Whether you’re a professional engine builder, mechanic or manufacturer, or a car enthusiast who loves engines, racing cars and fast cars, Engine Builder has something for you. Our print magazines provide technical details on everything you need to know about the engine industry and its various markets, while our newsletter options keep you up to date with the latest news and products, technical information and industry performance. However, you can get all this only by subscription. Subscribe now to receive monthly print and/or electronic editions of Engine Builders Magazine, as well as our Weekly Engine Builders Newsletter, Weekly Engine Newsletter or Weekly Diesel Newsletter, straight to your inbox. You’ll be covered in horsepower in no time!
Whether you’re a professional engine builder, mechanic or manufacturer, or a car enthusiast who loves engines, racing cars and fast cars, Engine Builder has something for you. Our print magazines provide technical details on everything you need to know about the engine industry and its various markets, while our newsletter options keep you up to date with the latest news and products, technical information and industry performance. However, you can get all this only by subscription. Subscribe now to receive monthly print and/or electronic editions of Engine Builders Magazine, as well as our Weekly Engine Builders Newsletter, Weekly Engine Newsletter or Weekly Diesel Newsletter, straight to your inbox. You’ll be covered in horsepower in no time!
Neil Riley and three partners acquired Newco Performance Engines last October. They are now becoming a performance engine shop in Kentland, Indiana and making engines like this 348 Chevy Stroker! Find out what this sleeper Chevy built.
When Neil Riley graduated from high school, he really wanted to get into the automotive industry. He found work as a diesel engine mechanic, but soon developed a desire to build high performance engines. He soon found himself at the home of L. Young Co. Inc., a machine shop in Kentland, Indiana. He started working at the store six years ago when he was 25 years old.
“We mainly make specialty racing engines, factory engines and vintage engines,” Riley said. “It’s a mixture of all of the above.”
The owner of the machine shop at the time was 75-year-old Larry Young, who was planning to retire. Seeing an opportunity to take the store to the next level, Riley and the three partners approached the owner, hoping to sell the store to them. Riley officially took ownership in October 2018 and renamed the store Newco Performance Engines LLC.
“I bought this store because I love engine building and want to become a well-known engine manufacturer in the area,” he said. “I want to leave a mark. Now we’re trying to move up a notch, make more engines and beef up our presence.”
Newco Performance Engines has four employees and occupies 3,200 square feet. The shop is a full-fledged machine shop, but doesn’t do crank grinding or heavy cleaning.
“We’re sending him,” Riley said. “We do computer balancing, drilling and honing, full head rebuilds, scaling, TIG welding and custom assembly.”
The workshop recently finished assembling a Chevrolet Stroker 348 for a new customer, which the workshop broke by 0.030 inches and upsized to 434 cubic inches.
“We did all the boring, sanding, balancing and cutting of the head seat ourselves,” Riley says. “We also did work on the delta valve and some bowl mixing and port work. We also converted it to a screw-in stud.”
For the internals of this Chevrolet 434 cid engine, Newco Performance used forged Scat cranks and Scat I-beams, as well as Icon forged pistons with a 10.5:1 compression ratio. stainless steel valves and added hardened seats.
The engine features hydraulic roller camshafts, Howard lifters and springs, Cloyes True roller timing, ARP hardware, COMP Cams Ultra Pro Magnum roller rockers, Engine Pro 3/8 tappets, a Melling high capacity oil pump, and a genuine air intake manifold and carburetor. GM dealers also switched to Pertronix igniters.
“This is a bed,” he said. “This engine should give the buyer 400 horsepower at 5200 rpm and about 425 lb-ft of torque.”
This week’s e-engine newsletter is sponsored by PennGrade Motor Oil and Elring-Das Original.
If you have an engine you’d like to highlight in this series, email Greg Jones, Executive Editor of Engine Builder Magazine, at [email protected]