Our shop sits in Milford, roughly an hour from Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River race course. If you run a performance boat anywhere between the Detroit River and Anchor Bay, your engine builder is local — no crating, no freight, no guessing.
Michigan registers more than 795,000 boats and supports over 570 marinas — the second-largest boating state in the country. Sterling has been building engines in the middle of it since 1987.
No shipping crate, no freight claim, no four-week transit each way. Pull the engine, bring it to Milford, and talk to the people who will actually build it.
Every Sterling engine is broken in and dyno-verified before it leaves the shop. Being local means you can stand in the cell while it happens, not read it on a sheet.
Great Lakes seasons are short. We schedule winter rebuilds so the engine is back in the boat and dialed in before the water is worth running.
Thirty-two years running along Riverside Avenue in downtown St. Clair, and still the largest single summer event in the city. Forty-five teams raced the 2026 edition under Offshore Powerboat Association sanction.
It is one of the Midwest's longest-running offshore races, and it happens fifty miles from our door. If you are campaigning a boat on this circuit, you do not need to send your program to another time zone to get championship-grade power.
Inboard marine power on Mercury, Volvo and Crusader, naturally aspirated, supercharged or turbocharged. Race programs and cruising boats get the same bench, the same clearances, and the same dyno.
Power band mapped to your class, your hull and your water before a single part is cut.
Every internal hand-checked, every clearance measured, back to spec and back to peak numbers.
Broken in and verified in Milford. The dyno sheet is the number you take to the water.
Head resurfacing, block boring and honing, balancing, crank polishing, dry-sump service.
Southeast Michigan boaters trailer to Milford from across the region. If you are on this list, you are a short tow from the shop.
Our shop is at 54420 Pontiac Trail in Milford, Michigan — roughly an hour from Lake St. Clair and about fifty miles from the St. Clair River race course. Most southeast Michigan customers trailer their engine or their boat to us directly rather than shipping.
Both. You don't have to chase a trophy to expect the best. Alongside our championship race programs we build and rebuild for cabin cruisers, pleasure boats and vintage restorations — the same race-level precision, tuned for how you actually use the boat.
Inboard power built on Mercury, Volvo and Crusader, naturally aspirated, supercharged or turbocharged. On the automotive side we cover Big- and Small-Block Chevy, LS, Ford including the 460, Mopar big-blocks and Hemis, plus vintage cast-iron and Ferrari.
The earlier the better. Great Lakes seasons are short, and the window between haul-out and spring launch fills up. Every build is quoted and scheduled individually — call us as soon as the boat is out and we'll give you a realistic timeline up front.
Yes — every single one. Before a Sterling engine leaves Milford it's broken in and run on the dyno, and its power is verified by hand. The number on the dyno sheet is the number you take to the water. Being an hour away means you can be there when it runs.
We do. Marina owners and dealers get dedicated fleet service, volume pricing and partnership options, so your customers' boats spend more time on the water. See our marina program or call and we'll build one around your operation.
Call (248) 684-5040 or send us your project details. First step is a free consultation.
