I found a perfect IROC-Z 5.0L 305, only problem is it needs an engine rebuild. So my question is, what should i expect to pay to rebuild the engine if I did it myself? and if I paid someone to do it? Also how much time and effort am I going to spend on this? I called a local shop and they wanted to charge me $4,000 for a rebuild. Should I expect to have to pay that much? I haven't bought the car yet, because I wasn't sure how much i would need to pay. he said

 

For $4000 Icould build a monster of an engine... Hell, you could rebuild the one you got and supercharge it for that price (if you looked for good deals) but you can get a rebuilt motor for like $800... So figure about $1000 to your door.

 

Wayyyyyy too much. My brand new motor with 2 year warranty or 80k was $5300, right from GM. You can get better rebuilts online, with "better" parts (cause that's a matter of opinion mixed with facts )

Maybe see if there's one online you could get that's already rebuilt? When I was doing research for my own car there was a lot of options out there. Seems the norm is rebuilt 350's, but there must be some 305's out there too.

If your happy to just rebuild the one you have I'd definately call around.

 

Ok, what I think the price is so high for is labor.

I don't know, but is that car a good deal then? it really just needs a few dings knocked out, and it could use a little paint, but nothing else really besides the motor.

 

I would say that is WAY too high, but it depends to a point on what you want to do with the engine. Are they replacing it with OEM-quality parts, or are they installing all forged internals/top of the line stuff so you can race it? Are they replacing anything besides the bearings?

It also depends on how much machine work it needs. If it really is just bad bearings, then they don't need to do as much machine work compared to say what a broken connecting rod would require. Are they boring the cylinders oversize? Are they doing any work on the heads like porting, larger valves, etc?

I still think it's way too high though. I could see it costing that with all possible machine work being done and all forged internals being installed, new larger valves and a full porting maybe. I will be rebuilding a 350 later this year, and with the machine work, new cam, head work, new bearings, new timing gear, and everything that bolts on the outside of the engine its only going to run me 1000-1500. In my case though, I will be doing the teardown and rebuild and it only needs minor machine work done. You could get a 350 crate engine that's ready to drop in from Jegs for 1500-2000, or a good running jy engine for probably half of that.

The other thing you didnt mention is how much does the seller want for the car? I don't think I could justify paying more than 750-1000 for the car itself if it needs that much work.

 

Whoops, he is asking $800

 

Just good gaskets, bearings and rings will put it close to $1000. Machine work and labor eat up most of the cost of a rebuild. If the crank is damaged from a bad bearing, the cost goes up. If the block is damaged from a bad main bearing, the cost goes up. The engine is overheated so there's a possibility of cracked heads.

Hard to give a real estimate for a rebuild without knowing exactly what it needs.

It can be a lot cheaper to just buy an aftermarket replacement engine than it is to rebuild a bad engine. Good time to upgrade to a 350 for the same price as a 305.

 

more power same price

 

I did i swap to a 350 when my 305 spun a bearing and the engine itself minus all the little upgrades i had them throw on cost me about 4200 with a 5 year 100,000 mile warranty. I also needed a new water pump, alternator cap, rotor etc, all the basic stuff you would expect to replace on a 17 year old car. I looked into a shop that swaps engines and gives you core charges for you old one. If i wasnt at school i would have done the swap myself and it probably would have cut the cost in half but most shops offer warranties on their engines which i believe to be worth the little extra cash. I think that 4000 to rebuild a 305 is a little to much. My total price tag with everything i did was 4200 dollars inculding the exhaust work and headers and i went from a 305 to 350.

 

I just built a 350 for my 84 T/A...

The price so far is just over $4000.00 in parts and labor for the block...this does not include having it installed in the car. I didn't re-use anything from the old block and bought new rotating assembly, intake, heads and oilpan. I should be putting 300hp to the crank with around 400ft-lbs of torque.

If you were re-using parts (crank, rods, oilpan etc), you will probably be closer to 3k for the rebuild...

And yes, Labor costs have gone through the roof around here....sucks bad averaging around $70.00 an hour.

 

You can get a 290 HP 350 C.I. crate motor delivered for $1800. There's a couple of vendors on this site thats selling them. Last week they were offering FREE shipping.

 

rebuildable 350 vortec..... $200
accel dizzy...... $65
summit intake..... $130
Pistons and rings.... $80
rods..... $200
crank.... $230
carb.... $285
valves and springs.... $80
roller lifters..... $60
xr282 cam.... $160
chrome and paint..... $120
odds and ends.... $100
machining....$540

Total was $2,250

Some of the pqrts were off of ebay, some from summit, and some salvaged. I got a real good deal on machining..... Assembly and install was done myself to save money. $4,000 is more then i would even consider for a stocker.... unless it's an LS1 or something like that. My heads were even ported for the price i got for machining.....They outflow afr 195's. If you were in georgia I could get the guy's number for you.

 

Unnecessary expense.
Unnecessary expense.

 

Wow - I've seen 350hp 350ci crate motors from carb to pan with heads and cam going for $1900! $4000 is

 

Where? That would be a killer deal....I've seen the 290hp 350ci for $1800, but the cheapest I've seen the HO 350 is $3600+.

 

http://rebuilt-auto-engines.com/cgi-...32108542377.0b
heres a 350 with a warranty for only about 1000. that leaves 3000 to play with.

 

That one would have to be on the bottom of my engine buying list. But at least there's a 350 to fit any budget. Hooray for the American V8.