Oh yea,didn’t think about that,if they’re not racing there building,the other guy said he could just get the block in and out,and told me me he would need crank.but assuming he will need at least one piston.

 

What is included in that $420? They should have a breakdown of costs for each piece of the work. Unless the block is already clean, and you know the complete history of your block, I would recommend a hot tanking and magnaflux so the block is nice and clean, and you are confident it is free of any cracks when you get it back. There are lots of other services that you can pay for if you don't want to do them yourself, but costs add up quickly - the two aforementioned services are good insurance though (they have to clean it before they can magnaflux).

Also, I don't like micromanaging, but in my experience, you kind of have to stay on top of what they are doing, or costs can run out of control when things you didn't want done get done (and charged for) - Or things you wanted done don't get completed to your specifications. Be very specific about what you want, and make sure the shop understands - they should provide you an estimate of the services you are requesting. The shop I went to never wrote anything down - never took any notes of what I wanted, which led to several mistakes being made on their end.

If you aren't sure what you want, or what you may need to do to your block, then ask the shop for input, but again, get it all down on paper so both you and the shop are on the same page (literally). That way, if anything comes up, you can edit the work order in real time, and thus, minimizing the chance of any surprises.

Also, have the shop contact you if anything comes up during the process to make sure you are ok with any recommendations they would have before they do anything that you had not previously discussed. That is important for two important reasons:

1. Cost control. You won't be surprised when you get the bill after the work is completed
2. The services you requested are performed, and no unnecessary services are added (ie - zero decking, when you really wanted them to leave the deck alone). No work is done without your knowledge and consent (shops are in the business of making money not only for services you request, and also upselling you on extra services, whether needed or not).

 

Yep it is a numbers matching block,and if I pull the engine and inspect it and bearings look good,crank is fine,and I’m sure the camshaft is good,I do know about 15 years ago the PO replaced the cam,and stock cam at that,and that was About 5k miles ago,other than that the engine was stock,if block is good,might just put a different cam in it,replace rings bearings and maybe even new pistons,and save that money toward my 200-4R tranny.

 

Yea,this is a ole school,type machine shop,although been in business over 30 years,I’m pretty sure they’re age not riding anything down,but they know heads,and engine blocks,and they do things the same way for 30 years,they are deep in the country,and they do good work from what I’ve heard,and is going to only do what you ask for.but I told him I wanted him to get my block ready for a 383 swap,and he said $425. I was assuming he would hot bath and clean before you did any cutting,or am I wrong.

 

I wouldn't be so sure about that.... No harm in asking what that $425 entails - they should be happy to tell you - so don't assume or guess. These guys are not gods, so you can question what they are including in that price, without fear of reprisal. It's not like they are going to yell "No soup for you!" and throw you out.

You can't assume that hot tanking is included, as boring and honing is approx $50 per cylinder (obviously, prices vary by shop and region, but this is a good ballpark), so with that, you're at $400 alone, and hot tanking is not cheap (the shop I used charges $300 just for the cleaning and magnafluxing).

 

Yep,I did and that included everything,cleaning boring and getting ready for crank,he said he’s done so many,and as you said depends where you are located,and he’s in the woods.lol

 

Wow. That's a pretty darned good price for that.

 

I think I saw someone say about 1200 dollars not sure if they were talking about the kit included or not,I think he was just talking about the machine work,and the lowest for a kit I’ve seen from Jegs or Summit was 900 and that is balanced,so a little over $1300 for everything.I still hadn’t decided what to do yet, I hate to replace stuff that doesn’t need,and already replaced everything from the heads up.
I do know that po as of his diary that In 2009 at about 75-77k miles on it. And it has 82k now.It say rebuild engine and replaced cam,lifters,timing chain,pulley,seals and hoses,and radiator,water pump,so not sure if bearings were replaced or rings,so first want to pull the motor and ****** pan off and check crank and replace bearings and go from there,if all is good I do want to replace cam,as Inthink he replaced it with a stock cam.

 

haha. I'm the guy that overpaid for the $1200 machine work, and that did not include the 383 stroker kit. The balanced 383 Eagle rotating assembly I bought (B15405E040) cost just under $900 a few months ago.

After all is said and done, I've got about 3.5-$4K in this motor (I already have all the parts I need to build it), which includes the machine shop work. I am building the motor based on the Blueprint Engines 383 stroker. Since my block is bored .040 over, it'll actually be a tad bigger, at 385ci.

 

Yea,live and learn I guess,but he charged $300 more than the kit cost,and I think it came with a lot of parts also.

 

I had another guy quoted me a price for machine,which includes balancing $883.00 so doubled what the other guy told me,and this guy does everything.and from what I heard is great,and he does build a lot of race engines.so,even though he’s more than doubled I feel more comfortable him doing it.

 

For a hot tank, magnaflux, and bore/hone of all 8 cylinders, that seems more realistic. Honestly, I've never heard of a shop doing all the work you mentioned for $450, as quoted by the original shop you wrote about. There's just no way. That's 'my brother owns a machine shop and he's giving me a huge discount' kind of deal.

And they don't write anything down? C'mon. That wreaks of 'Cmon, dont bs me!' sentiment.

When a price seems too good to be true, it almost invariably is...

 

I want to save and just put the stock engine up for the next owner,but had a friend give me a block but after looking at the block number it’s out of a 1987-1995 car,so will this block as far as motor mounts,or will have to stay with a first generation. And it’s also a 1 piece rear main seal block.

 

Is this a "638" block ? Does it have provision for a fuel pump pushrod, some just need to be drilled thru (not a big deal) ? It may possibly have the bosses that can be drilled and tapped for the factory roller lifter setup. The one piece rear main seal is also a bonus.
Does the block have the lifter bores machined flat on their top , or just the rough cast finish as on the older blocks ?
Motor mount provisions will be the same as all gen I & 2 blocks.
The later design blocks usually have shorter cylinders.

 

Yea,the last 3 digits 14093638 is the number on the block,so,I could use it other than a few modifications.

 

And they are rough cast finish.