Good price for a rebuilt engine?
 

Hey guys have an 84 FORD F250 with a 460, carbed holley. I found a company in my state that offers totally rebuilt motors with a full life time( for as long as I own it) warranty.
New pistons, wrist pins, pin-bushings, rings, rod-bearings, main-bearings, all new timing components, soft-plugs, valves, camshaft, an oil pump, and a full set of gaskets. All Oregon Engine Rebuilders engines are stripped to a bare block, hot-tanked and re-machined, bringing every surface and every tolerance back to original specifications through the use of state-of-the-art Sunnen equipment. Thats a partial list of the rebuild, it costs me $1395, and an extra $95 dollars for a better cam. What kind of performance mods/upgrades should I request they do as I don't want to pull the motor again. I am waiting until this one dies but figure I wanna knock out everything in one shot.

I live in oregon to an a guy near me rebuilt my efi 460 for under $1000 that is a full rebuild. What you want to do with this truck? Roller Rockers would be a good start. Is it stock intake manifold?

I just picked up my 86 460 long block with new RV ($85) cam straight up timing, .030 bore .010 on the crank and new pistons and all internal parts. They put the pan and timing cover on and painted. I paid $1500 including $150 for 6 broken bolts on the heads. I don't think that was too bad and they were good to work with. The base price quoted was $1200.

Roller rockers aren't going to fit under stock tin valve covers.
The regular ones in my last (stock) engine went 315K and I wouldn't have hesitated to reuse them.
With the lift of an RV cam they shouldn't be necessary.

Yeah well the company is called Oregon Engine Rebuilders, in Sandy. It seems like a dam good deal even if they happen to reuse parts or something as it is full lifetime warranty. I would do double roller timer, and have them do those cams you suggested Jim in another thread. I suppose I could have myself or a shade tree do it for cheaper but less warranty and more downtime.

Actually it's very hard to meet or beat the price most rebuilders get.
They have economy of scale in purchase price and dedicated machining stations with employees who do the same thing all day, day in and day out.
Experience begets proficiency.

Just price out all the parts and machine work you need to do the job right. Not to mention the broken studs, helicoils etc.. you need to make things right to even start your rebuild.
PAW and others used to offer master rebuild kits, but first you had to do all the machine work (true cylinders, turn crank, recondition rods...) before you could order the right kit.

Subtract the price of all the specialist hand tools you would need to do the job right (micrometers, bore gauges, degree wheel, engine stand, bearing installers,..)

Then divide the meager amount left by the number of hours you'll have in dis/re-assembly.
Backyard/basement engine builders don't do it to save money.
You could make more slinging burgers or pumping gas.
They do it for the experience or because they want to do something unique that they can't readily get.

Yea i know about the valve covers part but i had stock ones then put the roller ones on an it made a big difference the extra $200 was well worth it for me anyways an my engine is not to built .040 over with rv cam.

Glovemiester,
You were asking about a Crane RV cam in your other thread...

Well, PAW has a towing cam on their Ebay closeout store.
CRANE CAMS 353904 HYD LIFTER CAMSHAFT KIT 429 460 FORD - eBay (item 250743494665 end time Jan-14-11 16:20:00 PST)
487 INTAKE/ 518 EXHAUST LIFT. 204/216 DURATION. 112 LOBE CENTER.

Not enough top end for me with 4.10's but depending on your driveline and tire size it may be ok for you.

Do not do a RV cam.

Get a mild comp cam or what ever brand you like or think you would like.

The general RV cam's are some of the worst mods I ever seen people do when a quality cam that would increase power where you want it costs only slightly more then a generic RV cam.

Heres a nice cam that should really wake up your 460 with out killing or otherwise worse things to your wallet when you approach a gas station.

My friend put a similar cam "no longer available" into his 460, and it got close to 400rwtq right at 2500 rpm with full bolt-ons.
COMP Cams: Dual Energy™, 255DEH <BR> Good Torque & Mileage, Good RV and Towing Camshaft

203/216 on a 110. That cam will give great off idle power with tons of torque and a stock idle.

Depending on what you're doing with it, and gears/tires, I wouldn't be afraid to bump it up to 210/218 and go with a 114 for a wider tq curve.

If you're playing with it something in the 220/228 range on a 114 will still give very good bottom end and more top end power (compared to the first two cams) But it all depends on how you're going to use the truck.

I plan to run 35's for tire size a 4 inch lift, a headache rack, a 200 pound winch bumper (heavy duty sum buck) and a winch. Plus a few more odds and ends. Ideally I am trying to get this truck into a good daily driver that gets 10, ideally 12+ mpgs. The long term plan is a 5spd swap but thats after its turned into a daily driver. Unless the motor breaks down then I am having it rebuilt and done with a 5spd swap don't wanna do it more then once. I am running 4.10 gears front and rear, I will try to keep these if I run a dana 60 but would be willing to go to a better high way crusing gear ratio.


So guys the question is, I want a fun daily, hunting/camping occasional 4 bying rig, driver capable of good enough speed to get out of the way in case I need it, and I may also tow with it but nothing crazy like an large fifthwheel. What should I ask for to be done to my motor, in terms of cams, and all the various performance things that can be done?

I've never rebuilt a motor and its way to much work and time to do it, I figure I will have a shop do it and cry once instead of several times over a long time.

I already know that either the shop didn't know I was referencing double roller chains when I requested them with straight up timing, so this will be done regardless.

BTW I appreciate all the help. I knew engine rebuilds were lots of work but not as much as they truly are, thanks a bunch!

ETA I will also be dual exhausting it. My uncle knows an exhaust guy and they exchange work for each other in trade. I may have to pay for the parts but labor should be low cost. Not sure about headers they seem more of a hassle then anything but then again idk, what to look for?

There are shop that will do mild custom builds the whole way through.

I would find a old school shop, and have him pull the motor. Then drag your truck home.

Take the engine to the shop you want it built at. Have them set it up so its a bolt in affair.

Take the motor home and bolt on as much as you can before it goes to the shop.

When the motors dones drag the truck back to the original shop with the motor.

I used to do this for people back in the day, and made some decent money doing my hobbie for other people.

What are your goals and what is your budget? If you just want an engine that runs then go ahead with the rebuilder engine. You'll get a smogger engine that will run just fine, and that's it.

If you have some goals, a budget, etc. I can help outline a decent build. If you go in saying you want a "RV cam" and other things like that, you're gonna get some mismatched pile of junk that runs poorly, because all the big reman places do is churn out smogger engines. It just comes down to waht you want the engine to do and how much you have to spend. Somewhere in there is a balance that you'll be happy with. So, if you want good advice, give us some good information.

I don't care about the smogger aspect really, I want atleast 10 mpgs and gobs of power. Whatever I need to spend to meet that would be fine with me.