Motor build cost.

[corvette8n]

Originally Posted by richard crow

still wounder why you see lots of early fords with chevy engs.

I think it's the hot rod magazine mentality, plus a lot of John Q Public were told flatheads overheated, and were all cracked. You don't know how many times I've heard at a car show "doesn't that overheat on you" to the flathead owner.

[PeterC]

Originally Posted by deuce_roadster

My stockers run about 4-5k, others about 10k. Blower motors are 2-3 times as much.

And I can attest above is just the beginning if you really get into extracting most HP and going "all out" parts and performance!

[texas webb]

Originally Posted by richard crow

still wounder why you see lots of early fords with chevy engs.

Easy,cheap,less work and spare parts in most auto corner stores.But nothing beats the look and sound of a flathead.

[flatford8]

Originally Posted by texas webb

Easy,cheap,less work and spare parts in most auto corner stores.But nothing beats the look and sound of a flathead.

Two and half times the horse power for half the money and its delivered to your door...... Mark

[apba12m]

I have 6K listed on the excel spread sheet, but that includes a couple of purchased engines that ended up being scrap and one good spare block. expensive lessons..

[Midnightcaper]

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Originally Posted by apba12m

I have 6K listed on the excel spread sheet, but that includes a couple of purchased engines that ended up being scrap and one good spare block. expensive lessons..

what is all new or reused?

[19Fordy]

All you folks building nice looking flatty's, please take a look at my
8BA coil bracket support to make your build "spiffy".
http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showth...e+coil+bracket

[flatjack9]

I don't see how you can rebuild any engine for half the price of a flathead build. Machine work is pretty much the same no matter what the engine. Sure parts are cheaper. But labor to build the engine should be similar. Now if you go buy fancy aftermarket parts, all bets are off. We're talking stock rebuild here.

[JSeery]

Originally Posted by flatjack9

I don't see how you can rebuild any engine for half the price of a flathead build. Machine work is pretty much the same no matter what the engine. Sure parts are cheaper. But labor to build the engine should be similar. Now if you go buy fancy aftermarket parts, all bets are off. We're talking stock rebuild here.

I few years ago I was purchasing HP 5.0 crate motors from Ford for well under $2K! I have rebuilt many OHV engines in the $3k or less range. Flatheads are way more expensive, at least for me, to rebuild. I would say a minimum of 3 to 4 times as much for comparable parts and machine work. The current one I am working on has $6k in parts before the machine work!

[flatjack9]

$6K in parts? For a stock rebuild?

[Ardun]

Well, this all sounds cheap when compared to building an ARDUN.

[Kahuna]

I have about 7K in the engine in my 32 Tudor.
Block fully pressure tested, magged & sonic checked
290 CI
Ross Pistons w/ metric ring pack
Merc crank offset ground
NOS 21A rods
All NOS Ford bearings
Fully balanced
Potvin 425 cam
Alum cam gear
Fully ported, no relief
Large intake valves
Isky springs
Center dump headers
Austin dual quad manifold w/ 2 Holley 4000 carbs
NOS Canadian C7RA heads
23# flywheel w/ diaphram clutch
Helmet distributor converted to electronic.
Far from a stock rebuild

[flatjack9]

Great engine, but as you say, far from stock.

[apba12m]

new parts on my motor are ,pistons, cam, valves,lifters,heads,intake,carb, full flow oil filter,all bearings...

[raybee]

Add a minimum of 30% when building a high end V8-60.

[Ol' Ron]

Kahuna
Where do you race that engine?? Short track or drags. Over kill for street.

[Henry Floored]

Originally Posted by Ol' Ron

Moving the exhaust ports doesn't add much, if anything, save your money. I think some of you should read the " Practical flathead". When I see prices like this, I sometimes think I should go back ti building them. However, I help a few friends build them and I see the cost have gone up allot. Most of my 276 engines went fro around 3 grand, some less, some more. Depending what he buyer furnished. There was allot of used stuff around back then and tha brought the price down. I did my own boring for 100 bucks and had a shop fit the pistons. I did all the porting and valve work and assy for 500 dollars. That went up to 600 later. The dollar doesn't buy as much as it did back then and there were allot of machine shops. My crank grinder was 80 dollars and balancing for 125 to 150 depend ing on rods. I did allot of street balancing back then to save the costomer some cash. Give the balancer one piston, rod, rings and bearings and just spin the crank. Most engines had good rods back then ah Egge pistons are well balanced. Knurelling the stock guides and putting a few shims under the stock springs and the L-100 cam ( re grind the stock cam $80) PAW valves were $3 IN,$5 EX And I under cut them myself. The list goes on but, but there's always the Greed factor that you can't compinsate for.
May
PS Horsepower ran from 135 to 150.

Ron porting and assembly for $500 seems low. How many hours does it take you to port and to what extent do you do them?

I'm as slow as molasses, I know but I think it takes me 20 to 30 hours after crack checking but BEFORE machine work.

I might be off base but disassembly, inspection, pre-machining prep, basic port work, reassembly is worth double that at least.

Like I said I know I'm slow but stuff like properly setting ring end gaps, lapping valves, cleaning rod journal sludge traps etc. is very time consuming.

I do this as a hobby so I put a few hours in every night but sometimes I feel I'm working for less per hour than the bag boy at the supermarket.

Also for the guys who compare a Chevy conversion to an antique engine restoration are comparing apples to oranges.

On any 70 plus year old piece of machinery you literally have to massage or clean up every nut and bolt.

If a guy were to "restore" a 265 for a '55 Chevy you would easily triple the cost of a crate 350.

Those crate engines are mass produced offshore now. This type of thing is not in the ball park of what we are talking about.

On top of that if a guy dumps a Chevy in there he has just killed his Ford.

[NSDWS]

As far as I can tell the eng in my 39 has never be apart. It runs ok at the moment and I would like to rebuild it myself in the future but you guys are scaring me with those prices. Its been a good while sine I rebuilt a small block Chevy or Ford but I can remember the clean up and machine work on block and heads was only 200 bucks and when I was a machinist with the rail road I would take my blocks and heads to the shop and hot vat them myself on off days.

[Midnightcaper]

Originally Posted by NSDWS

As far as I can tell the eng in my 39 has never be apart. It runs ok at the moment and I would like to rebuild it myself in the future but you guys are scaring me with those prices. Its been a good while sine I rebuilt a small block Chevy or Ford but I can remember the clean up and machine work on block and heads was only 200 bucks and when I was a machinist with the rail road I would take my blocks and heads to the shop and hot vat them myself on off days.

Ah don't be scared to rebuild a stocker isn't that much but when getting into all new upgraded internals port matching, machining and of course blowers it climbs fast. Just remember it's not it's not the 50's or 60's it's 2016. Build what u want no matter how mild or wild even if it is a street engine!

[Dodge]

Out in Calif. a stock rebuild has been running $4500-$6500 depending on what you find
when you get inside. Don't forget some of these old motors take hours and hours to get
apart depending on how long and where the engine has been sitting.
A 350 Chev is still the cheapest to build. They go out the door for $1500-$2000
A Model A motor is $4500-$5000 for a stocker.
A lot depends on where you live.