Little Advise Please .

Hello im pretty new on here , but i need some help , see i have a 351 cleveland 2v and been going on with a rebuild for a little while now , and so far its all been down here from there , first i found out i had to bore my motor out .060 because one of my cylinder walls where so screwed up and needed a new sleeve , and then My crankshaft was all ate up so i had to buy a new one of those also.Last but not least my mechanic gave me the final cost that was in the $400's . What do you think is that to high , after all he did work my heads , bore and hone, sleeve, and install motor back together what do you guys think?? Also what do you think about boring it over that much???

If your mechanic is doing a halfway decent job, he must like you alot. LOL Thats awful cheap for all that work if its done right. I wouldnt let him see this thread, it would probably piss him off.

Lets address your machine work. If the cylinder had a sleeve installed in the bad cylinder, you would only have to bore that one cylinder. That would make it seem closeer to the price. If he says he bored and sleeved all the cylinders the the rest for that price, then he lied about what he did and I wouldn't trust his work.

Cylinder sleeves are about $20 a pop. Machining the cylinders is about $20 per plus at least 8 hours work. Rebuilding cylinder heads whitout any extra parts is about $100 minimum plus almost another day. New crankshaft will be $100 minium. Gaskets are going to be $150+ and then you need coolant, oil, and filters. Assembly will be at least another day or two. Normal labor rates are $30 to $60 per hour. If he spent 3 days the labor at $30 per hour should be $700 labor. If he charged $10 labor would be $240.

This guy either works for nothing or didn't do everything he said he did.

Line me up with the folks that say 'You can't get that much work done for $400-500"

I also disagree with some of the price break downs - "Machining the cylinders is about $20 per" - I don't think that's possible. Used to charge $20 to rebuild brake slave cylinders and that didn't take any machining

We have a list of charges:

Sleeve cylinder $100

Bore/hone 20 per cyl.
(for performance, using deck plate, add $75)

Grind Crank 120 (stock grind, performance work extrta)

Valve grind, V8 140 (stock, "comp" valve grind, $200 with standard size valves, 250 to "oversize" seats)

Resurface heads (pair) 90

Assemble "long block" $500.

Sounds like you got a SCREAMIN' DEAL!!! Those prices are strictly labor. Parts are additional. And our shop is in a lower-price labor market ($60 per hour, national average is near 80). The BIG question now is: "Will it live?"

It is considered risky to bore a Ford past .040". It should be sonic-tested first. Agreed, ALL the cylinders didn't need to go to .060" just because one needed a sleeve. If it was already .030" and "beat", it should have been replaced.

Jim

I bought a rebuilt short block about 10years ago and it was close to $750.00.
The block was cracked and I had to pay a core charge.
I don't know what he is doing but parts cost more than this to rebuild.
If boring,all new pistons,one sleeve,turn crank,new bearings,oil pump,gaskets,freeze plugs,valve job,plus any parts needed for head.
I always found it cost me more for parts than a short block.