The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Jasper Engines

I 've been trying to figure out how I was going to find a 292 to go in my '65 C10, which currently has a cracked 250. I ran across Jasper Engines yesterday. I gave them a call and the guy said they did not have any 292 blocks in stock, but I could send them a core and they would rebuild to the tune of $3,168.

I did a little internet research on them and was impressed with what I saw. The fact that the employees are the shareholders, and the shares have skyrocketed in value, is impressive.

So I'm thinking I'll find a 292 core and ship to them, and use one of their local installers so I get the warranty they provide. I'm still a ways out from that though; just making plans.

I searched the forum for them and saw some older posts that were favorable. I was wondering if anyone had any recent experience.

Thanks

Jasper has been around for quite a few years now. Mostly good reviews but not all. Sounds like you are doing due diligence before you spend your money. Be sure to have the used 292 checked for cracks before shipping Jasper a junk motor.

Just make sure you get a firm timeline from them. I ordered an engine from them for my dad last year and they told me it was going to ship in 10 days. I called three weeks later and they literally laughed at me when I asked if it had shipped yet.

At that point they quoted me 19 months (not a typo) and were suuuuper pissy about cancelling my order.

That doesn't sound good. They told me the re-build would take 8-10 weeks.

Thanks for your comments and from Justhorsenround. Sound advice.

Couple of years ago, I had one of the many wonderful experiences with a 2008 Chevy 5.3 AFM (DoD) engine failure. (And a year earlier, the same thing on my wife's 2007 Tahoe). The AFM engine doesn't even qualify for a good boat anchor.

Only folks at the time (and it may still be that way), that offered a direct replacement NON-AFM engine, was Jasper. Comes with the programmer to re-configure the vehicle's computer also. Have had zero issues with it. Thought it might effect my fuel mileage, but it did not. For me, my Jasper engine has been very good.

Back when the so-called "education" system still allowed vocational subjects to be taught, my father used to load up his advanced level auto shop students in a big van and spend a couple of days on the road for a tour of the Jasper rebuilding facility. He was very impressed by their operation. Of course, that was close to 40 years ago, so "your mileage may vary". I did business with a local high volume rebuilder in Nashville called Grooms Engines for many years, but when Roger Grooms retired and sold the operation to some big outfit from the northeast, the quality control and customer service went downhill in a hurry!
Jerry

Yeah from what you can see on the internet, like in Youtube videos, they look pretty impressive with their state of the art equipment. They seem to be very meticulous. But no substitute for actual experience per emails above.

Thanks

A pretty good source for a core engine might be a salvage yard that recycles old school buses, or Hertz/Avis/Ryder rental trucks. They were a popular power source for 1 1/2 ton and larger box trucks.
Jerry

10-4. I wonder how one would go about finding such a salvage yard?

G O O G L E large truck salvage yards near me!

If I was looking for a 292 in my area, I would check FB marketplace for “grain truck.” Lots of these tandem trucks from 60s-80s siting idle now that most farmers have tractor trailer set ups.

Not sure how much row crop there is in your part of Alabama. Search terms might need to be “dump truck” or “flatbed” or some such thing.

1965 Chevrolet Truck GM Heritage Center:
Engine options:
L21 194
L25 292
L26 230
L30 327
L32 283
L39 348
L40 409
L53 DH478
L74 327
L79 327

For comparison purposes:
250 155 hp @ 4200, 235 ft-lb @ 1600
292 170 hp @ 4000, 275 ft-lb @ 1600
283 175 hp @ 4400, 275 ft-lb @ 2400
327 220 hp @ 4400, 320 ft-lb @ 2800

The 292 with a 4.11 rear axle is designed for the purpose of being one heck of a hauling machine.
The 283 and 327 develop their torque at higher RPMs. General purpose, highway cruisers.

When I was in the truck repair business Jaspers was the only reman I would supply. If the customer wanted a cheaper one they could buy it themselves.
I had good luck with them. We used a lot of 292 engines in the one ton step vans. They were rugged.
George

Try some of the tractor salvage yards listed here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Tractor+salvage+Madison+AL

Well, scratch that idea! Search "tractor salvage yards in North Alabama" to get to that page.

A lot of combines, and other big farm implements used 292 Chevy engines as a powerplant. There are actually brand new 292's manufactured in Mexico, or maybe Brazil available, but the purchaser must claim he's repairing "off-road" equipment to keep the clean air eco-terrorists off his case.
Jerry

WarEagle1 Toured Jasper engine exchange 55 years ago was impressive then but they can't always do perfect you know !!

Outfits like Jasper, are in the business to rush, hurry, get it done fast and out the door. I suppose most of the people doing the assembly work are low paid unskilled, know nothing about tolerances, and are there for of course a pay check. There is no fun in day in and day out production work, minds are on quitting time and after work fun. Yeah been there done that working with others in situations like that.
Some of these rebuilders also mix and match parts, its cheaper to do that rather than keep the original parts with the block.

I did a quick study into Jasper, and find that promises are not kept, warranty's are weaseled out of, even major manufactures can nit pic and find reasons to not honor a warranty.

You need to check this out.

https://www.bbb.org/us/in/jasper/pr...ines-transmissions-0482-96511/complaints


https://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/jasper-engines-and-transmissions.html
Like many other outfits they will try to weasle out of honoring the warranty.


https://www.yelp.com/biz/jasper-engines-and-transmissions-jasper

Its a gamble. Good luck.

Do you have a local rebuilder? Seems like shipping cores and communicating on line would be harder than finding someplace nearby. There has to be a small shop that could make this easier and have a good quality output

I wish I had a local guy that I had confidence in but I don't. I'm the last one in the world to want to deal with shipping and communicating long distance.

I know it is somewhat of a gamble, but to be honest I have a good feeling about Jasper based on what I have seen.

If I go with them, I'll use their local installer so I get the warranty. I've yet to contact them. Based on the vibes I get from them I'll make my decision.

But to all that have replied I want to say thanks very much for the great feedback. As I have said before, being the amateur that I am, I probably wouldn't even attempt this project without SB.

I just went through their site a few days ago as well. No pricing at all which is annoying.

+1 for a good JE experience. I purchased a rebuilt 7.3 from them when I blew the original in my '94 F350. I put over 125,000 miles on that engine before I sold that truck. I heard the body was crumbling around the frame a year or two later but it still ran like a top!

If you can find a 292 core engine to build, call Alan Holmes at Lincoln County Auto Parts in Fayetteville Tennessee about doing the machine work and assembly. He's been grinding crankshafts for me since the mid-1980's, and he's almost, but not quite as picky as I am about accurate tolerances and doing the job right the first time! He won't put the vacuum cleaner into your pocket nearly as deep as Jasper will, and if you get a salvage yard core engine, it will come with all the sheet metal and other accessories that a rebuilder's engine won't have.
Jerry

Had a long conversation with a friend of mine who is an installer for jasper. He likes them alot. Says they don't use Chinese parts and have a great warranty. I called them yesterday and due to supply issues they don't have much to offer in the way of gm small block.

I wouldn't be afraid of Jasper.

JMHO

John

The shipping would probably be prohibitive but Allard Machine in Ennis, Texas has never gotten anything but 5 Star ratings from EVERYONE. He has done my race engines since the mid 60's and the shop walls are lined with trophy's. They do machine work and not just rebuilds. Also have engine and chassis dynos. His Dad put a new distributor drive gear in the MIDDLE of an I6 camshaft for me, was the first to use half a V8 Chevy in a midget, built a hemi head Vega midget engine and made a cam grinding machine that made racing cams possible. Ed Iskendarian spent an entire day marveling at the cam grinder. Race engines are a priority at this time of year but winter time finds everything in the shop including farm tractors. His prices are lower than many "big names".

I see you didn't read any of the material I posted about Jasper NOT HONORING THEIR WARRANTY'S. Using a local installer won't matter. Read the posts

Looks like comments in favor of Jasper outweigh the negatives. Thanks for all replies. Thanks to Mr. Hotrod for the referral to the guy in Fayetteville, I'll definitely speak with him before I make my decision.

War Eagle 1 Went to the daytona 500 in 96 sat by 2 Jasper employees who were there to see their car race in whaat is now exfinity. They said we all helped on that racer !!

That's pretty cool.

As I posted before I think it interesting that their stock is entirely employee-owned and it has skyrocketed in value as they have posted on their web site.

War Eagle1 Toured Jasper engine exchange in 67 was impressed when the test bench guy thru his test distributor in one held it down with his toe till oil pump drive dropped in,slapped a cap and wires on it fired it off. It ran fine,checked several things,sent it to be palleted,wrapped and shipped. That went on all day.

coilover Went to viset Ed Iskendarian 2or 3 years ago,what a guy,got an autographed copy of his book bench raced a couple of hours at his shop. He will do 261 Corvette cams and has I think new cam blanks.

Got a qoute from them yesterday for 6,600 for a rebuild on a 51 ,216 motor , with shipping included both ways 10-12 weeks though.

Do they plan to use the original Babbit rods, or the ones machined for replaceable bearings? I'm going to guess they'll use the machined ones. Very few people have the knowledge, or the patience to shim-adjust Babbit bearings.
Jerry