Rob,
Just for sh.t and gig's,go into the dealer that gave you the price of $8,300.Ask to speak to the guy that gave you that price.Say this-"Hi,I'm the fella that want to price out a RJ small block engine.(and he says yes)I understand you said the price was $8,300.(and again he says yep)I got one question for you then.(and he says well how can I help you?)Well if you consider how old I am and factor in your age,I got to tell you from all the years I've been around the last fish I have seen was in a can of tuna and I shave this face every day!!!!!.Go get your parts manager,tell him the low price I got is $4,800." LOL
To tell you the truth,Lingenfelter Performance Engineering did all the R&D for Gm for many,many years.It wouldn't surprize me if this is one of their engines.John is long gone and dead,but the business is still up and running.Gm is their biggest customers.They are located in Decatur,Indiana with a web page of
http://www.lingenfelter.com.They are one of the few builder's that give a three yr or so many mile warenttee.When I called them last yr,the only thing they where not doing anymore was the programing part of the package,but where giving out a phone number of a company in Fl.They do sell to the public,but are pricey.I think you would find results from their engines just like the ones you have seen in the RJ.I got to meet John many yrs ago when we went to one of his auctions.Always thought is was strange to see other dyno shops run tests for the comic books like Hot Rod and alike of Small Block Chevys,when it was John's work to begin with.Thought that was funny.
I call the "rags" like Hot Rod,Car Craft,etc,comic books because there isn't much real streeting going on in what they write.Odd they leave out the down side of the engines they have built.The truth is they are means of a selling tool for products in them.Makes me wonder if the results are real too from the tests they run.What's the odds they never lost a engine in a dyno test?. Have you every seen them write about one they blew up?.When I worked in the dyno room in Chevy Tonn with all the support I had from the Chevy engineers I know we lost afew.Kind of makes me mad to think these "rags" take a advanage of the buying public.
Don't get me wrong about the RJ engine.I think it would be a great buy.It seems to be a torque monster and that is key to the street vans.
Well that is all I got for this post.Couldn't sleep anyways.I would be willing to bet you could drive the pricing down a lot if you press the right buttons for a deal.It's likely not much different than dealing when buying a new car I would think.
Oh-BTW,you know I work at Lowes.You could put the house projects on credit from them and still buy the engine.No pay-no interest for 6 months with a locked in interest rate given a credit rating.Called a projects window credit card. Check it out if you want.(Man, this gary never stops selling.LOL)
See ya Rob,
Gary.