I got a call from the machinist at NAPA today and he says my block (stock 360) is done. I had only the block done 'cuz my heads are fresh. He told me the total cost and it's $1,068.03 out the door. That sure seems like a lot for just the block doesn't it? The rebuild kit was $550.00 (mark-up no doubt) and all the machining was obviously the balance. He said the reason it cost so much is because it had to be bored .060 over, all the rods needed to be reconditioned and there was extra cost to replace the wrist pins. Does that seem right to you guys? I suppose $1400.00 isn't too much to ask for a fresh engine, that's what I have total into the engine with the cost of the heads added. It's too late for me to negotiate now so I'm stuck with the bill but wanted to know what you guys thought.

 

I had asked for a quote on a 360 her 3 weeks ago and the long block was $2100 CDN.

Your short block cost seems fair to me. I paid $800 CDN for a short block 11 years ago.

Prices on parts and labor are certainly rising.

 

Wrist pins come with the pistons so he is a lying SOB right there.

 

AMEN! What he said.

 

Yep wrist pins and clips come with the pistons ..but I can see him charging you $300 for re-doing the rods if it was a complete re-con job... Now back when we had our shop..depending on the job and what machines we had to use and the tooling ..we charged anywhere from $60 to $80 an hour...Regardless, and that adds up quick...But we werent just the average machine shop either..we had a full QC room set-up just for inspection.. and 2 4'x8' granite table's and about $50K in Gauging equipment..So our work was dead nuts on..We corrected more factory and aftermarket F-ups than I care to remember..

 

Yeah, I paid $1500 for my 289 to be totally done, from delivery to dyno.And that wasn't done by a hack either,but a reputable Ford lovin' machine shop.

 

But this didn't include any head work. It still seems steep to me and if it was for a lot of labor, why talk about replacing wrist pins for $300 when that should have been part of the job to start with. Just state that there were this many hours at X dollars, anything else is a con job.

 

Well that wrist pin BS, I would Dispute ! I would ask to see a Vendors slip on the price and have him Itemize it..

 

Might check, he might have meant he replaced the wrist pin bushings in the rods? One thing FE's don't typically need, and the shops love to tick off on the build sheet, is align hone- they get used to working on crooked Chebbie blocks and just start hacking. They'll pretty much "touch" everything on the list if you let them A 360 stocker typically wouldn't need "everything"- and the block probably didn't have to go .060, probably just the most convenient oversize- what size were the bores when it went in? They should have given you the chance to find another block if it was going to end up that thin

 

Allthough it's definately possible that your 360 block needed to be bored that far to get the cylinders to clean up, I also would have my suspicions there. From what I could always tell, most stock bore FE's will usually clean up at .020 to .030 overbore, maybe .040. I'm guessing they probably get their kits in .030 and .060 over and they were either out of .030 over kits or your block needed to fo to .040 or .050 over and they just punched it out to .060 Your 360 is now 11 cubic inches bigger. I personally would want my stuff in a machine shop that I could talk things over with and communicate on things like that. Your cylinder walls might not be to terribly thin yet, might have room to go another .020 over what your at now but I wouldn't hold my breath. It is possible though that your block is a candidate for that (4.13= 406 and 428 bore size) but that's not the point here. I dang sure be asking some questions and havin a talk with him (and maybe whoever his boss is if needed). I hate that some rebuilders/remanufacturers are doing that .060 over pistons trick just because it can save them some money. You can see where machine shops would get that greed though, pay less to get all .060 over kits and then when those rebuilds wear out, we make money again because the majority of them will need sleeved!

 

sounds like their trying to pull a fast one on you, don't be conned into paying more then what you should, reminds me of pepboys down here, another bunch of incompetent no-good mechanics..

 

I pick it up this morning and I'm gonna make him itemize the shop card for me so I can see where all my money is going. I'll report back to y'all later.

 

Well, it looks like this is what it costs to get a good 360 short block done. It all proves out on his itemized list and if it makes any difference all the kit parts are premium parts, Melling, Clevite, Sealed Power and such. All in all I don't feel too bad, $1400 total for a nice tight motor isn't all that bad. Hell, I coulda just bought a reman. motor for $2000 and not known that is was done right I suppose. I like knowing what has been done inside my engines and the best way to make sure is to DIY. Anyway, I got some fun ahead of me this weekend when I start putting this thing together. Woot!