Trying to help a friend, small block rebuild ?

[RSWORDS]

Yall must have some stupid expensive machine shops. Guess it's just my part of the country but I took my stripped block, crank and rods with old pistons on it, had it bored .060 over, new cam bearings and brass plugs installed, everything else checked over, and my pistons installed on my rods for $600.

And that's from a GOOD shop. And of course no warranty they didnt assemble the block, I did.

 

[diesel4me]

Back when there were several reputable auto machine shops locally,that was about the usual cost to have a block hot tanked,bored if needed,honed,and a valve job usually ran about $350 for a pair of V8 heads provided they didn't need a lot of new valves or guides replaced..

The one remaining place is 15 miles away and its good reputation has gone downhill a lot,and if you brought them an engine,you'd better have at least 1500 bucks to pay for it by the time they get done rebuilding it..
I have noticed they are selling off a ton of blocks & crankshafts they have accumulated over the years,probably ones they kept when customers either couldn't afford to pay for the work done,or passed away,whatever..many SBC and BBC cranks and blocks are selling on CL for $350..
So I wont be surprised if they are planning to liquidate too..it's getting to be a lost art,rebuilding engines nowadays,unless you do it yourself,good luck finding a decent machine shop that wont charge more than a crate engine costs..

 

[blazinzuk]

Yall must have some stupid expensive machine shops. Guess it's just my part of the country but I took my stripped block, crank and rods with old pistons on it, had it bored .060 over, new cam bearings and brass plugs installed, everything else checked over, and my pistons installed on my rods for $600.

And that's from a GOOD shop. And of course no warranty they didnt assemble the block, I did.

Well we are just gonna redneck rebuild one.

The other one will wait till he has a bit more money, then that one will get rebuilt. He wants to do a 383, and we will put aftermarket heads on it. Block machine work is cheap. About 200 bucks, stroker kit is 600, decent cheap heads 700 ish. 500 to 600 for all the little stuff.

It's still cheaper around here to build your own rather than a crate engine.

 

[RSWORDS]

Nothing wrong with that. As long as the other block still looks good, a home, and a $80 gasket, bearing, and ring kit does wonders.

That was my original plan but I decided to take my time and do a full rebuild.

What cam and heads yall planning on?

 

[dyeager535]

I'm confused with all the "buy a short block" answers. Do we not build anything anymore?

As mentioned, not that many shops around anymore. Machine work alone is ~$800 with a shop I trust and have used in the past. Then pistons, cam, timing, fasteners, sheet metal, etc. Or, GM crate L31 (4 bolt main, roller cam, Vortec heads, good rods, one piece rear main, warranty) to my door for $1800. Pretty easy to justify ~$300 more for all that, plus zero time spent shopping for parts, tear down, assembly, carting parts to and from shop, etc.

I think most of us enjoy putting engines together, but bang for buck, if you are looking for a mild engine, it's hard to beat crates. I couldn't build an L31 clone for what a crate cost, completely ignoring what my time is worth.

That said, I'm pretty anal about stuff. While the thought of just honing the cylinders and slapping it together with new bearings is appealing, the thought of potentially having to do that again in less time than a "proper" spec'd build is not. And a "cheap" way to bump performance up a bit.

 

[wetoolowdingbangow]

I vote for a rebuild. I freshened up my 350 and easily double the power for less than a short block. Read a few reviews on the short blocks...I found an awful lot of horror stories.

 

[RSWORDS]

I just totaled up my receipts for my build. And this is new parts and used vortec heads. Just shy of 1200. Plus 600 for the machine work and I'm ~1800 into a 350hp 400+ ft-lbsmall block. And that's a new pistons, ring bearing and gasket set, MSD HEI and MSD wire (Both street fire), $40 wire retainers, new oil pump and fuel pump, upgraded gaskets, braided fuel line, comp retainers, LS6 springs (got mine free but new they are like $80) and not shopping for used parts. (Which I did, the intake is a take off and the dizzy is a MSD reman). It could be done for sub 1500. I do still need headers though.

Now we all know that rebuilding a motor isn't for everyone. But let's be honest, it's not rocket science and if you can read a manual you are fine.