Thread: rebuilt engine purchase

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Well I finally found out that the engine I pulled out of the 71 Nova was trash. The machine shop is looking at around $ 3500.00 to rebuild it. I have seen some pretty interesting offers on E Bay from a couple of machine shops that offer 350's and 383's with 375 plus horsepower at reasonable prices. I was just wondering if anyone has purchased or know of purchases of this type. I am to say at the least , skepticle of E Bay , after the problems I have had with the Nova I purchased. The two main machine shops have glowing reviews by buyers. These engines seem to have everything replaced. My machine shop is using my pistons, rods and crank.

When it comes to Ebay engine(s), if it sounds to good to be true, it is.


Enough said.

Bill S.

What gets me about e-bay is a guy contacts you and wants you to build an engine for his truck,you ask him what he is going to pull with his truck and you pick all the right parts for that application and you don't hear anything from him and then a few months later he calls you up and say's he has a noise from the bottom end.You start asking him all the questions and you find out he has pulled the cam out and put in a large mechanical cam,switched heads and the engine you built him is now in a 70 Camaro drag car instead of a pick-up twisting 7,800 on stock rods,stock cast crank, and on hypereutectic pistons.His response was(well you built the engine).He also left bad feedback.This also happens on e-bay.

I wouldn't buy a motor from nobody that I couldn't look at in the eyes. I believe you can do better than 3500.00 also.

Originally posted by Deluga
Well I finally found out that the engine I pulled out of the 71 Nova was trash. The machine shop is looking at around $ 3500.00 to rebuild it. I have seen some pretty interesting offers on E Bay from a couple of machine shops that offer 350's and 383's with 375 plus horsepower at reasonable prices. I was just wondering if anyone has purchased or know of purchases of this type. I am to say at the least , skepticle of E Bay , after the problems I have had with the Nova I purchased. The two main machine shops have glowing reviews by buyers. These engines seem to have everything replaced. My machine shop is using my pistons, rods and crank.

I would call the shop up ask a lot of questions find out what type of engines they build.If the build mostly diesel engines they may or may not know anything about performance engines.People sometimes complain about shop rates.Here is a question.A good plumber gets $90 per hour here in the midwest.Don't you think a good engine builder is worth the same?Yes,there is a difference between an engine builder and a machinist.A good engine builder knows why he machines parts to a given spec. A machinst is a machine operator.I hope this does not offend anyone.

Yeah I would pass on it man. May seem like a deal now but if you get screwed and its a bad motor then you will end up spending more in the end. Why not try to build the motor yourself? At least have the machine shop do the machine work and then put the bottom end together if you don't have the tools to do it and then you do the rest and put it in. There is a shop around here in NC and the guy has everything in house like all his machines, etc and he will rebuild and machine an entire 302 for about 1000 bucks! Everyone in my local hot rod club here uses this guy and he does real good. You should try to find a place like this. Sometimes you can find a place in a bad area like a hole in the wall but some old timer will own it and he will have good prices and also not RUSH the work because it's not like he will be behind on time or nothing. See what I mean? Hard to explain over the net but I am sure you get it.

3500.00 using your spinning assembly is ridiculous... I just build a 383 for a guy at the shop i work at. He paid 3000

(this is about 1500 in parts, about 400 in machine and balancing work, and about 1100 in labor for the pull of his engine, the install of the new engine, and the labor to assemble it.)

for the engine and all he supplied was the block. We ordered pistons, crank, rods, rings, bearings, gaskets, seals, ect.

That engine now has a centrifugal supercharger on it and is running pretty hot on the street.

if 3500 sounds too steep... you can always grab life by the balls... have a shop do the machine work... and do the assembling yourself.... in my opinion... its the best way to learn all about your engine... plus its just plain fun to do....a master rebuild kit for your motor really wouldn't cost you that much either