Jumping Head First Into Engine Repair Costs Is A Potentially Bottomless Pit

Grumpy

The Grumpy Grease Monkey mechanical engineer.
Staff member
I recently had a neighbors son ask me for advice on getting his 327 sbc engine rebuilt,
he had purchased a set of (CORVETTE HEADS)
unfortunately, they were off a 1984 crossfire corvette and are in rather a poor condition,
I advised him to look into acquiring much better heads,
and suggested strongly that he,
should be doing more research into his engine rebuild before purchasing any more parts,
and I advised him to not bothering with dumping cash into those particular, cylinder heads,
but he decided to get the "CORVETTE HEADS" he had rebuilt.
I pointed out that he should NOT be jumping head first into engine repair,
as cost that might be involved are a potentially bottomless pit,
that advice, of course, conflicted with his expectations,
and without a comprehensive list of firm machine shop quotes,
and a list of parts and a very detailed inspection of all the existing parts and machine work costs.
he was looking at a much more expensive project than he might envision.
this is one reason many people get discouraged,with this performance hobby.
even if they were the revered FUELIE HEADS,
thats a 60 year older cylinder head technology thats been far surpassed decades ago,

and yeah when I was much younger I hated hearing that I was about to screw-up
or my " plans" were unlikely to work out as I envisioned.
...
but with experience and research comes KNOWLEDGE and hopefully WISDOM
thats a very valid point, to consider, thinking things through before you open your wallet generally helps a great deal,
as there are a lot of much better heads that could rather easily boost performance significantly,
and that head repair work will most likely cost at least $300 plus.
well the cost he was quoted was about $370 to install screw in rocker studs,
get a valve job, and new valve seals .. and as frequently happens he gets a call a few days later ,
that his heads are in need of a few other bits of machine work,
like repairing the guides new springs decking etc. the end result was a bill for $530!
and he has not even started to look at the short block, or performance parts.
even if the #624 heads were new they would be best left off a performance engine build,
as other heads can easily provide enough better air flow that you could potentially gain 40-60 hp extra ,
with better heads and properly matched components


http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...-old-heads-in-the-scrap-bin.10728/#post-46832

just a bit of info on those stock #624 head flow rates

.......intake....exhaust
.100..44..........41cfm
.200..101..........82cfm
.300.155..........125cfm
.400..182..........137cfm
.500..196..........140cfm
read this
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/ccrp-1209-eight-budget-sbc-head-shootout/


http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ed-up-fuelie-heads-for-cheap.2099/#post-85190

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/the-new-215cc-vortec-heads.266/#post-75012

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ding-sbc-crate-engine-heads.13041/#post-69328

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...r-piston-dome-or-port-volume.2077/#post-61068

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ose-first-sbc-heads-you-buy.10910/#post-49203

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/sellecting-cylinder-heads.796/

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/ccrp-1209-eight-budget-sbc-head-shootout/

http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/engines-drivetrain/sucp-0705-budget-chevy-cylinder-heads/

http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/1905-upgrade-the-power-of-your-gen-i-small-block-chevy

https://www.chevyhardcore.com/tech-stories/engine/double-hump-heads-trick-flow/
 
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