NASCAR owner Rick Hendrick assembles an engine at the GM Performance Build Center as part of the “build-your-own” program.

As EngineLabs reported last January, the GM Performance Build Center will move its operations to the Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky. In the latest update, Automotive News is reporting that GM has not announced when the hand-built engine operation will resume once the operation has transferred to Kentucky.

Engines ready for delivery to the Corvette plant.

Shutting down the Build Center in Wixom, Michigan, also means a temporary end to the build-your-own-engine program offered to select performance vehicle buyers and a few customers for high-end crate engines. Cost to build your engine was around $5,000 extra for Z06 and Zr1 Corvette buyers. For those customers wanting a LS7 or LS9 crate engine, the build experience was folded into the MSRPs that ranged from $22,756 to $32,050. Either way, the end users spent the entire day assembling their engines under the watchful eye of a Wixom professional. And at the end of the day a personalized nameplate was added to the engine. All travel arrangements to Wixom were the responsibility of the customer, and the crate engines could also be ordered without the build experience.

To date, some 40,000 engines were built at Wixom, according to the story. The Build Center was opened in 2004 and workers there hand assembled engines for high-performance vehicles like the Cadillac XLR and the ZR1 Corvette. The plant covers 100,000 square feet and employs about 30 workers, including some of the most seasoned engine technicians from within GM.

All of the engines are hand assembled at Wixom by a small team of experienced professionals.

According to Automotive News, production at the Build Center is finishing up production of the supercharged COPO Camaro engines. Remaining crate engine programs are being moved to other plants. Popular engines that have been built there include the 4.4-liter supercharged Northstar V8, 6.2-liter dry-sump LS3 for the Grand Sport Corvette, the 7.0-liter LS7 V8 for the Z06 Corvette and the supercharged 6.2-liter LS9 engine.