ninteen66mustang

Okay, so I want to get my 289 rebuilt. As of right now, I have $3000 to spend, and I want to figure out if I have enough. What should I expect to spend on a rebuild if I pull the engine myself and bring it to the shop, and have them do the rest of the work? One of my friends heard that a shop would machine his chevy 350 for $9 per cylinder, but that sounds outrageously low. I have heard somewhere in the $1000 range for the machine work.

I know that most of the cost will come from the parts, but I will have to figure out what I am going to do when it comes to those... So how much would the rebuild cost without the extra parts that arent replaced as part of the rebuild?

rbrown22

I took mine apart and delivered to machine shop. It cost me around $1000 but I put it back together after it was machined. It would have cost another $500 for them to build the engine... You should have money left over for more upgrades..

Starfury

I would do as much of the disassembly and reassembly as possible. You do have to do it right, but it's not all that difficult once you understand what needs to be done.

$3kshould let you do a nice performance build on that 289, assuming you do most of the work. Assume you'll need new pistons (forged rods wouldn't hurt, but possibly not required), ARP hardware for everything, machine work on the crank and block, rotating assembly balancing, bearings,cam/lifters, intake, carb, oil pump, gasketsfor everything, paint, and a few hundred dollars for miscellaneous expenses you'll run into.

I'd try really hard to work a set of heads into the budget as well. For the price of rebuilding and porting your stock heads you're only a couple hundred bucks short of a set of World Products Windsor Jr heads which flow better out of the box.

ninteen66mustang

I have toyed with the idea of rebuilding it myself, but I am worried that I will not do a very good job, and then I would be screwed. On top of that, I dont have all the tools and other things I would need. Also, I am only 17 and dont have much time outside of school, work, and other commitments to work on my car. How long would it take, and could I do it myself with zero experience without messing anything up?

I am going to try to get a decent set of heads because as far as I know that will boost HP quite a bit.

rst08tierney

to do it right firgure 1200-1500 for the rebuild. Other then that extras will cost you some cash.

dr1965

mine was done before i bought it. I have the paper work on it. Total was about 2k. That was no performance upgrades, just a rebuild of factory parts.

ninteen66mustang

Sounds pretty good.

Okay, so this week I am going to call shops and ask questions:

How much will it cost?
How long will it take?
Should I buy parts or will you?

any other questions I should ask?

Starfury

I don't think it's that difficult. Before I rebuilt my engine, the most I had done was an intake swap and a carb rebuild. I now have a 330 ft-lb 331 under my hood There are certain things that must be done very carefully, but as long as you're careful you should be fine. Go to your local bookstore and check out Tom Monroe's Rebuilding Small Block Fords. Great resource during a rebuild.

As far as specialty tools go,you'd need are a balancer puller and ring compressor, both of which can be 'rented' from your local Kragen/Checker/Advance, Autozone, or Pep Boys. By rent I mean that you give them a deposit when you pick up the tool and they give it back to you when you bring the tool back, so it's free at the end of the day. You'd also need an engine stand (figure $75 or so) and a cherry picker, which would likely need to be rented on a per-day basis. Otherwise it's pretty much all sockets, wrenches, and a torque wrench (which you should have anyway).

gooser

i'll second tad's selection of that book. also you need a CLEAN place to work. compressed air is helpful. if doing this inside will anyone in your household complain of the smell? (old oil, solvents, adhesives, paint) get the book first, read it and see where you want to go. it'll help you when you talk to the machinest at the very least.

my77stang

any decent machine shop should charge you close to the same price on upgraded parts as summitracing, jegs, etc.... i'd buy a set of heads and then drop off your shortblock and tell them what you want done (bore/hone, deck block, crank ground, rods reconditioned with arp bolts, rotating assembly balanced). let them help you decide which cam you want to use, or im sure we could put you onto to a part number that fits your needs. since your not trying to break the bank i'd suggest the sealed power hyper flattop pistons, and i'd have them zero deck your block.

let them assemble with an arp oil pump driveshaft, arp head bolts, arp main bolts, and you should be out the door for under your cap. a stock short block rebuilt motor should only cost about 1000 bucks maybe a little less - adding the parts mentioned shouldnt drive that cost over 1500-1600 which leaves cash for the heads.

might wanna look into patriot heads, they are less than 900 bucks assembled