The rebuild on my heads was $1000 USD ($1500 Cdn) and that it was done in some guys home shop (full head machine shop in his garage). Don't forget water pump, cam kit, etc. It does add up.
How much should a basic 340 rebuild cost?
- Thread starter BlueSwinger
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Dartswinger70
Well-Known Member
I spent $700 last year on J heads. Valve job guides etc. straight rebuild nothing special.
I think that's on the cheap side. After 50+ years mine needed everything. Typically you can almost buy aluminum heads for the price of a rebuild...at least around here.
We had a really good NAPA machine shop in Perry, Georgia years ago. It was run by a retired WWII aircraft machinist.
What I would do is try and befriend a machine shop. I have a couple near me. One, I've known the owner literally all my life. He doesn't like doing automotive gas work anymore, but he will for me if they can get to it. I also will offer to help in the shop if they need it....and they always do. He knows I can still do most machine work and I usually mill a head or two or do a valve job, or I've even swept up. Just anything to help. You'd be surprised how far that kinda thing goes.
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Yeah that what I'm hoping for stock build for around 4k
Now if your hp build sure 7 to 10
Now if your hp build sure 7 to 10
Hardened seats is a few more $$
Unless your using a fuel addive...
i'd love to see an itemized receipt on that.
i just built out a quick and dirty summit cart for a stock rebuild and it was damn near 2K, and i'm sure i forgot some things and stuffs. and that's before machine work on the block and whatever the heads need.
while i don't doubt you could do it for 4K, i think that would be the exception not the norm. the last few i've done have been in the 5+ range and weren't anything special.
I haven't ran the numbers in a while now, but the last time I did I sat down and made me a list of everything I would need I called a couple of machine shops for the cost of machine work and the bill was around 5 grand and that was for a 318 and nothing fancy.
Wow your going to make me cry...
I never ask ....my guy i know he treats me well
I guess I'll post when he's done but I'm a year away
I never ask ....my guy i know he treats me well
I guess I'll post when he's done but I'm a year away
MOPAROFFICIAL
If it has tits, it's a liabilititty.
There's a shop in town that charges
$450 block bored, honed, cleaned, all core and cam bearings installed ready to assemble.
$200 to grind the crankshaft
$14 a rod to resize, chrome moly bolts extra , press fitting pistons extra.
$500 to recon the heads w hard seats, new valves/springs or up graded hardware is extra
Balance assembly $200-450, even less if its just weight removed, like with today's pistons.
Basic parts, pistons, rings, rod n main bearings, gaskets, camshaft n lifters, timing chain. A book... and a socket set n a torque wrench.
People proudly post memes of the guy back in the 70s doing a motor swap in the street after an all night budweiser build.. chest pounding the good ole days.. then come off with all this precision machinist building. LoL
Im all for nerding out and fantasizing race motor aspirations in a street car that gets driven on weekends... but let's keep our feet on the ground some. The factory put out stuff that was marginal to today's most basic machine packages.. and it ran forever.
Now back to your bone stock 10k 340 build from 20 yrs ago...
$450 block bored, honed, cleaned, all core and cam bearings installed ready to assemble.
$200 to grind the crankshaft
$14 a rod to resize, chrome moly bolts extra , press fitting pistons extra.
$500 to recon the heads w hard seats, new valves/springs or up graded hardware is extra
Balance assembly $200-450, even less if its just weight removed, like with today's pistons.
Basic parts, pistons, rings, rod n main bearings, gaskets, camshaft n lifters, timing chain. A book... and a socket set n a torque wrench.
People proudly post memes of the guy back in the 70s doing a motor swap in the street after an all night budweiser build.. chest pounding the good ole days.. then come off with all this precision machinist building. LoL
Im all for nerding out and fantasizing race motor aspirations in a street car that gets driven on weekends... but let's keep our feet on the ground some. The factory put out stuff that was marginal to today's most basic machine packages.. and it ran forever.
Now back to your bone stock 10k 340 build from 20 yrs ago...
$750 for the Enginetech master kit, comes with cam, lifters, pistons, timing chain, oil pump, gaskets, rings and bearings.
Not bad for a basic build.
did a bunch of those, still got the beer cans.
All i got is scaresdid a bunch of those, still got the beer cans.
74RRunner
Active Member
This is my receipt for the machine work and some of the parts. The shop offered a bit of a discount on labor if I got the parts through them.
I also went with new heads, so I don't know what it would cost to get those done.
I am assuming, for the sake of this conversation that when we say "basic rebuild" we are reusing most of the parts we already have except for things like oil pump and timing chain that may be fine to reuse, but you should probably get them while you're at it.
Dont forget prices are regional....
Im sure prices in cali are more then in wv
Im sure prices in cali are more then in wv
Dartswinger70
Well-Known Member
I used to call it one of three things, Overhaul, Rebuild , Balance and Blueprint. The latter was serious racer stuff. actually weighing and measuring tolerances to an exact spec etc. but then re ring and bearings cam and gaaskets etc you could do at home thats an overhaul. rebuild just required machine work etc.
I remember rebuilding engines back in the day and we didn't have them balanced. They ran fine and didn't vibrate or shake. I'm not saying that it's not necessary or a good idea.
I'm sorry, my bad. I have crs.
just because you did something one way, don't mean it's the right way to do it.
maybe you got lucky. maybe it was balanced and you just didn't know because they didn't specifically say so.
ANYWAY i'll say it again, so you can hear it up in the cheap seats: just because you've always done it that way, don't mean it's right.
how can you have CRS when you NKS to start with?
i'm more intrigued by the items that are suspiciously absent from the dossier...
74RRunner
Active Member
I'm sure they are. And they would vary from shop to shop as well.
I will answer any specific questions to the best of my abilities.
I am not trying to start anything here, I am just trying to answer the initial question and get real world numbers together for all the guys wringing their hands and lamenting that everything is prohibitively expensive.
If someone shops around for their machinist and parts, I believe that a decent job can be done within a reasonable budget.
i don't doubt that, but when you post up a receipt that's missing about 1K in components that are generally replaced in the course of a rebuild it's a little less of a real world representation.
74RRunner
Active Member
Which parts? I will happily fill in the blanks.
Timing chain and gears came from hughes, but a set can be had from summit for anywhere from $40 to $200 dollars.
Oil pump and gaskets came from O'Reilly's. I don't remember what they cost but a pump can be had from summit for $55, and a gasket kit for around $100.
go on ahead and fill 'em in then.
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