Rebuild my engine last year it it maybe has 20 hours on it. Pulled it back apart and it didn't look too good.

1. Bearings are shot from debris in the oil I figure. No excessive wear just scoring.
2. Journals are scored to the point where they will catch your fingernail.
3. There was Oil/Gas laying in the valley pan.
4. There was a lot of grey sludge sitting at the bottom of the oil pan, I know some is normal, but this had maybe 3/8 of in inch. Is that normal?

It has an entrely new ignition system, cam, timing chain, oil pump, rings and such... The cylinder walls still have the cross hatching on then from honeing and make 125psi compression within 10% of each other. I never did much to the heads other than lapping the valves in and valve seals.

It never did run right, and I figure nows the time to do it right and am looking into machine shops to redo my engine. I want it to last but I am trying to be economical about it since I already have 1500-2 grand into the engine alone. Which would be cheaper/better buying a long block from a company or sending it out to get it machined? Thanks

 

Sounds like the engine wasn't kept perfectly clean during the rebuild. Oh well. Live and learn.

Each machine shop has a different rate. They'll be able to give you a more accurate price than we can. My local shops are expensive. Other shops around the world though might not be. Probably not what you wanted to hear, but you're best off checking out their website(s). Most will have their shop rates for each job printed out. Others, not. That's what a phone is for.

Hopefully your journals can be sanded down and you can get away with bigger bearings. A new crank is probably the last thing you want to buy.

 

From personal oppinion, I had my repair shop for 20 years and didn't have much luck with over the counter rebuilds. I had my best luck with my local machine shop. To start with he knows you can find him if he screws up so he is more inclined to do a better job than the $5.00 an hour factory worker at the rebuilding factory. Just my 2 cents.

 

Yeah, I would ask around locally. Machine shops are getting harder to find, but if you can find that guy who has his shop in his back yard, you can get a good job done for not alot of money. Some auto parts stores have machine shops as well.

 

Who built the engine in the first place? I would be making a few calls and see if I cant get at least get some of the work covered.

For the next build I would again suggest going with a local speed shop. Hang around the local race tracks and ask who does good work in your area.

as far as factory engines go- without dumping 5k or more you'll have a hard time getting an engine any hotter than factory.

 

What sort of warranty would a shade tree mechanic give you for an engine he rebuilt? And how do you know if he'll do the job properly? Some of these guys are butchers.

Shade tree mechanics are usually cheaper than machine shops, as they have no overhead.

A guy I know must be related to Titus Canby, as he's so cheap he squeaks. Had his '66 Bird's 428 'overhauled' by a shade tree. It was a disaster.

The guys cherry picker didn't have enough range to lift the engine past the fenders, so the front wheels were removed to solve the clearance problem.

Once the engine was apart, parts were scattered all over the yard. The hood was first to succumb, the wind blew it over, got a nice dent in it as a result.

When the engine was reassembled, parts were missing....the air cleaner never was located. Once the job was finished, the shade tree began making excuses why the engine was running rough.

It finally gave up the ghost and when it was torn down for the second time by a machine shop, the block hadn't been flushed, the valves weren't ground, it was a FIASCO!

I know of several local machine shops that give a 12,000 mile or 1 year warranty, whichever occurs first. What shade tree mechanic would offer it?

 

Calm down there, Bill. First off, I said to ask around locally. I would trust a reputation long before I would a fancy building with millions of dollars worth of new equipment in it. I also said shop, which means just that. I am not sure you could do much machining from a garage or little shed. And just because you work from home doesn't mean you suck. I work from home and am one of the most educated and honest people in my field. Some of the best specialty shops I know of in my neck of the world are home based.

Now that's cleared up, I agree a shade tree or part timer might not be the best way to go, unless, as stated, down at the local race track his name keeps poping up as the guy to talk to.

 

There are guys out there with full tilt machine shops in their "garage"... out in the rural areas mind you, not in a house in some tract subdivision. Depends.

In terms of machine shop vs a long block, depends. Was machine work done by a shop for the rebuild? If so, go back to them and let them know what happened. Of course,that requires you to fess up if you took any shortcuts. Call it a learning experience, albeit an expensive one. Oh well.

I have rebuilt numerous engines with machine work done by a local shop. It does require understanding how they want the parts prepared and delivered. I disassemble it for my inspection but deliver the block as clean as possible with the mains and bearings installed and numerically marked pistons with rods and bearings installed. The crank in a cardboard box.

The last thing you want to do is deliver a box of parts that dirty, unmarked, and expecting them to figure out which bearing shell came from which journal. That's just lame and unprofessional.

 

The person who rebuild the engine was of course ignorant me. I threw a set of bearings, cam, lifters, timing set rings, valve seals, oil pump and gasket set in and expected it to run...
The only real work I did was ridge ream and hone the cylinders, lapped the valves and visually inspected everything.

I pulled it back apart and the bearings are wiped out, and some of the connecting rods are orange about 1/2 way up looks to me like they over heated. Surprisingly the cam is still good and everything else doesn't look to bad.

Lesson learned. don't half *** rebuilds. But now its time for it to be done right.

Realistically I'm looking for everything to be gone over, cleaned+tested, the crank ground + polished, Bearings, rods, the heads done and maybe reassembled.

 

A single spec of dust is all it takes to grind a crank bearing.

The only way to know what this will all cost you at a shop is to phone a shop.

 

I had a local shop do my block and heads. The total cost for both was right at $700. I supplied all the new parts needed for measurements and installation. The shop not only marked and tagged everything with the measurements of before and after but also cleaned and checked for debris and wrapped everything in plastic after they were done. The guys were older gentlemen (the youngest was 45 I think) and really seemed to care about the work they do. Made me feel like real car guys helping real car guys. Well worth the money. This is the type of shop you can find out about at your local race tracks.....

 

I don't think you posted engine type... but no matter. NAPA (and others) offer long blocks for dent era trucks with warranty at reasonable cost. The external parts you have like ignition would swap over. That would be my suggestion.

 

I have rebuild a few 302's and had pretty good luck. I did a 429 and put to long a bolt to hold the flex plate on and it would only let the engine rotate 50 or 60% of a complete rotation. I didnt realize what I did until I had torn it all the way down and was almost back togeather.
I did a 400 for my 77f350 and I have never been happy with it because I have bent a few pushrods and it has some funky sound from time to time. It has been togeather for 15 years or so. I am going to run it until it blows up.

If I had a good machine shop that I trusted I would probably have them put the engine together if I had to rebuild one today. Mainly because I know that its not something I do every day and realize that sometimes it is better to pay someone that does it every day.

 

That's more than half of what it would cost me at my local shop.

 

Did you get the proper ring end gap. Did you clock the rings correct? DId you calculate main/rod oil clearance and verify with plastigage? Everything torqued exactly to spec?

It sounds to me that you have incorrect clearances and possibly assembled the rotating assembly incorrectly. I've rebuild probably 10+ engines in my garage, you just have to follow procedure and take your time.

The machine shop I use to have the machine work done, they are a small shop but all the guys have years experience and don't charge an arm and a leg. Some of the smaller shops are the best around.