Our Story
Working on your dream car is not for the faint at heart. It takes determination, fortitude, late nights, and understanding family members.
Most of us don’t do it for the money or fame.
It’s the personal satisfaction and pride that you get when you turn the key for the first time. We get that! So after pouring a lot of time and $ into your suspension, body, interior, brakes etc. why would you put in any old piece of junk in the engine bay.
That’s where a custom crate engine makes sense. Our engines are the most complete on the market; we specialize in the Ford Powerplants whether it is Classic or Later Mustang, Cobra Kit, Muscle car, ,Street Rod or Truck.
We follow basic principles like Hard Work, Integrity and Honesty. Words loosely held these days, being a family operated company we take pride in our proven track record. The engine business is a tough business, there is little to no margin for error. We’ve had plenty of days where we’ve put our heart and souls in building a masterpiece only to come to bite you. But you learn a thing or two, after putting together thousands of powerplants over the years. One of the lessons, your only as good as the last engine you put out there. When all the smoke clears our goal is to make a profit but without sacrificing the quality of Materials or service. In turn we make a better product along with paying our technicians well.
What’s the difference between a “similar” engine for hundreds or even thousands less? To sum it up: Unskilled labor, cheap parts & / or poor customer service. Let’s just say Ethics is one of their strong suits. Point being do your homework and know who your dealing with.
Lets take you through the Steps from initial correspondence to Delivery of your Custom Crate Engine…..
- You call or email us with a request for an engine, providing the basic details – Year, Make, Model, current engine, what engine and HP level interested in.
- Our sales techs determine what application would work best. We run through specific details – Type of Trans?, Accessories being run – A/C, P/S or none. Carbureted orEFI? Use of car or truck – Street only or perhaps Street / Strip? Etc.
- Details and price are discussed and followed up with an email for those that need a more customized breakdown.
- Once pricing and terms are agreed upon, our team then walks you through the rest of the ordering process. Discussing color options, delivery time, special addendums to your order and any other recommendations deemed necessary.
- An email confirmation of your order is sent. It entails details like Color of Block, Ignition wires, Add-ons, Pulleys included, Bill to, Ship to, ETA of delivery etc. This extra step we take assures your order is exactly what was discussed and there is no confusion on both sides.
- Internally we create a Bill of Materials and customize to the pending order.
- Special order the items that are specific to your order. Billet Pulleys, Polished Items, special oil pans, Dress up Parts etc.
- After everything is checked in, we start with the final assembly of your engine .
- During this process several emails are sent that provides installation advice, progress photos of your engine are sent to you as well.
- Final testing and tuning of your engine is completed we record all vital readings – Oil pressure, Temperature, timing, inspection of leaks – Oil, water and Fuel are documented and verified. Nothing leaves our warehouse unless it’s 100%. We have found many parts right out of the box to have some flaws which we correct beforehand.
- Video footage is taken and a DVD is provided with your engine Delivery.
- Engine is crated. We use custom made Steel mounting plates to secure engine to a heavy duty pallet. It’s Stretch wrapped , Boxes and Styrofoam are used for added protection.
- Engine is shipped with a Lift-gate Truck to your Home or Business. A tracking # is emailed that gives you an indication of arrival Time.
This is the same procedure we do for each and every Ready to run engine that leaves our warehouse. We ship worldwide so they need to be right! Obviously there is a lot of time and effort that goes into each Engine Order. The end result is an easy to install, Ready to run Engine. Please Browse through our website, were constantly updating it with new photos, technical articles, videos and New Engine Packages. We hope to earn your business – One engine at a time.
KIT CAR MAGAZINE ARTICLE:
Crate engines are thankfully a big part of our hobby these days. Instead of scrounging in a salvage yard for a greasy block that will need to be Gunked then taken to a rebuilder, you can pick up the phone and order a brand-new mill assembled especially for your new ride. You can pick whatever horsepower level you think you need, as much bling as you can afford and a matching color, and the thing arrives at your doorstep ready to connect the fuel lines and wiring and fire it up. And if you buy your powerplant you get a motor that runs right out of the box (they run each engine for 40 minutes in real-world conditions before it leaves the warehouse) without having to do any tuning or fiddling to get it right.
TD Performance Engines uses brand-name components throughout their crate engines having tested just about everything in the course of their business. A scan around the compact, stacked-to-the-rafters parts department shows a who’s who of the engine aftermarket parts business. Like we said, they’ve been doing this a long time and test every engine that’s ordered so their pursuit of powerful and reliable engines is not guesswork.
A quick check of website shows not only a wealth of engine choices, but a great deal of helpful information that goes a long way toward you getting exactly what you need. Included there are not only discussions of “How Much Horsepower,” comparisons, FAQs, “Carb and Timing Adjustments,” “Safe Installation,” “Choosing a Cam,” and a whole lot more, but also a bunch of videos on a whole lot of related topics.
Based on their long experience the company has some standard combination assemblies that they know work well, depending on the power requirements and such, but it’s the vast array of cosmetic and ancillary pieces that separate one engine from another.
The company tests every mill before being shipped so that customers don’t have much to do other than install it and turn the key and go.
TD Performance Engines knows for example that if a customer wants a 400hp Ford small-block for his Cobra replica, that a 351 Windsor block outfitted with a Comp hydraulic roller earn, aluminum Edelbrock heads, hypereutectic pistons creating a 10:1 compression ratio, with an Edelbrock RPM intake manifold topped with a Holley 650cfm double-pumper carb will easily do the job and deliver in excess of 400lb-ft of torque as well. From that point the customer can choose what color to paint the block, what air cleaner will work best, the pulley system and other such necessities.
Thanks to a still-burgeoning Cobra replica market, small-block Ford mills are excellent sellers. The 351 Windsor mentioned above is the top pick and the company predominantly since carbureted versions (50%) they also offer EFI systems as well. The Chevy part of the business is also strong with engines ranging from a 320hp small-block to the monster 572ci mills, and everything in between.
Crate engines, have revolutionized the kit car hobby by taking a lot of the grease and guesswork out of the power equation.