Like mentioned before, get the machine work done first. Local shop charges $10 Dip, $15 resurface block, $10-20 per cylinder hone depending on damage, $20 line hone crankshaft journals, $20 to spin the crankshaft. Around $150 if there is nothing major, and the machinist doesn't have to do too much mechanic work.
>>>* You are right, have the stuff checked out first or the odds are high the sizes ordered will be wrong.
I have noticed that costs vary by a huge amount around the Nation though. Machine work is a bit expensive but realize that even a small engine shop like ours may have over a million bucks invested in machinery, buildings, tooling, etc.
My son Tod still rebuilds factory heads but he really checks them out closely as many of them are getting over the 300K mark and metal, especially the aluminum head, does have limits as to how many heat/cool cycles it can withstand. Most of the time it is simply cheaper to bolt on a brand new one. A person needs to be careful even doing that, with metal costs high manufacturers are skimping every place they can. New heads can all look the same but the scales tell the story, we have seen samples that were 5-6 pounds lighter than the ones we prefer.
Locally the going rate for a full 4 cylinder engine remachine job is in the $350-400 range. This would rebore and fit, deck the block, a typical valves/guides/surface job, resize the connecting rods and polish the crankshaft.
Chemical cleansing sounds like you just stick the stuff in and take it out, but there is the cost of the chemical, a $15,000 pressure washer or $1000 tank sitting there. Hoists and swing booms just to move stuff, too. The chemical is several hundred bucks per barrel, then there are permits to even have it and reports to government along with fees to report. A typical cleaning job has over an hour of man time, then the equipment has to be serviced, the waste gathered up and off to the drop off center and we get to pay them to deal with it. So to clean a block, head, crankshaft etc in my shop is around $50 by itself.
Add in under $300 worth of new engine internals and a person that can do a simple assembly/install has a new 22RE powerplant for around $700. If the vehicle is still basically sound that maths out as very cost effective. A new vehicle in the $15/20K range might get 30+ MPG, but you would need to drive it for a very long time to come out ahead even with today's prices for fuel.
That is part of why these older rigs are still so very popular.
Machine shops costs may seem high but realize that a good rotary mill that can duplicate the required surface finish required for an aluminum head is in the $20,000 range for a simple one? We have three of them, each dedicated to a different type of material. That means 500 heads at $40 per just to cover one machine's cost? By then the shop has $5000 more in maintenence, power, cutters, belts, grease, taxes, on and on etc. That is assuming an employee doesn't make a mistake and do a jamup like happened last year.
There went a $2800 bronze gear drivebox on a $50 job. Just minor little "ouchies" that we deal with right along.
I did the math on my own Rottler airfloat system I used to rebore and hone engine blocks. That cost a shade over $50,000 with all of the various tooling, I hit the break even point at around 7 years of daily use. This with equipment with an expected lifespan of 10 years, although mine is at nearly 20 years now, we try to maintain stuff.
The truth is that there was no way to make money, except the machinery creates parts sales opportunity. With the parts sales combined, it comes out to roughly fair wages.
Realizing that, one can understand that the costs really aren't that high.. Most machine shop owners aren't in the business to get rich, we do it because we enjoy it, it's fun.
There is something magic about hearing that sound when an engine fires up the first time, and I have had every single piece of it in my hands...Then the grin on a customer's face when they come in happy because they did a good job, too?. Heck, if I wanted to just make money I would go trade currency or something like that... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />...
I don't work in our shop any more, I got a little old and don't see as well as I used to. Then the chemicals and dust, years of that caught up with me... But to be honest? I really do miss it...
*A few weeks ago I was sitting in the office doing some paperwork. A customer came in to show off a trophy he had won, some job my son had done that gained him a tenth or so at the drag strip. He had no idea who I was, just an old man sitting there. I saw the pleased expression on my son's face as they chatted and he got bragged up pretty good. I went back to my paperwork...My son will probably never be really rich, either, and it's OK.
He is a fine machinist though and I don't think what he does is very expensive.... .*EB
