or you could be like me just build a ok motor now and save up for that awsome build later down the road. Im doing max ported heads,new pistons,polished crank,billet caps,206/206 cam,good bolts throughout. then im going to build the motor i always wanted but its going to take sometime to save up.
Cost of Rebuild
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Turbo6Smackdown
Well-Known Member
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so ya gotta save up now, install, save up some more, yank, rebuild, and reinstall. again. Sounds like a lotta work to me lol. Though, I am trying to find a way to do that myself lol. I dont wanna have ANY downtime on my honey. But i think I may have to.
BlackBandit
God loves Buicks!
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- Mar 29, 2003
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- 2,437
My advice is just to be honest with yourself. It's real easy to get sucked into the "I need billet forged everything" mode. But the fact is you probably don't. You need to ask yourself (and be honest) what you're using the car for. If you drive it with some street action and maybe a couple trips to the track every year running low 12's do you need billet mains, steal crank, and forged pistons? No. Are the nice to have? Yes, but the fact of the matter is that if you need those parts to run those times then you need to stop driving your car until you learn how to tune. As for the idea that if you build a mid 10 second capable short block it'll be there when you do need it, and I truly hope one day you do, I have this to point out. It takes allot more than an engine to go 10's. Why drop $10,000 on an engine you won't be able to use while you get the rest of the car (suspension, tranny, cage....) together? If you go that route there's a chance (unless you have a ton of cash to spend) that you'll use up a good portion of a fast engines life going slow and just have to build it again when you're really ready to go fast.
So, to sum it all up, I think you should figure out where you want to go with your car and then come up with a realistic way of getting there. I would much rather have a stock (or close to it) build on the engine with a good tranny and good suspension with a mild turbo and some other goodies than a built 10 second capable engine, weak trans and stock suspension that doesn't hook up. That's my .02. james
So, to sum it all up, I think you should figure out where you want to go with your car and then come up with a realistic way of getting there. I would much rather have a stock (or close to it) build on the engine with a good tranny and good suspension with a mild turbo and some other goodies than a built 10 second capable engine, weak trans and stock suspension that doesn't hook up. That's my .02. james
Not trying to be smart or anything but I raced a friend that spent a fortune on his engine over the winter, He has about as much in his engine as I have in my grand national, He runs racing fuel and trailers his car to the strip, He beat me but at the end of the day I posted a faster time, I drive mine to the strip, Run pump gas and in cool weather can run high 10's and on hot days I can run low 11's all day and drive home getting 20 mpg and never get over 180* with the ac on, I know it makes your engine hold together a lot better on them hard run but other than that and I know that is a big + Just seems to me it is a lot more important what you put on your Buick engine and the tranny and the suspension than what you put in your Buick engine
Rebuild cost
Was looking at old paperwork on our car which was rebuilt in 1994 over 34k miles ago by the original owner the cost was almost 5k. Engine was removed and replaced , basically a stock eliminator build with super tight specs. Labor was almost the same cost as parts. The car was bracket raced almost every weekend when track was open. The car had 36kmiles when rebuilt, vast majority of the miles were 1/4 mile at a time. Even though a local engine builder i.e. a chevy guy rebuilt the engine it's still running strong and Mr. Davis raced her even harder after. Actually think Mr.Davis had one of the 1st raced GN's here, we picked her up with 58k and we've put 12k on the odometer. 34k miles on the build.
Dissasembled and vatted,align & hone, bore & hone with deck plates, shot peened & recond. rods, polish beams, balance and mount(precision wrist pins) pistons(forged speed pro) to rods, Magna flux & polish crank, valve job( new Manley SS),guides, cc., mill, gasket match, polish chambers, flowtest. Isky cam and lifters. Considering inflation and all 7k is not to bad.
Your build sounds awesome, when ours gives up the ghost , we would like to get AZGN to fix her up!.
Was looking at old paperwork on our car which was rebuilt in 1994 over 34k miles ago by the original owner the cost was almost 5k. Engine was removed and replaced , basically a stock eliminator build with super tight specs. Labor was almost the same cost as parts. The car was bracket raced almost every weekend when track was open. The car had 36kmiles when rebuilt, vast majority of the miles were 1/4 mile at a time. Even though a local engine builder i.e. a chevy guy rebuilt the engine it's still running strong and Mr. Davis raced her even harder after. Actually think Mr.Davis had one of the 1st raced GN's here, we picked her up with 58k and we've put 12k on the odometer. 34k miles on the build.
Dissasembled and vatted,align & hone, bore & hone with deck plates, shot peened & recond. rods, polish beams, balance and mount(precision wrist pins) pistons(forged speed pro) to rods, Magna flux & polish crank, valve job( new Manley SS),guides, cc., mill, gasket match, polish chambers, flowtest. Isky cam and lifters. Considering inflation and all 7k is not to bad.
Your build sounds awesome, when ours gives up the ghost , we would like to get AZGN to fix her up!.
Turbo6Smackdown
Well-Known Member
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- Dec 31, 2005
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- 6,110
not a bad point. if you blow your load now, and wont be able to mod it any more for the next 5 years, it'll be time to freshen up the engine again once you do have the money for the new 99mm turbo with 5 core front mount lol.
imjoesnuffy
I just break stuff!
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2005
- Messages
- 1,541
Take your time...
If you take your time and shop around for the best deals you can save alot of dough.
My rebuild took about 7 months total. I went from a hot air car with a ruined crankshaft to an intercooled setup with lots of goodies.
Found a guy in NC selling a bunch of LC2 components for $2600. 3 blocks, 2 cranks, 9 heads, hydraulic roller cam, bigger turbo, 18 connecting rods, 3000 stall TC, bigger injectors, plenty of misc parts. Drove overnight to get the stuff, and when I got there, everything wasn't as promised. Cracked pistons, 1 scuffed cylinder in a cracked block. We agreed to $1400 total.
Found a very reputable builder, local to me. Traded a forged CAT crank, for a set of forged pistons and a STD/STD crank. Bought a girdle from Full Throttle. Machine shop bill for the girdle installed was $850.
Total labor assembling the long block including the girdle bill was $2600. Bought a front mount intercooler with pipes for $300, turbo for $550, injectors for $300. The gentleman who built my engine really went out of his way to help me out with a lot of wheeling and dealing, keeping my best interests at heart. He knew I was on a budget and worked hard to stretch my dollars.
I was able to sell a lot of the Hot Air parts on this and other boards. I sold alot of the extra stuff from the guy in NC here as well as other boards also. What didn't sell on the turbo buick boards went to ebay.
$2600 labor
$1400 gobs of LC2 parts
$299 forged crank
$199 girdle
$550 turbo
$300 injectors
$300 intercooler
$100 for a used uncut, wiring harness
$175 LS1 MAF and translator plus
Total bought=$5923-$6000 including shipping
Items sold
Hot air parts=$400(Intake, MAF, Turbo, other misc)
109 Block=$200
Old wiring harness=$135
Many extra LC2 parts=well over $1000
So for roughly $4200 I have the major components for a mid 11 sec car. Now getting it tuned right is wearing my patience thin.
Take your time, look at some of the shortblocks for sale and save yourself some money.
If you take your time and shop around for the best deals you can save alot of dough.
My rebuild took about 7 months total. I went from a hot air car with a ruined crankshaft to an intercooled setup with lots of goodies.
Found a guy in NC selling a bunch of LC2 components for $2600. 3 blocks, 2 cranks, 9 heads, hydraulic roller cam, bigger turbo, 18 connecting rods, 3000 stall TC, bigger injectors, plenty of misc parts. Drove overnight to get the stuff, and when I got there, everything wasn't as promised. Cracked pistons, 1 scuffed cylinder in a cracked block. We agreed to $1400 total.
Found a very reputable builder, local to me. Traded a forged CAT crank, for a set of forged pistons and a STD/STD crank. Bought a girdle from Full Throttle. Machine shop bill for the girdle installed was $850.
Total labor assembling the long block including the girdle bill was $2600. Bought a front mount intercooler with pipes for $300, turbo for $550, injectors for $300. The gentleman who built my engine really went out of his way to help me out with a lot of wheeling and dealing, keeping my best interests at heart. He knew I was on a budget and worked hard to stretch my dollars.
I was able to sell a lot of the Hot Air parts on this and other boards. I sold alot of the extra stuff from the guy in NC here as well as other boards also. What didn't sell on the turbo buick boards went to ebay.
$2600 labor
$1400 gobs of LC2 parts
$299 forged crank
$199 girdle
$550 turbo
$300 injectors
$300 intercooler
$100 for a used uncut, wiring harness
$175 LS1 MAF and translator plus
Total bought=$5923-$6000 including shipping
Items sold
Hot air parts=$400(Intake, MAF, Turbo, other misc)
109 Block=$200
Old wiring harness=$135
Many extra LC2 parts=well over $1000
So for roughly $4200 I have the major components for a mid 11 sec car. Now getting it tuned right is wearing my patience thin.
Take your time, look at some of the shortblocks for sale and save yourself some money.
usetaboost
SAY CAR RAMROD!!
- Joined
- May 4, 2005
- Messages
- 7,697
I don't know what everyone else pays for shop labor but it was 125 to turn the crank,60 for bore, 50 for hot tank and magnaflux, 36 bucks for piston swap and can't remember what rod resize was. They checked EVERYTHING so I didn't spen what I didn't need to. I assmebled myslef. Even with having to get a different set of heads, and all the little odds and ends it cam e up to around 1500 give or take. That's witht the price of a bigger cam too. Beat the hell out of it every time I drive it since break in, no worries. Pull the stick after every outing-Nice and clean! Shop around. Oh, and it helps to have an older guy there that used to build TB motors back in the day too
imjoesnuffy
I just break stuff!
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2005
- Messages
- 1,541
Holding up just fine. Very pleased with it:wink:
I just got the car running well. I was chasing O2 volts that turned out to be misfire. The third coil got it right. The first night I took it to the track in full street trim, with slicks on 93 octane and 15 pounds of boost, ran a 7.99 (1/8 mile track)with the front sway bar still on (1.85 60 foot), through the full exhaust, letting the tranny shift on its own at 5200 and not locking the TCC with a paperclip.
I haven't even begun to push the motor to it's limits yet, holding up just fine with no oil leaks after 5000 miles. BTW it is the girdle from Full Throttle. I bought it when they first came out, think they go for $149-169 now.
imjoesnuffy
I just break stuff!
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2005
- Messages
- 1,541
Ran it tonight for the first time with the boost cranked up to 25 psi.
1/8 mile track: 7.31 at 97:biggrin:
Sorry didn't mean to hijack this thread
TURBOPOWERED68
David
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2006
- Messages
- 8,819
To the 10K and up engine guys.
I know the rest of the car has match your engine build that said
1-what are you target times/MPH
2-are you running just boost or boost and n2o?
3-how many approximate street miles per year?
I know the rest of the car has match your engine build that said
1-what are you target times/MPH
2-are you running just boost or boost and n2o?
3-how many approximate street miles per year?
1. my target times are mid 11's
2. i am only running 94 octane and possibly alky in the future
3. i plan on about 1-2k street miles per year who really knows i have the car to drive not just sit in the garage
i am sure i went overboard on my rebuild for what i want but i also wanted to be safe than sorry get it done right this time so i dont have to worry about redoing it again in a year or two. plus im pretty safe if i want a bigger turbo in the future. ps i am only running a stock turbo for now too.
2. i am only running 94 octane and possibly alky in the future
3. i plan on about 1-2k street miles per year who really knows i have the car to drive not just sit in the garage
i am sure i went overboard on my rebuild for what i want but i also wanted to be safe than sorry get it done right this time so i dont have to worry about redoing it again in a year or two. plus im pretty safe if i want a bigger turbo in the future. ps i am only running a stock turbo for now too.
