Flathead rebuild cost

bart78

bart78

Well-known member
I talked to the guy at the local machine shop today about rebuilding a couple motors for me. He told me that the machine work would be 1,500 dollars. And that is with me bringing him a bear block. He allso told me that he did not get in a hurry with flatheads. He said he has done a bunch but would only put a guy on them when they had time to work on it. He said if he had to do everything it would run me around 4,000 dollars. Does this sound right? Or does anyone know of a place close to Ft Worth?
 
The key is if the blocks are crack free. I went through 3 blocks to finally find a good one.
 
I have some good blocks. I got 3 merc motors from a guy and all have good blocks. I am thinking about getting some books and reading up on them and putting them back together my self.
 
bart78 said:
I talked to the guy at the local machine shop today about rebuilding a couple motors for me. He told me that the machine work would be 1,500 dollars. And that is with me bringing him a bear block. He allso told me that he did not get in a hurry with flatheads. He said he has done a bunch but would only put a guy on them when they had time to work on it. He said if he had to do everything it would run me around 4,000 dollars. Does this sound right? Or does anyone know of a place close to Ft Worth?
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I am having work done to a 8rt block as follows....Bore .020 over...Mill the deck on the L and R head mating surfaces on the block .010... mill L and R cyl, head surfaces .010...install cam bearings.. Install 8 hardened seats...turn and polish the crank. resurface the flywheel...hot tank and clean the Block, Heads, Pan, cam cover, and the intake ....(total machine work $785.59.) the rest will be done in my shop... Valve job ECT....including set up all the valves as OEM.non adjustable lifters...Now the TOTAL PARTS COST IS ANOTHER THING....$1977.63...although everything is new and is of high quality. mostly NOS Genuine Ford Motor Company Parts....$4.000 for machine work alone thats a rip in my book...Just depends on what (everything means)
 
The machine work was 1500 and 4000 if I wanted him to do the whole thing thats the machine work and put it all back together
 
********. my LB I took to a local shop that did race engines mostly for dirt tracks. he did not magnaflx the block he says when it's clean can see defects so I don't know about that. 100 bucks to boil it squeaky clean. it had 2 steel sleeves, he wanted to do cast sleeves. said he got 3 "just in case, sometimes they crack"and there was a deep pit that didn't bore out so 3 holes were sleeved. I had .060 pistons so that is what I left him & what it was bored/honed to. crank not bad touched uo to .010/.010 but it bound up and the front main locked up, out of round, so I took it back & he line honed it to correct it. I believe it wasabout 5 hundered for all of it, skinned the top decks to make sure it was true also.
Late motors are cheap my full float rods ETC..are brutal.
100 bucks mains 100 bucks rods ebay pistons 100 bucks 100 bucks oil pump 300 cam kit couple hundered valves...an engine kit for a late motor should be easy for thousand bucks. But my time is worthless so a 2000 dollar 8BA or RT should be no problem IMO. I am a lousy customer.
 
The prices the machine shop quoted are about the going rate. There are a lot of things that can affect the price of machine work.
 
I'll have $1,200 in machine work into my 59AB block before its all over. I live in N.J. Shop does a lot of flatheads and does great work.

** THIS DOES NOT INCLUDES PARTS, just machine work. Not a cheap motor to rebuild.
 
I agree with Laryh, that's about the right price... With a flat motor, you can do it right or you can do it cheaper... They are fairly forgiving- if you're lucky...

Barry, i ran a shop for a few years, I've found cracks you can NOT SEE... And, I used to have real good eyesight... Some you find with magnaflux, some with pressure test... I would not spend the $ on a my block with out both of these... Yours- maybe
Karl
 
Tim Ayers said:
I'll have $1,200 in machine work into my 59AB block before its all over. I live in N.J. Shop does a lot of flatheads and does great work.

** THIS DOES NOT INCLUDES PARTS, just machine work. Not a cheap motor to rebuild.
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Yeah, that's about what the machine shop labor was for my 29A. Machinist installed the cam and valves, I installed everything else.

Bob
 
Bart78.... aside from the costs involved.... this guy is not the guy for you. His attitude sucks... he'll only work on it when he's got nothing else to do? I'd find someone a bit more passionate.... try H&H, they dont come any more passionate than those guys, and they're Barners what's more!
 
Someone in Pittsburgh, Pa area has 3- rebuilt flatheads if anyone interested, no price listed, 724-317-4958 or 724-725-0864.
 
That is about what it cost.I just did one for a Barner from hot tanking. boring-honing .040,installing hardened valve seats, resurface block, align main line, Machine a 4-inch crank, I supplied some stainless valves aswell. remember to some its a hobby others its a buisness and the govt and municipalities,insurance and labor rate of our employees are the reason prices are where they are, then theres equipment. while it all figures out we really dont make what you think but its like that in most buisnesses
 
The fact that he "told me that he did not get in a hurry with flatheads. He said he has done a bunch but would only put a guy on them when they had time to work on it." would make me shy away from what could be a long time build regardless of the price. If you're going to pay big money go with a shop that is a dedicated flathead builder.
 
I agree with what most have said. Depends on your location. I think reputation is key. Plus do you really want a "owner" of a business telling you "your not that important as a customer, we will get to you when we get to you"??? Find someone who WANTS to work with you not against you. There are a lot of books out there to help you in building it yourself. I would say valve grinding and machine work should be left to the professionals unless you are just trying to "put the thing back together". Good luck.
 
I am going to look around at a few more places and then put the thing back together myself. I have worked on tractors sence I was a kid.
 
just built 2 8BA engines. block cleaning, 3 sleeves (between the 2 engines) all new valve seats, machine work, block repair, balancing - $1700 each + parts and i assemble them. This is a pay for play hobby. Good luck....jack
 
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