Obviously what your building, your power goals, your budget, the basic engine family your working with, and the extent you intend to go to insure its reliable, will determine a great deal of what you will want too do, during any engine build and what components you have to choose from and the cost of those components.!
depending on the quality of the components selected and the extent of the work required and the type of work required most shops will charge a minimum of $500-$600 for the assembly of a stock street engine, not including machine work or gaskets or parts required, once you start into performance applications your easily going to double, or triple that at a MINIMUM. just for the balance and assembly work, thats still less parts and any machine work
I get asked frequently about what I charge to build an engine, well the truth is I really don,t charge much , as I enjoy helping out and I rarely make more than $300 on the whole deal, and I generally won,t start until we have agreed on the intended use for the engine, its rough power goal, the parts to be used in the build, and we won,t start till we have the discussed parts list .and have those parts are on site, but in that process, which requires a constant step by step, approach, where every component used is discussed , purchased ,and its fit function and clearances are checked and verified, theres a logical process thats followed. I generally have the satisfaction of knowing I helped both educate someone on how to properly build an engine and in the vast majority of cases I make a good friend and a life long repeat customer as we both learn to enjoy the engine builds and see the results.
the owner of the engine buys the parts and pays for the machine work, done off site,and we generally come to some mutually agreeable arrangement as to any payment for my guidance in the process is usually based on the time it takes and whats required,during the build before we begin.
Now you can read a hundred magazine articles and if you do, youll quickly get the idea that, any guy with a few wrenches and a spare weekend can throw some parts together and build a 500hp small block chevy in his drive way, for under $4000, well the truth is some what different and if you expect an engine to live for awhile, it generally requires some careful detail work, and quality parts, careful assembly and decent components carefully fitted and clearanced, theres a great deal of difference between a crate engine you buy that makes 300hp for $2000 and a kick butt custom hot rod 406-or 454 chevy or 383-440 mopar engine, that makes 500-600hp plus that can easily have $8000 in parts and $2000 in machine work in the build, and a great deal has to do with the expected long term durability of the engine and its whole power curve, not just its peak power.
(keep in mind that cost is for parts and machine work, generally not including labor which is usually added on later to the cost total, so learning to do as much of the assembly as you can, yourself , helps lower the total expense and adds to your knowledge)
I generally simply have the guy who wants the engine built, buy the parts, and we carefully check all the dimensions and clearances and I suggest various local machine shops he can have necessary machine work done at if I can,t do it with the tools I have, and he will pay that machine shop for their services and we will check and confirm the quality of the work but that doesn,t mean the cost won,t add up fast, and the expense incurred won,t be much higher than most guys think it will be before we start, because most guys have no idea whats involved or what needs to be checked or how expensive the required machine work is, nor do they understand the time required to check and verify, or the care and time it takes to do it correctly. as a comparison,of the common machine work costs and how they rapidly add up,
we had a great thread on the process that detailed a great deal of this you should read thru, when RICK built his T-bucket SMALL BLOCK ENGINE
viewtopic.php?f=69&t=3814
heres a good thread with several links on valve jobs
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=8596&p=30222&hilit=valve+job+cost#p30222
viewtopic.php?f=51&t=3169
http://www.vortecproperformance.com/eng ... tions.html
HERES A QUOTE FROM CARL on the cost of a 540 big block short block assembly
Carl[/quote]
ILL POST A LIST OF RELATED LINKS BELOW, YEAH LOTS OF READING YOU PROBABLY WILL IGNORE BUT IF YOU TAKE THE TIME IT WILL SAVE YOU A GREAT DEAL OF WASTED TIME AND MONEY LATER
depending on the quality of the components selected and the extent of the work required and the type of work required most shops will charge a minimum of $500-$600 for the assembly of a stock street engine, not including machine work or gaskets or parts required, once you start into performance applications your easily going to double, or triple that at a MINIMUM. just for the balance and assembly work, thats still less parts and any machine work
I get asked frequently about what I charge to build an engine, well the truth is I really don,t charge much , as I enjoy helping out and I rarely make more than $300 on the whole deal, and I generally won,t start until we have agreed on the intended use for the engine, its rough power goal, the parts to be used in the build, and we won,t start till we have the discussed parts list .and have those parts are on site, but in that process, which requires a constant step by step, approach, where every component used is discussed , purchased ,and its fit function and clearances are checked and verified, theres a logical process thats followed. I generally have the satisfaction of knowing I helped both educate someone on how to properly build an engine and in the vast majority of cases I make a good friend and a life long repeat customer as we both learn to enjoy the engine builds and see the results.
the owner of the engine buys the parts and pays for the machine work, done off site,and we generally come to some mutually agreeable arrangement as to any payment for my guidance in the process is usually based on the time it takes and whats required,during the build before we begin.
Now you can read a hundred magazine articles and if you do, youll quickly get the idea that, any guy with a few wrenches and a spare weekend can throw some parts together and build a 500hp small block chevy in his drive way, for under $4000, well the truth is some what different and if you expect an engine to live for awhile, it generally requires some careful detail work, and quality parts, careful assembly and decent components carefully fitted and clearanced, theres a great deal of difference between a crate engine you buy that makes 300hp for $2000 and a kick butt custom hot rod 406-or 454 chevy or 383-440 mopar engine, that makes 500-600hp plus that can easily have $8000 in parts and $2000 in machine work in the build, and a great deal has to do with the expected long term durability of the engine and its whole power curve, not just its peak power.
(keep in mind that cost is for parts and machine work, generally not including labor which is usually added on later to the cost total, so learning to do as much of the assembly as you can, yourself , helps lower the total expense and adds to your knowledge)
I generally simply have the guy who wants the engine built, buy the parts, and we carefully check all the dimensions and clearances and I suggest various local machine shops he can have necessary machine work done at if I can,t do it with the tools I have, and he will pay that machine shop for their services and we will check and confirm the quality of the work but that doesn,t mean the cost won,t add up fast, and the expense incurred won,t be much higher than most guys think it will be before we start, because most guys have no idea whats involved or what needs to be checked or how expensive the required machine work is, nor do they understand the time required to check and verify, or the care and time it takes to do it correctly. as a comparison,of the common machine work costs and how they rapidly add up,
we had a great thread on the process that detailed a great deal of this you should read thru, when RICK built his T-bucket SMALL BLOCK ENGINE
viewtopic.php?f=69&t=3814
heres a good thread with several links on valve jobs
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=8596&p=30222&hilit=valve+job+cost#p30222
viewtopic.php?f=51&t=3169
http://www.vortecproperformance.com/eng ... tions.html
HERES A QUOTE FROM CARL on the cost of a 540 big block short block assembly
CARL said:On a big block that goes through my shop this is what is done.
Caps and hardware are removed and main housing bores are chamfered. Some want main studs caps are retorqued and the main line is line honed to at least to middle of the spec and some builders want the mains to the high spec,
Oil galley holes are tapped deeper
Core plug holes are chamfered along with rear cam plug hole
Block is decked to zero or what the customer wants
If boring is needed cylinders are bored to with in .005 of final size
95% of the blocks I machine the customers seem to be going to the .904 lifters now, No matter what size I have lifters in hand and fit to the bores.
Fuel pump oil return is poened up.
Bottom of cylinders are chamfered
Plate honed using the same hardware and gasket that will be used in the end build
Block is jet washed and oil galley holes are brused out
I just sent a 540 build out the door machined the lifter bores for '904 Morel lifters
Balanced Callies rotator, crank, H-beam compstar 6.385 rods, 10CC dome Mahle pistons, ACL rod and main bearings.
Rods come with L-19 bolts. Rods were broke down and retorqued and checked for size. Pin end was fit to wrist pins rods were checked for bend and twist.
Pin bores in pistons were checked for sizing.
Crank was micro polished
Supplied Morel .904 lifters
Used GM-12 cam bearings with 2 holes installed
Brass freeze plugs and dowel pins installed
All customer needed to do is paint the block, fit rings and bearings.
This is truely ready to install engine kit.
This went out the door for 6995.00 with freight [/b]
My kit went out the door for 2715.00 more. Block needed no extra work, Cam bearings installed cleaned ready to go.
Block was machned for .904 lifters and Morel lifters were supplied.
Rotator was ready to assemble.
If anything was missed let me know?
Compare and let me know
Carl[/quote]
ILL POST A LIST OF RELATED LINKS BELOW, YEAH LOTS OF READING YOU PROBABLY WILL IGNORE BUT IF YOU TAKE THE TIME IT WILL SAVE YOU A GREAT DEAL OF WASTED TIME AND MONEY LATER