Am I spending to much money???....

[CHEVY & GMC FOREVER]

O.K. yesterday I brought my 350 motor (completely taken apart) to be rebuilt. Anyway this guy who is rebuilding it wants 2,000 $$ for this to be done, Hot tanked ( get all grease and paint off motor), boring motor .030 over or 358 cubic inches, Compition Cam - Lifters, Roller Timing Chain, New Valves/Springs, Deck Block, Mill Heads, Degree Cam, Mild Porting, Clean up exhaust ports, New Pistons - Bearings ETC., Balanced, and Blueprinted. The only reson I ask is I could buy a crate motor for that much and I'm wondering is it worth it ???????

[bigcdawg99]

No 502?

[CHEVY & GMC FOREVER]

I decided that rebuilding the 350 would be better and my wife had a little say in it to

[Longhorn Man]

I think that sounds a little high...but I'm cheap.
If the motor is only going .030 over, then it's just a 355.

[CHEVY & GMC FOREVER]

Only 355 oh I thought it was 358 sorry

[superchevy]

A new GM crate 350 is $1500.
You're getting more cubes, a Comp valvetrain, ported heads, blueprinting and balance for $2000..
SC

[CHEVY & GMC FOREVER]

so this is the right thing to do?.

[69 Short Fleet]

Just tell your wife a 396/402/454/502 is more rare than bigfoot... and their starting to run out of them... and it will make her look 10 years younger when she's driving it... and their super economical at the gaspump... and lie, lie, & lie some more....... and make sure she doesn't read this post (lol) (just kidding)

[VetteVet]

What kind of rep has this guy got? If he is talking balancing and blue printing he must mean static balancing because dynamic balancing takes some pretty expensive equipment. All that machining work drives the cost up so I'd say if he's good and stands behind his work it's well worth it. Besides being local he can help you with reassembly or any problems later on.

VetteVet

[gonebad2]

That's a fair price for a rebuild...That's alot of labor for the rebuilder. Plus, you are getting a better engine than the low end stock replacement GM crate. If the rebuilder is good, he'll make sure everything is to spec. The low end GM crate engines are mass produced in Mexico. I would think an experienced engine builder takes a little more pride vs the production line in Mexico.

[67_C-30]

...IF the builder is reputable and has the knowledge of building the right combination. I would ask for specs of the cam he intends to use before you turn it over. Many people "overcam" a basically stock engine which is usually renders the engine not as powerful as it would be with a stock cam. Just make sure the cam is compatible with what you want out the truck, and compatible with gears and stall speed if is an auto tranny.

[farside847]

I paid $1600 plus parts to have my 307 rebuilt. But I wanted to keep it numbers matching, so I didnt have much of a choice besides pulling it myself.

[dave3156]

Price sounds good. Make sure he has references. Ask to talk to other people who he did rebuilds for. If everything checks out go for it. Its getting hard to find anyone who will do porting anymore because of the time it takes to do it right. You will end up with a great custom engine. Take lots of pictures as he rebuilds then post them so we can enjoy it too!

[mrein3]

It depends on what you are getting for $2000. If the $2000 is for a completely assembled engine with a guy standing behind it you're ok. If it is a box of parts out of the machine shop I think it is high.

Like Chevydude said, for what you are doing you may as well find a 400 crank and do a 383. For about the same money you get more cubes.

I recently did a 383. About the only thing I didn't do is the heads. I ended up putting $75 to the heads because my machine shop guy said they needed guides. The heads had a valve job done 15,000 miles ago. The valve job was $100/side about 4 years ago.

I was busy with work last fall so I had the machine shop guy put the bottom end together for $75.

Obviously excel doesn't copy well into html but from the stuff below I think you'll get the picture.

The $317 383 "kit" is probably close to what the same thing would be for a 350 rebuild. What you are left with in differences between the two rebuilds is the crank shaft. The $200 I spent on that was for one that was ready to drop in. Your 350 crank probably needs 100 or so dollars worth of machine work before it goes back in.

383 related parts & labor:
Crankshaft $200.00
400 Balancer (used) $30.00
Balance job $200.00
Cut con rods for cam clearance $20.00
400 flywheel $30.00
clearance block for con rod clearance $15.00
ARP con rod bolts $38.00
Oil pumpdrive $8.00
Oil pumpsump $9.00
"Performance engine Kit: Sealed power moly rings, Fel pro gaskets, con rod bearings, main bearings, cam bearings, block plugs, 383 pistons, three piece timing set, oil pump" $317.00
R&R block plugs $10.00
degrease block $35.00
deck block $50.00
bore & deck-plate hone cyl(s) $80.00
deck-plate charge $10.00
"Remove, install, & fit cam bearings " $25.00
Recon con rods $80.00
Pin fit new pistons $28.00
Assemble short block $75.00
Sales tax $26.13
$1,286.13


BTW, the fresh 383 rocks. I had chains on all 4 tires yesterday and pulled my fish house anywhere I wanted to.

[ChevyDude]

.030 over and a 400 crank....= 383 cubes!!!

[Daubs]

Friend of my dad ran a machine shop back in the day. We pulled the 305 from my 82 K10 and had him rebuild it (remember, this was 1988).

One thing I remember him saying concerned balance and blueprinting. He said that drives the cost of a rebuild through the roof! Said he used to b&b his race engines back in the 70's and NEVER blew an engine. And I know him...he was really hard on his engines.

$2k for what you are getting sounds like a pretty good deal. Back in the late 80's this guy said for him to do complete rebuild (b&b, hone deck, all milling, new pistons, bearings, cam, lifter, valves, etc., etc., etc.,) it would run aroun $3,000.

[Scrubby]

Is it going to make 330 hp and 380 ft/lbs? Because you can get the brand new GMPP 330 hp 350 HO for $2450 from Sallee Chevrolet.

[woodchip]

I just talk to a local guy today about rebuilding a 396. He said around $2500. that was with allnew parts boring disasem and reasem.

[muddyole 69]

Is this the only guy near you doing engine work ? I bought a complete and ready to run 468 from a local engine shop for the balance owed by previous owner he and his other half split and the shop just wanted to get their money back they had in parts so I bought a 5500 dollar big block for 2500 with all the rcpts to verify what was done to motor and the shop was willing to stand behind it's work as if I was the one who paid the 5500. my advise check around and see whats available before jumping into a rebuild of your own you might get lucky just my 2 cents Mike

[4x4Poet]

I think a good $2k rebuild is cheap considering what I've paid in the past on car loan interest alone.