't have those problems either!

Plus, Chad Golen is a super-person to work with, they don't come any better than Chad! And, a good friend of mine!

So, is someone paying you to "bad-mouth" everyone's package here on the forum, except of course the "perfect LTX package" you're running in your lead-sled!

Why can't you just be objective on LTX issues and post from a positive position and quit putting-down so many LTX options? You're "not" the world's LTX all-defining person, just one person with an opinion.

WD

 

Im glad you read so much info on the internet and can post links to every negitive thread about every engine builder out there. You are dishing out second and third hand information, well folks ill let you decide for yourself.

 

Thanks for the input.

 

/\ /\ /\ Well stated!

WD

 

LOL, glad I'm not the only one on here that see's this on a regular basis...

 

Your not, and yes, it does get old.

 

When I'm reading threads and come to a post by this clown I don't even read it because I know he's gonna be knocking somebody else's stuff. That's all he ever does. I see his name and the same song pops in my head..."I'm So Much Cooler Online"....lol.

 

my buddy had a golen motor and it has been great! pleasing power, great warranty incase something does happen, and great customer care..... alot of guys dont take into concideration that if something happens its not automaticly the engine builders fault..... alot of guys dont get the engine installed and tuned by a professional shop and might over look some very important things that need to be done..... of course not everyone needs a trained mechanic but alot of guys do that claim to be good in the garage..... i dont know 1 single engine builder that hasnt had a problem before but i bet that over half of each companys problems are due to the customer screwing something up along the way and putting the blame on the builder!

 

The self proclaimed Lt1 "expert" from Wisconsin will bash anything he does not run on his car. His negative remarks are based on 2nd hand info at best....and the validity of that info is questionable.

Golen is probally the largest rebuilder of LT1 engines and by that volume is certainly going to have more +/- opinions over a local shop who most likely does not rebuild more than a few, if any, LT1's a year. A very regarded builder (ERE) of LT 1 motors uses Golen to machine his blocks.

Is Golen the "best", well doubt it but that is not the ?. When you sell a short block in many cases it is not completed, installed or set up correctly by it's new owner. That new owner jumps on forums with "WTF" posts about his particular problem. There are so many factors beyond the assembly and parts used in a short block that will effect it's performance and longevity which are completely out of the hands of the short block builder.

I encourage the author of this thread to listen to the reply's of people who have DIRECT experience with a product of question, in this case Golen SHORT BLOCKS, and not listen to some post *****'s opinion on something he has no direct experience with.

 

yep like i say i helped my buddy a few days with his and have seen how it has ran first hand..... it runs great, sounds great, and has held up fine..... it only has the mail order tune and it still went 95mph in the 8th mile shifting at 5,800 so i dont even wanna hear anything about these motors not being strong!

 

Im not here to say whether or not to buy Golen's Motors, but my friend does have one of their 383s in his Clone SS (b-body). It's not his lack of mechanical abilty or install (he did the install) or anything like that.

Whether it be a poor ring choice by Golen, or improper machining, His low mile 383 Burns oil like an old Chrysler Minivan. Sure it has a warranty on it, but labor and $$$ involved in sending back a shortblock due to either situation is a reason I'd rethink a purchase made from them.

It does make pretty decent power with a older set of CM stage 2 Aluminums (370rwhp)

My other friend now in NJ bought one at the same time as my friend above. He didn't have oil burning issues, but last time I checked I think he blew that motor up two times. Although this gentleman is known to find a way to **** a motor up

 

I would much rather deal with someone locally. The reason being is when you are in the process of having a short block assembled it is always nice to establish a relationship with your builder. That way if you have questions (and you will have a thousand of them while the engine is being built) you can make a quick trip to the shop or easily talk to them on the phone and get what you need ironed out. Far better than having to deal with someone who may not be local and who may not have the foggiest idea about your build and you can just go on their "good graces" that everything will be fine.
True story... there was an individual who posted up on another board asking whether or not his short block was internally/externally balanced. Sure, he should've known, but he didn't. This individual had his block assembled at some internet clownhouse that will remain anonymous. If the shop was local all it would've taken is a quick phone call or build sheet reference and the problem would have been remedied. This poor bastard was not local. He called said clownhouse and their best answer was "we're 99% sure the block is internally balanced..." and, of course, there was no build sheet since said clownhouse outsources their work.
That may be acceptable for some, but if I'm going to spend several thousand dollars on a short block then I want as much information readily available to me as possible ESPECIALLY if there are problems/questions. Then I can make a trip to the builder and deal with those problems/questions face to face.
The other neat thing too is that if you have some time during the day and you know the builder is going to be working on your short block, they may be cool enough to let you watch them work on it.

 

Buff..

A very likely source of oil consumption could be the valve stem seals.....on the "non Golen" CM heads your friends motor has.

Certainly possible to be ring seal, broken ring or "out of round" bore. Compression test would help "point" to the bottom end vs leaking valve stem seals.

Like any shop Golen can make mistakes in machining and assembley resulting in problems. My personal experience with them has been good.

As mentioned in this thread having a local builder who does good work has its benefits....but the original ? was specific to comments on Golen short blocks.

 

Seems to me the other weekend someone blewup a Golen LE3 stroker because in his drive to St. Louis(from the east coast) the thing consumed 2 quarts of oil. My guess is one quart each for the heads and the shortblock .

I don't care who you blame, but these stories are too common to ignore.

One thing we should mention though is if you find a local shop, you might have to educate them about the compression the LT1 can run. We routinely get away with compression that would mean race gas in a gen 1 motor.