surfer92

Car has over 180k miles and lots of oil leaks, so I am going to rebuild it.
Was wondering how much a shop will charge me to bore the block .030 over?

Also, who has the best prices for rebuilding kits?

Pete K

Hourly labor rates vary across the country.
$150 to $275 is the typical spread to bore, and hone w/torque plates.
In my area $175 is what I pay.

Pete K

Dont forget all of the other charges to machine a block.
Decking
Align Honing
Magnaflux
Cleaning
Shot Peening (optional)
Re-Cleaning after all machining is done.
Installation of Cam Bearings
Installation of oil galley plugs
Installation of freeze plugs
Etc...

cv67

Machinist may insist on line hone and other services to do it right. Could be a few hundred on up. Depends on what you want.

RocketSled

Most of which you should do with a normal stock rebuild anyway...The difference in cost between rebuilding a 350 and a 383 is slight, Pay the money...'it's just a dollar more'.

Further, I'd recommend paying to have it balanced...the difference between 5000 rpm on the stock internals and 5000 rpm on the balanced 383 is amazing.

surfer92

What is shot peening?
I haven't rebuilt a engine in over 20yrs, so hear comes the questions.
I am guessing that the cam bearings are pressed in?
Forgot about decking, what does magnafluxing do?
And your "Etc..." has got me worried.

What would be a ballpark for all of the above and where is a good place to get a rebuild kit, looked at Summit and they have Federal, not looking for HP. Just want a dependable car, I drive long distances and w/2.59 gears, HP does not mean much.

Thanks everyone.

surfer92

Was going to reuse the crank(if possible), so I do not need to have it balanced.
Now if the crank is unusable, then we will push the car onto the interstate early in the morning and hope a semi solves my problems or put full coverage back on and then leave the car in a bad area with the keys in.

Kidding, but this car is getting to be a serious money pit.

Pete K

If the replacement piston, wristpin rings or bearings alter the bobweight enough, you will need to balance it, or it could shake your fillings out.
Rule of thumb is if bobweight is within 10 grams, you should be ok.

Pete K

Shotpeening is an optional process that blasts the bloock with steel shot, cleaning it, and removing potential stress risers.
Magnafluxing checks for hidden cracks.
Your machinest can usually provide parts recommendations based on his positive experiences, and is usually comparable or cheaper in price than the mail order stuff.
Cam bearings are a press fit, and are usually carefully hammered in with a special driver.

surfer92

With my luck, they will be 11 grams. So with going w/same type of piston and bigger, they will be more.

So, how much does does balancing cost?

LT1's are neutral balanced right?

cv67

Best thing to do is talk to your machinist, tell him what youre expecting how youll use the car and have him give a detailed estimate in writing. Sure all shops charges a little different.

RocketSled

The secret to coming in under budget:


My $6700 motor was just the beginning. There there was $5000 worth of tranny, $1200 worth of intake, $1000 worth of exhaust.

This didn't touch the suspension or cooling upgrades.

And the car still looks like ****.

Pete K

They are a hybrid. Neutral on the nose and external on the tail.
The 1 pc rear main seal crankshafts that came about in 1987 have a different rear flange, so the extra metal had to be added to the flexplate to keep the balance.

surfer92

Never heard of an engine balanced that way.

If I have to get a new crankshaft, when I get it balanced, should I get a new flexplate or try and use the old one?
How many teeth in a a4 flexplate?

Man, last time I rebuilt an engine, I bored and honed it in my garage and then took it down and had it hot tanked, think it cost me about $100 all total, how times have changed.

tpi 421 vette

Pete is correct, the front half of the crank is internal balance, and the rear half of the crank is external balance. That is why you can use any internal balance standard 350 damper on the front. But the one piece seal crank has a counterweight in the flywheel, unique to the 1 piece seal crank, that makes the rear half of the crank external balance.

BLOCKMAN

In our area block work

Sonic test
Bake and blast (cleaning)
Line hone
Deck to desired deck height
Bore
Plate honed
Stroker clearance if needed

Is in the 600.00 area

Balancing runs 175.00 with out heavy metal

Dale1990

Are there advantages to neutral balancing the rear? Obviously, a matching flywheel/flexplate would be needed. In my case I'd need one anyway.

engle1147

this never happens.

Here in Tampa: If you have it broken down to just the block when you hand it over then ~ $400 to hot tank and bore.....and then is the extra stuff as mentioned above.

Spending on a ton of money on block work, assembly and expensive internals is easy to accomplish. I recommend you give some thought to what your budget, longevity expectations and use / intentions are for the drivetrain first then choose your parts selections and level of machine work accordingly.

RocketSled

Did you read the spoiler?

engle1147

I did - before I posted....funny/good stuff... just trying to reinforce your message/point. I could be wrong where but to me - when some one is asking "how much" or "best prices for rebuild kits" to me this is some one who is watching their dollars closely....not that this is a bad thing. Not everyone is made of "money" I understand that - I do not knock people for being rich, poor or some where in-between. Rebuilding engines and the related components can get expensive as I'm sure you and most others that have done it are well aware. I just don't want the OP to be one of "those" people that get it all tore apart then find more problems/issues costs and not have the funds to get it back together and up running again.