Engine Rebuilds

Just some questions about the process. Needless to say, i'm asking from the viewpoint of professional installation.


1. What is the purpose of rebuilding? I know it improves performance, but is it the overall engine, or just a specific section?

2. Can it be built to your own specifications, such as NA-specs or FI-specs? Or do they rebuild them all the same way regardless.

3. If you can personalize your rebuild, can you also personalize the parts, or do they just use what they have in stock?

[Redog]

It pretty much depends on your budget and where you get the rebuild done at.

A lot of places will just pull out the old one and drop a new one in (rebulit) I'm sure that if you want a custom job there are places around you that can do the job. Check in your local phone book, and call around

Originally posted by Redog@Jul 23 2004, 11:04 AM
A lot of places will just pull out the old one and drop a new one in (rebulit)

Dumb question here. Do you mean taking out the old engine, replacing it with a new engine, and calling it a day? Or is the new engine pre-built and then installed with a ECU reprogram and everything.

[jamcllw]

Are you talking about getting your block bored out to make a bigger displacement engine or are you talking about just re-ringing your current engine? If you want to bore it out you could possibly see more power but it's going to cost you. Finding oversized pistons and rings might be a difficult task. And yes if your rebuilding a motor you can set it up strictly for NA or forced induction. I'm currently working on a motor with a 12.5:1 compression ratio and bored out .050 over stock. But 'm also upgrading my injectors, fuel pump, cams, intake manifold, throttle body, and getting some headers for it. Because of the high compression I'm going to be NA. If you want forced induction you want to go with a lower compression like 8:1.

[Redog]

Originally posted by Sportalero+Jul 23 2004, 12:13 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Sportalero @ Jul 23 2004, 12:13 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Redog@Jul 23 2004, 11:04 AM
A lot of places will just pull out the old one and drop a new one in (rebulit)

Dumb question here. Do you mean taking out the old engine, replacing it with a new engine, and calling it a day? Or is the new engine pre-built and then installed with a ECU reprogram and everything. [/b][/quote]
Pretty much

They will take your motor as a trade, replace it with a new one and rebuild your old motor and sell it to somebody else

If you want to do what jamcllw says, it will cost you

Basically, i'm just trying to get a good understanding of what "rebuilt" is.

From what i gather from you, Redog, rebuilding doesn't mean to upgrade your old motor, but to get it running back to stock specs, or just dropping in the same motor, only new.

From what i gather from you, jamcllw, rebuilding doesn't enhance performance, the upgrades do. Therefore, NA or FI upgrades would better benefit a new (rebuilt) engine, but they don't mean the same thing

[jamcllw]

Rebuilding an OLD motor will definatly help in performance. And boring out a motor will help you too. Think of it like the 3100 motor from GM. It is the same motor as the 3400 except the 3400 is bored out more(as well as some other things but that is the main reason for performance increase). The only reason I'm doing all those other mods is to help with the extra bore size of the motor. Most places will put in a slightly used motor in place of a bad motor simply because it is cheaper. It's costing me about $300 just to get my engine bored out the extra .050". You can get a slightly used motor for about the same price. And it's a lot easier to drop a whole motor into a car than it is to pull 1 out take it apart send it off to a machine shop to bore it out then get it back and reassembled and then put it back into the car.

But yes rebuilding your motor doesn't help in performance unless the motor is old with bad rings and bearings and such. And most of the time rebuilding is just getting it back to original specs. And upgrades are almost always better on a new or rebuilt engine. You don't want to go put a turbo on a motor with over 100,000 miles because you'll most likely blow a head gasket or a rod in just a few miles. Then your motor's shot and you need to either have to rebuild it if possible or get a new or lightly used 1.

Thanx for the info, guys.

[jturkey69]

im gonna add just a lil....sport you asked if you could personalize your rebuild....yes, it would be best if you could find a machine shop in your area that has ecperience with the 60* motor in general...personally i will do everything myself except install the cam bearings, and bore the block, but you have at least two choices of pistons that are an upgrade over stock, all you have to do is tell the shop what you want....they will do the rest...and if your looking for performance you need to tell him that also, otherwise he will either re-ring it, or maybe bore it to the next available piston size IE: .010 .020 over,and build it stock.. expect to pay about 1000 to 1600 for a purpose built motor...for a shop, or 3rd party to pull and re-install the motor...expect about 200 to 250 for just that part of it...granted these are the prices around here

.also one more thing...this is just personal preference on my part, but if a shop asks you why you wanna, and its a waste of money to try and make your car go fast, then id turn around and walk out, but if you talk to a shop ahead of time, tell him what your intentions are....call back in a week, and he has a list of part numbers and his own personal idea, id go there ina heartbeat. i used to re-build engines at my uncles speed shop, and that was our philosophy...you want it...we will build it.....

just me .02 :thumbsup: