Good morning everyone, i was just wondering, my engine runs half way decent most of the time. What would it cost me to rebuild my engine this coming winter if I tried to do most of it myself? Thanks guys later mike

About $250.00 to babbit the mains assuming the crank is in good condition. Another $200.00 for rods. If a set of pistons w/rings - $130.00. Gasket set with copper head gasket - $40.00.
Magnaflux the crank, head.
Any machine work - deck the head and block. Bore or deglaze cylinders Install hardend valve seats (opp), new valves
etc.....
To go completely through it, barring any bad news(bad crank, bad block cracks, cylinders out of oversize)I'm going to guess $800.00 to $1,000.00 . Oh, any special tools, measuring tools needed for you to check specs. Still cheaper than to buy a short block from an engine dealer. Plus the fun of doing it yourself.

Mike,
I took mine apart to replace a worn camshaft gear and I havent stopped finding things to do to it. My engine was professionally rebuilt in the 70's and is a strong running engine with no problems except for a knocking cam gear. I have had the head milled flat, block milled flat, cylinders honed, valve seats cut, new chevy valves, new rings, new small and large cam gears, new rod bolts, new gaskets, new band linings, and I am up to around $580.

That is difficult to answer. It will depend on what you are planning to do with the engine as well as what you find when the engine is disassembled. Will your rebuild include the transmission?

I would suggest you start with a semi-detailed plan of your rebuild. Are you planning on putting on a high compression head, stipes cam, needle bearing triple gears, new pistons, ........ Then, based on estimated cost, figure out how much you are willing to change from that plan to improve performance, reliability, smoothness, and maintainability. Also suggest enlisting the support of those around you for those annoying little questions that keep popping up.

Tools/Books: do you have all the tools needed to do the work? Your plan should account for this additional, generally one time cost.

Let us take as a starting point the block. You have dissassembled everything and send out the block for cleaning, decking, cylinder boring/honing, new valve seats/inserts and the valve job. Also include getting new chevy valves and keepers. The place I take it to charges about $400 for that work. I get back a happy block all ready to be worked with. However, you may find cracks, need for helicoils, etc. This will incur additional costs.

You will then need to get the babbit poured and line bored. How often will you rebuild an engine? Do this yourself or farm out? Check locally to see what people charge so you can avoid shipping. Lowest price I have seen is about $500.

Crankshaft: Is it reusable? Turning can be around $200 if it is okay. You are going to all this effort so ensure the basics and foundation are all sound.

Bolts: There are a variety of bolts in the engine (head, bearing) that you may want to replace. Are yours stretched?

Connecting Rods: Repour/bore babbit or just by replacements. With the crank being turned, probably need to buy new lightweight ones. Check catalogs for prices. Even new ones may be bent/twisted.

Pistons: Recommend aluminum. Also check catalog for prices. Since the block may need boring, will probably have to replace these and get new rings.

This can go on and on. It all depends on what you want to replace, what will need replacing, what work you can do versus farm out due to time/cost/experience. Check around in the catalogs and various engine rebuilders for their prices. It especially gets more expensive if you want an A crank type to replace the normal T crank.

After saying all that, I rebuild my own engines farming out only those things that require equipment too expensive/large to make it worth purchaing. I believe it costs less to do so and is a lot more fun then just sending out an engine and getting it back. A side effect is it improves your knowledge of the Model T. It also increases your feeling of confidence that if something happens on the road, you will have a good chance in figuring out the problem and repairing it.

I'd like to know who's pouring and line boring mains for $250 or rebuilding a whole engine T engine and transmission (properly) for $800-$1000.

Here are some videos of others pouring:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrMEwTAmVPA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu0LyN3hVq8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDLqQI8BMEY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uploeXFz7tI

Here's one we did here recently:
http://modeltengine.com/ModelACrankConversion.htm

"my engine runs half way decent most of the time'. Before I would spend the money to rebuild it I would verify that the issues causing it to run only half way are looked into. It would be a shame to see you spend alot of your time and money only to discover your coils have bad condensors in them and the throttle shaft in the carb is worn. Little things like that will make one run at maybe 50% of where they should be.

A compression test will tell you a great deal as to the internal health and the need for a rebuild. If you have strong compression and its even on all four (let's say 55 PSI) that tells you the cylinder health is excellent. Spending money on pistons, valves and machining will result in a fresh set of cylinders that give you 55 PSI. In other words, you may not gain anything and still have the same issues.

As Ron Reagan used to say, "trust but verify". Used in a different context.

I bought an engine within the last year, that was complete but needed work, from a forum member for $250. Cam had some wear, but was serviceable. The main babbit was good, as was the main journals on the crank. The rod journals needed to be turned. I had the engine bored, crank turned, block decked, new valve guides installed, valve seats dressed, and the head milled flat, at a local machine shop. I bought a set of rebabbitted rods from another forum member. I bought valves, pistons, rings, coil ring, transmission bushings, bands and various other internal engine parts from Lang's and Snyders. I lapped the bearings with Timesaver. I honed the transmission bushings with a brake hone and did the final fitting with Timesaver. I did an "Out of the car, but still on the flywheel" magnet recharge using the coil ring and and 3 12 volt batteries. I put the whole thing back together and it runs great! Will idle and start on mag. Total invested: About $1500.

Was this a professional rebuild? HECK no! Would Tim or some of the others stake their reputation on a job like this? HECK no! Could it fly apart tomorrow? Sure, I suppose anything is possible, but for another $1500, I could do the same thing again and still be less than what an engine/tranny rebuild would cost from a builder, AND I had a good time doing it.

I'm hopefully finishing my engine rebuild shortly. I went with an $85 reground cam, domed aluminum pistons, new rods, cam bushings, block and head planed, crank ground & polished, cylinders bored to .030, re-babitted mains, and all the little parts (s/s valves, new springs, etc). I'm putting it back together myself and I'd guess I'm close to $1500 right now. My wife might guess higher (ha!).

Mike

You will get a much better engine rebuild for far less money, if you leave that work to a professional that rebuilds those engines daily.

There are still many engine rebuilders that fit the professional category. Some even offer life time guarantees on their work.

Now I do know my last block needed all the bells, re-babbitt, bore, new seats, surfaced, etc. And it was a little $$pricey$$ than my first one.

It was a '25 block in good shape, only needed the crank polished, which the shop thru in for free since I was having it bored for new .030" alum pistons...............

Bring back those 1988 prices !!!!

$85 an hour plus parts. don't try to fool anybody with lower figures unless you are willing to back it up with cash. We are in a period of change because a lot of folks wanted it and voted for it because they believed the cool-ade story.

Go buy a fishing pole and get a fishing license bait and luers, a boat and an outboard motor and lead free sinkers for $75 like in the old days so you can have a free lunch. there is no such a thing as a free lunch. Quit the crap !

I don't know,around here we can still get a set of mains poured and line bored for less than $200. The guy that does it says it isn't worth more than that. He an older master craftsman and top machinist.

Hey, Unca' Jack -- I'm glad we're not paying California prices in this neck of the woods!

$250.00 to pour and line bore is about right. It takes me about 2 hours to line bore a T so at $75.00 per hour that makes $150.00 for that (for my friends I only charge $100.00). I think the babbitting runs about $100.00 maybe a little more (I don't do that part, another local guy does it). Now this does not include crank grinding or hot tanking (which I don't do either).

Les, sounds like he's only charging you for the babbitt, gas (heat), and a tube of burn cream. Must be a friend and nice guy because he's donating his time and knowledge.

Pour one block yourself (caps too) and then tell us what you'd charge someone to do another.

I'm looking at a scar on my wrist from a month ago when one cap/mold spit the 750F liquid metal back out at me. I looked like a 70's Christmas tree, babbitt icicles hanging off me everywhere. Thank God it cools fast. Only one out of the six molds on that engine spit at me. I have a couple theories, but I'm still not 100% sure why that one popped back out.

FYI - Langs sells the babbitt. "Babbitt for model T engines, “Power Nickel” babbitt, very close to Ford’s original recipe. 3-1/2 lb. ingot, enough for one engine."

They want $56 + shipping for the babbitt. Call it $70 USD by the time your machinist gets it - Les's $100 Canadian ($91.60 USD) pour? Seems like a lot of work for $12.60

I've seen babbit spit back out of the mould. Wasn't an engine. Actually, it was a 100 year old cotton gin. At any rate, I think it was a lack of proper pre-heating of the bearing. Still had some moisture in there. Pour hot babbit in there, moisture instantly turns to steam and has to find someplace to go. It blew out 6 or 8 feet away. Several people were standing around watching. Luckily, no one was injured, but it could have been much worse.

Any T engine running "half way decent" is a good running T engine...