Hi All. Kinda new to the mater (been a member about a week now). Just wondering about the super class racers and bracket racers out there and their powerplants. The ongoing saga at our local tracks seems to be Shafiroff vs Reher Morrison. I have always built my own engines until this one--its a Shafiroff Pro 555 that I have been thoroughly pleased with. My racing buddy has a RM 555 that doesn't seem to be quite as stout--thus the basis for our ongoing war of words. Anybody out there want to share in the goods and bads of each engine builder? Love to hear from you

I really don't know any bads about either engine builder. But plenty of goods.
When you compare the two, you really have to get to the point of what you are looking for. Comparing two 555's and saying which one goes faster in the mph really isn't fair. If I were to compare two 565's I just built, one will stomp the other up one side and down the other. But one was made for a 7.50 bracket Cadillac, and one was supposed to get 1000 passes without a rebuild in a dragster. So there is much more to an engine than mph in the lights. Longevity, possible breakage, etc. Cam profile being smaller and kinder will make less power, but you can go longer without valvetrain issues, and may not need to check the lash that often. I was informed of an interesting point the other day by a Winston Cup builder. He said if I give 10 identical engines to ten tuners, they will all act very different. Therre is much in the tuning. (And performance is also very dependent on the converter. You run a Hughes and you will be down 4-5 mph over a Neal Chance. But Hughes converters are soft, and possibly more consistent on marginal tracks where a Neal chance will lock up and possibly slip the tire a bit.)
Just too many variables. Both make lots of engines and have lots of time and resources to test each application on the dyno. Both have great and knowledgeable people designing and assembling. Both are great at matching the cams to the engine, and matching other parts to the combination. That is where these builders are superior to us. The little guys that do it all in our own shop. They can test 30 cams on the dyno, and have the cam companies make a custom grind just for one engine package. We pick what would be best in our mind and plug it in, or try two or three cams.
That being said, when you compare as close an engine as you can from one company to the other, Scott is about 5% cheaper. That is matching cubic inch, horsepower/torque, parts, brand names, etc. And from there, it is all about bragging who has more passes on theirs, who mph's better, who got the better deal. And that is like trying to argue what favorite color is superior.
I really put Lukovitch, Shafiroff and RM right about the same for what I have seen, heard and experienced. If you are in an all out class, then lets get specific, but for a bracket car, if it makes good power and lasts forever- find what you like and like what you find.

Agreed, Buzzz!

After many years of building my own engines, and as you said, being able to try 2 or 3 cams, etc, but always building with an eye toward longevity, I am certainly impressed with both RM and Shafiroff power and more importantly longevity. My last engine before the 555 was a stock block 496 built with Shafiroff components and Dart heads. Ran good, and lasted, but all of the development that goes into a Shafiroff or RM engine as you said, makes a really nice package right out of the box. We don't see many Lukovich motors out here in the wastelands of Nebraska, but his reputation for building a good piece has certainly made it to central US