R23HTC

First, I'm not doing this myself. Don't have the time, space, equipment, or patience. Tried once before on a Fiero and said never again.

Second, about $1000 will be going for labor on the rebuild. I've check several places around in this area, and that's a pretty decent price. Opinions welcome.

Third, since it looks like I'm going to have ruffly $2000 left to spend on parts. What do you all recommend I do? I've been debating the possiblilty of doing a 383 on the bottom end. Wasn't at first, but now........well, I think I'd have more potential in the long run. Upper end would be a lot easier to modify in the future than re-doing the bottom end.

Info on car:

Right now it's a bit over 145k. It appears that I have a bad rod bearing. (whatever that is) I'm not much on the bottom end.

I've been advised to this point to rebuild the bottom end, at least do a good valve job, new springs (and whatever they require), and a new cam.

Now, all input will greatly be appreciated. Just keep in mind, I'm on a very tight budget. Also, the car is "fairly stock" right now. Check the sig.

R23HTC

Also, should add that this is a daily driver and needs to be EXTREMELY reliabe when finished. No temper mental thing wanted.

ChrisB

We have done 383 shortblocks for just a hair over 2000 (eagle crank, rods, je/srp pistons, speed-pro moly rings, clevite H bearings, etc.).

With 150k on your rods I would really recommend getting new ones, and that's what's going to put you over the mark. At a minimum you would have to get them re-sized and new rod bolts.

Any 383 you get for 2000 isn't going to be the best quality piece - maybe a poor balance, or they don't use a torque plate when boring the motor, don't check clearances just do an assembly, etc.

I think the only way you are going to come in on budget is if you use stock rod, crank, and probably a keith black piston.

You could do the 383 shortblock for close to your budget, but this doesn't figure in valve job, cam, springs, etc. The other stickler is with a 383 you are going to want ported heads. This is something you could of course do later - if you want to do the bottom end "right", but you will be hurting your performance potential a bit (still better than the stocker of course though)!

The 1000 dollar price is high if that's just the engine "swap", and is low if that includes swap, assembly, balance, machine work, etc. The assembly, balance, machine work is going to run you from 800-1000 (if it is all done right), and a motor swap labor rate is normally 300-500.

LouisBarton

I bought my 92 used with a jasper engines long block. This one has about 30k on it and runs flawlessly. Their oem rebuilds, even the LT1 come with a 36k/36 month warranty. As Chris said, the installation of a long block will be much less than $1000. Take pictures of the engine before you pull it and take your own notes. Even good shops are not necessarily familar with your car unless they are a special;ty shop like Speeed Demons. Jasper is nationwide, the number is 1-800-827-7455. Also call ATK, don't now their current number. My brother, Jeff Stull, is head of engineering at ATK in Covington KY. He made his rep doing heads for drag and marine motors for many years and knows the Corvette engines very well. ATK also warranties their engines.

-=Jeff=-

R94 LT 1,

If I lived anywhere near you.. I would offer to help you pull the motor and replace it to help on the labor cost.

Maybe you could ask Vette92 or any of the other guys near you for some help. This way you can get a little better assembly for what the labor would cost.

I think you are making a wise decision on going with a 383. Since it is a daily driver and such.. I know that Northern Auto Parts has some good deals on internal parts. I bought my crank for my current 350 from them and plan on buying one for my 400 from them when the time is right. I think I paid around $1000 for my block to get machined and assembled (with a warranty) I pulled it out and dropped it in too. If you like I could look for my receipts and give you an idea on cost. Even though I am up near Chicago I would not expect the costs to be more there then what I paid.

R23HTC

Okay, to clear this up, the $1000 is for pulling it/replacing it and the disassembly/reassembly of it. It doesn't include the machine work.

brent_anderson

Try Competition Machine in Plano, Mickey does his own machining and will be willing to work with you on price. He did my vet after my sister in-law melted the engine (long story) and you can not even tell the motor was out of the car.

Brent

Bored, Balanced, Blueprinted, ported and polished.

R23HTC

TTT, not that these responses were bad, I'd just like to see MORE!

R23HTC

TTT, anyone?

GlockLT4

Competition Machine in Plano: Have a phone number for them anywhere handy?