Right on, that'd b egreat, I still have some local shopping to do, but I still have doubts of finding anything.

 

That wouldn't happen to be Dan Buchanan of Dan's Auto Salvage on HWY 66W around Kingman, AZ would it???

Later...

 

Well, I got some advice, and long story short, I went to a machine shop and asked about having the block I have fixed. I asked how much it'd cost to have it cleaned and checked to see if it's repairable, but the guy got my question wrong and answered my next question I hadn't even asked yet! Firstly, he said it'd cost about $60 to to the mag and such, but a little more for dissasembly. Now, what he said first was my "jawbreaker", he said it may cost somewhere around $2k for a full rebuild!!!!

I intended on spending around 1500, but not 2k, that for some reason really opened my eyes to that much money.....man o man, and all that for just a stock rebuild? When I said that rebuild kits are $1.2, he said, "we'd probably be able to get it cheaper than you, but it'd still run you around $2k". Is that a good deal, I"m gonna shop around some more, but I still can't believe it's gonna cost that much.

I need to go through with this(rebuilding an engine and finally getting my truck runnin), but I have always been pretty good at sitting down, and saying, "hold on now, I need to get back to basics and remember where I started, and realize what I wanted and invisioned in the first place." So now, I"m starting to second thought this whole thing.

I mean, that is the kind of money I'd be willing to spend on a TOTAL BUILD for my old muscle car, but just for an old beat up stocker I-6 for an equaly beat-up work truck??? I DON'T THINK SO! I just can't do it; I can't muster up the ability to spend such an amount of money on something that is just gonna do some workin'...

What do you guys think about this whole thing? I'm not necessarily looking for advice, just opinions. Thank you for reading.

 

Take a deep breath, …….now take another one, and take two valium, and call me in the morning (smile).

In my opinion it’s the labor charge, (and the warranty) not the price of the parts, at $ 50.00 to $100.00 an hour shop rate it adds up fast, the saving (?) is when you can do it yourself. What about plan “D”, a used engine so that it runs? Of course the guarantee and the money required are proportional.

Only you can make the decision if you want to proceed or if it is worth it or not.

 

There should be a 30 day warranty for a junkyard engine. If not, find a yard that offers one. 2K for a rebuild seems high, but not by much. IMO, you live in CA, there should be plenty of 223's available for the hotrodders to sell. A used, but uncracked one, should be about $100 or so, and just an overhaul should be good for a few miles. Even then, a little blowby shouldn't be too much of a concern. In the end, you'll be less than $700-800 into it, and should be good for another 100,000 miles or so. Just food for thought.

 

I think I could do some of it on my own, but other stuff I don't know. The engine has been apart for a while so it is rusted and weathered and needs to be cleaned and mad safe for reassembly.

what stuff do you think i can/can't do with average tools? I understand I probably can't put the pistons and rods together, but I could probably bolt on everything. Would it save me money to just have them do machining and let me do the assembling? Does it take any special tools to assemble the head(valves, rockers, etc.) or put the pistons and rods in, then the crank, because those seem to be the odd part, and the timing too...

Thanks for the info/input. And about $100 dollar engines...sorry havi, but that's pretty unrealistic, but I haven't given up yet.

 

Yeah, maybe not in your area, now that you mention it. Around here $100 is the norm for any common non-running engine that can be overhauled. Of course the body rusts off around it, and it become in the way, lol

 

If you finish assembling the motor yourself your warranty may fly out the window if a problem comes up....

 

Yeah, I forgot about warranties, and honestly, if I were to do much of the work, I wouldn't care. But then again, maybe that itself would make it worth paying someone else. However, I still would rather do it on my own.

I don't see myself paying people to do this kind of stuff in the future, so I need to learn to do it sometime... I still have to contact a couple other shops, and in the next week, hopefully I'll have then engine ready to come out.

 

if you aren't to dain concerned about originality , why not just go find a 300 six and pop her in there . it'll have a lot more kahuna's , and there are a lot of parts , oe and aftermarket available for them . as i have said before the ones i've owned have been da-ned good motors , last forever , and will do the work of anything else and it's own without complainin' . the only 223 i know of here is in a 55 im stealin' parts off of and for another fte'er when i get some down time and mother nature cooperates , and its locked up solid . they are just scarce as hades .