540 from Recon Marine...Any good???
 

Hey all,

I've been looking at repowering my Sunsation with a pair of 540 cu. "Attack Dog" from Recon Marine in MA. Has anyone ever delt with these guys? They claim 565-600 hp out of this motor. It's a complete longblock minus intake and carb. They use a GM Gen. V block (Merlin available for addition $800), Merlin heads, a Stalker steel crank (never heard of Stalker before), HP rods, etc for around $7600 (dyno sheet provided). With a Woldproducts intake and a Holly 4500 Dom. they have been able to get 598hp on the dyno.

Looking for both good and bad testimonials with regard to this package and co. Anything I should be aware of before going forward on a pair of these motors?

Thanks!

540 attack Dog
 

Yes,
I purchased one from them in January 2002
I put the motor in a 242Ls formula.
Motor runs strong. I was disappointed on several things.

1. Motor was delivered with the wrong Harmonic Balancer,
2. Balancer was not put on the crank correctly. There was a burr on the crankshaft that I had to fix. There recomendation from J.k. who runs the shop was "just hammer it on" and he was serious
They did replace the balancer but not with the high-performance version.
3 Bad oil leak on the rear main seal. Motor was supposed to have been dyno tested ? If it was, I am sure the leak would of been obvious.

4. Extremely noisy valve train, Crane Hydrolic Roller Cam with roller lifters. was told by recon "That's the way a roller cam is."

Motor does run strong but am concerned on how long it will last.
So far 30 hours on motor, leak fixed but burns a lot of oil.
Was also told that what the 502 blocks do.
I some how have a problem believing 2qts for 1-2 hours running.
Mail me back if you want more.

Sheikman

i beieve tht is who 1800runsnew.com gets thier engines from. A bunch of memebrs have bought enegein frmo runs new and had luck with them. The 502/502 seems to be thier popular choice. Its a crate engine so its new not a reman.

i do not think you get a new block? beware could be .060. over and worse

My cuz got 2 recon 540's...yeah he's real happy. Oil pressure problems with one...they took it back and re bearinged it gave it back and still had oil pressure probs. They finally gave him a new engine. His were dyno tested too. Yeah right. I find it hard to believe. I heard their test is drill on the oil pump and rotate the crank by hand to chech for leaks.:mad:

Remember...You get what you pay for.
http://www.theengineshop.com/sbkits6.shtml

If they're part of Recon in Philly I've had several problems with them. The warranty means nothing because any problems are you're fault.

I'm not familiar with that shop, but I think this is a case of you get what you pay for. That is a good price for a 540. I build engines, and there's no way I could build a quality marine 540 that I feel would last under the extreme use a power boat delivers, for that kind of price. You need to bite the bullet and get an engine built with top shelf parts by someone who builds high performance marine engines. That way it is built for your specific application, cam, compression, heads, etc. You'll be a lot happier in the long run.

Thanks guys!!!

I appreciate all the info. I agree, "you get what you pay for," esp. in this hobby/sport. I was just curious where the weak link 1was in these motors. Sure sounds like oil troubles, especially leaks.

I'm think it's blower time on the 500efis.............

Jon

Haven't heard much about them.