How hard to rebuild motor, and how much????

[slayerripkdc]

I have 115k on my 95 vert and want to go with some boost!!!!! I am thinking less then 9lbs but I want the bottom end to last. So is it hard to rebuild a motor your self if you ahve never done it before???? Also how much do shops usually charged to rebuild 302's when the whole motor is in the car and how much do the kits usually cost?

 

[MadPony]

personally I would go to ebay and buy a shortblock, a lot of performance houses have good deals now. I would make sure you get references, before you buy though.

Then take you heads to a local machine shop, and have them ported and polished. If you take the motor out yourself and install it yourself you should be looking aroung 3k (ball park) for stock motor.

Now that being said, I just finally stripped my old motor down last weekend took it out last spring with 340K on it. Damn I was impressed. The cleanest motor I have ever seen. I could literally have honed it put new rings and breaing in and thrown it back together.

 

[Adam95GT]

:OT:

personally I would go to ebay and buy a shortblock, a lot of performance houses have good deals now. I would make sure you get references, before you buy though.

Then take you heads to a local machine shop, and have them ported and polished. If you take the motor out yourself and install it yourself you should be looking aroung 3k (ball park) for stock motor.

Now that being said, I just finally stripped my old motor down last weekend took it out last spring with 340K on it. Damn I was impressed. The cleanest motor I have ever seen. I could literally have honed it put new rings and breaing in and thrown it back together.

yea thats the way to do it or just buy a low milage used one...

DAMN 340k makes me feel good about my 206k stocker. Were you running mods on that?

 

[smitty_64]

Believe me, get references...I am still dealing with driveability and HP issues and that was from a friend.

 

[Stanger007]

The 302 engines are easy to rebuild, but if you are looking for horsepower, I'd spend a little extra cash and pay someone reputable that does this a bunch.

I rebuilt the engine in my Mach 1 - it runs great, but it's just a cruiser. Next year for my 95 (that I race) I will be paying for a short block.

Peace of mind goes a long way in my book.

My 2c,
Wes

 

[Zero Signal]

Seriously, save your money and get one built by a good builder or you could go with a mail order from a popular builder like CHP, DSS, Bennett etc. I would probably shy away from Ebay, but that's just my opinion.

 

[94Blue302GT]

rebuilding is a piece of cake!!!!
Do it on a weekend if you're good.
And it doesn't cost a whole lot if you're just doing bearings and rings and such.
Go ahead and buy a 331 stroker kit if ya feel like gutting the thing. Believe me, you like power, you just don't know it yet.

 

[MadPony]

The only issue you will have is putting new cam bearings in, other than that it is easy. Do not try it without a proper cam bearing installation tool. They are only abbout 100 bucks, but its worth the money if you get one in crooked.

Still for the amount of effort, by the time you get the motor out, and back in. that is a full weekend. Having personally built my last one, and the prices of the strokers out there. Next time I am definately buying one built.

 

[ProKiller]

back to your original question....
is your block showing any signs of wear now?
looking at your combo now though, that b-cam doesn't respond well to boost, that's designed for N/A motors. the 4.10s will be hard to control under boost especially since your manual.

if it was me, i would hold off on the boost until you get the supporting hardware up to snuff. heads/new cam/intake and gears.

hey wait what's this, a stock block ready for rebuild with a f-cam great for blower ready to ship out the door listed in my sig for sale? unbelivable!!

 

[BlackVert]

i don't know of any shop that will rebuild a motor while it is in the car.

i plan on rebuilding my 302 just for the experience after the 410 is put in. if you shop around on corral, you can sometimes find good deals on 331 and 347 kits. i just got a CHP 331 kit from a guy on corral (without crank and rings) for $300 shipped. and the pistons are already pressed on. add a 331 crank and new rings and bearings, and i'm looking at about $600 ready to go.

i have no idea what i'll do with it when i am done, because i will already have my engine in my car. so i'll probably get it dynoed and end up selling it at cost over on corral. but that is probably 3-6 months away. i already have some ported windsor senior heads and a typhoon intake for it.

or coasthigh.com has a sale on 347 kits now, $799 iirc.

http://www.coasthigh.com/Specials/Specials_current.htm

from reading about it, it looks like the most time consuming part is fitting the rings.

if you are going rebuild the bottom end, you should do it right. that is the hardest part to fix later.

i would get the block bored .030 over in addition to the honing while it was out; then, you know the cylinders are all perfectly round. don't go over .030 over or the block's strength is compromised. you should also have the main journals checked because they might need honing. it would suck to rebuild it and have problems because the main bearings were out of round.

i'd have the machine shop install the cam bearings. they should charge less than the price of the tool.

people usually have the block decked too while it is out, to make sure the cylinder head surfaces are perfectly flat.

other machine shop costs you might not be aware of are balancing the rotating assembly and align honing if you plan to use a girdle. lastly, most shops recommend honing with a torque plate because that way the cylinders are the way they would be with heads on them during the honing, which makes for better honing and therefore better ring sealing. honing with a torque plate usually costs more than without the torque plate.

finally, when i was going 331 originally, i found this. m&r engines seems very respectable and the price on their economy 331 is very good. they must get great discounts on their kits.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FORD...005QQitemZ150064617502QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW