Dart Machinery has been a source of affordable and powerful blocks, cylinder heads, and intake manifolds for many years, so I suppose it was only a matter of time that they starting putting some of those pieces together in finished assemblies. As a supplier to many crate engine and custom builders, Dart has understandably shied away from competing with their customers, but their new line of short-block assemblies stops short of complete engine long-blocks, thus making everyone happy, including us.
Dart is offering short-block crate engines in small-block Chevy (372 ci and 400 ci), big-block Chevy (454 ci and 540 ci), and small-block Ford (347 ci and 363 ci). Base short-blocks all have cast steel cranks (from Scat), forged rods, Hastings rings, Clevite bearings, and hypereutectic pistons. You may upgrade to a forged crank and forged pistons independently, or together. We plan on getting our hands on one of these sometime this year, and put it through the paces.
All Dart short-blocks use a new Sportsman High Performance (SHP) block, and can be purchased with a top end kit, consisting of assembled Iron Eagle or PRO1 aluminum heads, dual-plane intake (single-plane for BBC), valve covers, gaskets, fasteners, and spark plugs. All you do is provide the carb, oil pan, valvetrain, and assembly labor! For more info, log on to www.dartheads.com