Short block question

1Bad88notch

New Member
Oct 4, 2005
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Leesburg,FL
I recently blew a head gasket and now have my engine torn apart and debating weather to have my block bored out or just to buy a short block. Does anybody have an idea about how much it would cost to have it bored with new rods and pistons. I'm also on a budget and not looking to go overboard with it. If you have any ideas please let me know.
Thanks, Dan
 
1Bad88notch said:
I recently blew a head gasket and now have my engine torn apart and debating weather to have my block bored out or just to buy a short block. Does anybody have an idea about how much it would cost to have it bored with new rods and pistons. I'm also on a budget and not looking to go overboard with it. If you have any ideas please let me know.
Thanks, Dan

These days it is usually cheaper to get a short block. By the time you deck the block, align bore the mains, buy new parts, etc. you usually spend more than a DSS or CHP short block. The local guys just don't do the volume to compete.
 
take everything apart, measure and inspect everything, and evaluate from there. It might just need a re-ring and re-bearing. But then again it depends on how fast you want to go, and is that going to support your needs?
 
Unless severely beaten, most engines can get away with just a rebore and hone job. Inspect and measure things carefull before throwing something a machinst's way and saying "do this.............". Also check the crosshatch on the cylinder walls, do they look fairly visible still? How do the bearing and bearing surfaces look? How was the engine running before the incident? What kind of abuse was this engine subjected to? How many miles? These are some of the questions you should be bale to answer to know something ugly isn't hiding.

For what it is worth though, I paid an extremely competent race engine builder (and friend/co-worker) $175 to bore it, hone it, and shave the deck surfaces to clean it up. When I measured things after I got the block back, each cylinder was +/- .001" from all the usual measuring points, so............

You would also be surprised what you can reuse though, just thouroughly inspect and have things measured, the truth to what "needs" to be done will be in the numbers.
 
I am kinda in the same boat. I have a engine with 181K and to just get the short block bored out to a 306, it would cost me $500. That number does not include the cost for parts, labor and so on. I would go to ebay and do a search, I found a 306 or 308 short block with stock internals for around $700 plus shipping.
 
How many miles? Is their blow-by? (oil on the plugs/combustion chamber).

It cost me right at $2,000 to have a 306 done...it is pretty much cheaper to go with a built shortblock already...
 
There is a person on Ebay that sells 306 shortblocks for 699.99 + freight.... Shipped to my door it would be $847.... That's cheap for a completly rebuilt shortblock.... That's the way i'm going when I get the money....
 
Ive talked to that guy on ebay (prime performance), i told him what i wanted to do and he was trying to steer me in a diffferent direction. I told him i wanted forged piston because i might want to run nitrious on it later. He told me that the hypereutectic pistons would be fine, I told him i heard if your running a 150 shot or over you should get forged pistons. To me it sounds like hes trying to make a sale. IM going to go to the local machine shop and tell them what i want and see what they can do for me.
 
He offers upgraded forged pistons I believe...

Bigger Bore: FREE .040 over (308) or .060 over (310)

Camshaft upgrade: $189.95

Forged Pistons: $349.95

Hypereutectic Pistons: $189.95



I'm just wondering.. What pistons does he use if hypereutectic and forged are upgrades?
 
You usually get what you pay for. Buy a cheap engine, you probally will get a cheap engine. What's more expensive, doing it once right, or once wrong then the next time doing it right.

The hyper argument, I don't know, the block will probally be the limiting factor, not the pistons. The forged pistons might make a more impressive hole in the block than the hypers.