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Sound a little pricey?

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2wrench

2wrench

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Finally. Price commitment on engine machining.

$1,700 to machine my engine. Specials include
the sleeving of a cylinder; shaving of the head
to acheive 9:1 and balancing to include the new
clutch as well.

Sounds kinda pricey to me. Asked for price to include
assembly to short block status...another $350.
I think I'll put it together.

But, this shop came well recommended from a guy who
I believe knew what he was doing and says this is the
guy he trusts....says he's excellant.

The referral I speak of is a guy who recognized
a casting defect in my block for just that....and
did it, actually, from a photo sent via internet.
Told me I had to take it to him to verify or not.
I did just that and he was correct.

Anyway, I suppose I'm waiting cause the mechanic-type
from his shop is out till the end of the week.
I suppose he'll rebuild the head and I think he'll
be involved in the balancing work.

I'm feeling uncomfortable from the stretch, but that's
what personal growth dictates, I guess.

Gotta hang.
Best to ya'll, Forum Family
 
In CA.
I'm assuming similar to East coast prices in that case, so it doesn't sound that bad - especially for someone who has a clue...
 
2W, the machining on my engine came to about $450 but there was no assembly involved, the head was not shaved and it was not balanced. I used stock piston liners. If you are uncomfortable with the price you might call a couple of local machine shops, tell them what you want done and ask if they would give you an estimate. Machine work is pricey and it is important that you get quality work, kind of tough to put a value on quality of work.

Good luck, Tinkerman
 
Oh and one more point, my engine is a 4 cylinder engine. Thats bound to make a difference.
 
Basically, you're paying for time. If you have out of the ordinary work being done, then the costs will go up. I just got my TR3 (4 cyl.) stuff back from the machinist, and thought his prices were very reasonable, but I didn't have anything out of the ordinary done. I paid $1060 for...

Block boiled out and cam bearings installed.

Crank magnafluxed, machined and balanced.

Rods re-bushed and balanced.

Head machined 0.085", exhaust seats and valve guides installed and put back together.

Flywheel balanced.

I don't think your guy is so far out of line, as I assume that you want most of the same work on a 6 cylinder plus the sleeving job.

As stated above, quality work is worth paying for.
 
That's not bad. I had one price today for $3,000 to do complete machining and blue printing of TR6 engine. That includes Art's work, plus line bore, complete cylinder boring, zero deck height resurface of block, complete retap of all threads, pistons, reworked for mated pins, flywheel trued and balanced with clutch, head cc'd and resurfaced for 9.5 to 1 compression, all ports polished and matched, all valves ground and matched in set height to deck. This will include a final balance of all remaining rotating assemblies.

This comes from a state of the art shop with the latest equipment and a great reputation in racing circles here in NE.

I will have to supply all parts and do the assembly (except for the head/valves). The above was labor for only the machining.
 
I paid $350.00 to have a TR3 block, head and crank boiled and Magnafluxed. And I removed the liners and bolts myself. Things ain't cheap anymore.
 
I had my roof replaced a few months back. The cost to replace any rotted wood found was on time and material. Their labor cost was $85 per hour. If the shop you plan to use charged $85 per hour, thats 20 hours or 2.5 days work.

I think the most time consuming machining is the set up and boring out that damaged cylinder and fitting the sleeve.
 
TR6oldtimer said:
I think the most time consuming machining is the set up and boring out that damaged cylinder and fitting the sleeve.
Click to expand...

Balancing isn't a walk in the park. It can be pretty labor intensive. And those machines are expensive, they have to pay for them somehow. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

I wouldn't doubt that a full 1/3 to 1/2 of Pauls quoted cost is for the head work alone. Time on the flow bench is pretty spendy.
 
Very true Shawn.

The head machining work is $750, less the polishing.

The other standout expense(s) was the cam bearings and line bore, but mainly the cam. He said that he would only cut a small amount at a time (which made me happy) and the time consuming setup for both, plus slow machining dictated the price.

Line bore - $275-$300

Cam bearings $375-$425

I do have another two sources that I'm pricing as we speak. I'm in no rush, so I can take my time.

I'm visiting my daughter in PA soon and I may take a trip to TRF to discuss buying a lot of engine parts from them. I knew Spadafore's back in the 70's when his family built drag racing engines and his work is second to none.

If it weren't so far away and the shipping so high back and forth, I'd get it done there. They did a fantastic job on my new rocker shaft assembly and my original carbs 4 years ago.
 
For comparison's sake, here's what PRI, a well-regarded Spit/GT6 engine builder, charges for a custom Spit engine rebuild. This is a competitive price IMHO. I think the six cylinder 2000cc GT6 engine rebuild price is about $5,600.

BTW, this is a bit more than is really necessary for a street-driven Triumph, but who cares? Power = good!! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif

Here's the PRI linky: https://www.prirace.com/

STAGE 1 ENGINE REBUILD
Speciality Built Engines - Stage 1, SPITFIRE = $3,900.00

Our stage 1 engines are precisely machined and meticulously assembled. They are built with care and attention to detail.

Cylinder Head Work
Hot tank cleaning
Magnafluxed for cracks
Blend porting
Performance valve job
C.C. combustion chambers and Surface head to desired compression ratio
Rebuild rocker assembly
New rocker shaft
New rockers
New valve guides
New intake and exhaust valves
New valve springs
New spark plugs
New freeze plugs
New paint
New hardware if needed
New gasket set


Block Work
Hot tank cleaning
All parts magna-fluxed for cracks
Line bore main saddles if needed
Rebuild rods, resized big end, re-bushed small end, polish beams, match weights
Bore and hone cylinders
Turn (if needed) and polish crankshaft
Regrind camshaft
Degree camshaft
Set piston deck height
Match piston weights
Balance crank assembly
New piston set
New rod bushings, bearings and bolts
New cam bearings if applicable
New main and thrust bearings
New lifters
New cam chain (gear if needed)
New oil pump
New water pump
New seals and gaskets
New oil galley plugs
Paint
Freeze plugs
*This price does not include re-sleeving block if necessary.



FWIW.
 
Seems all are in the same mindset. The price seems in line with the work. If you assemble it yourself, keep in mind you'll need some proper tools for the job, too: Good double band ring compression sleeve, proper torque wrench, PlastiGauge, degree wheel, maybe borrow a CALIBRATED set of micrometers for the ranges on the crank...

It can sound more complex than it is, and if you DO decide to DIY the assembly, you will learn the unit intimately fer sure.

Just my $0.02.

EDIT: A good book (D. Vizard comes to mind) on assembly techniques would go a long way to getting you familiar with the operations, too. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
Just got the call from the machine shop. The cost to clean and overbore my Spitfire block, polish and balance the crank, and check the rods was $371. Of course i have to re-assemble it. That includes nothing for the head, which is still in my garage. I'm taking it to a differnet shop. Hopefully they won't keep in 1 1/2 months too.
 
If I were you, I'd consider myself lucky to have gotten that price for that work, even if it did take longer than you wished.
 
"Location, location, location."
 
Ah yes, the proverbial being in the right place at the right time scenario.....
 
About waiting for a shop to get work done. A shop with a good reputation probably has repeat customers many of them in some form of competition. A poor shop might be disorganized or need to re-work mistakes.

About price, like has been said it costs a lot to keep a shop supplied and tooled up. Price of the building, licensing, bookkeeping, government reporting, taxes, equipment, insurance, mechanic tools, measuring tools, special tools needed to work on an engine, and the highly knowledgeable and skilled people needed. And a guarantee.

An alternative would be to do it yourself. But there is the same cost of replacement parts, except those that might be missed that should be replaced.

For a dependable result with an expected long life? I do not feel $3,000 or more is out of line. Drop and ready to run, $5,000 seems a fair price. Compare that to a newer car that we would expect to run for many miles and several years.
 
Thanks, gentlemen.

Doc, I'll look for the book. Can you point me the right
direction to getting one? Any reference to putting the
thing together is probably a good investment.

Don't want to sound unappreciative of the machine shop,
but had another machine shop describe another British
engine he had done. Says everything that could be
imagined had been done (whatever that means) and the
cost was $1,200. But, this was the same guy that told
me my block was cracked an he didn't want to work on
the head.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]But, this was the same guy that told
me my block was cracked an he didn't want to work on
the head. [/QUOTE]

And you're still wasting your time talking to him?
 
Vizard has a bunch of titles, the Chevy V-8 one is a good "How To" for reading general principles applying to all engines. There are other more Triumph directed ones by other guys, too. I'm not "Triumph-centric" so someone else needs to pap in and direct ya to a good one for that specific engine.

There are a few titles by a fella named Carroll Smith which are absolutely the Last Word on multiple topics and just plain good reading, IMO. Google him, too. His "Prepare to..." books are stellar. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbsup.gif
 
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