So I'm seriously thinking about having someone redo my engine. Here is an approximation of what will be done and the quote.

First, I want to remain smog legal and have no issues passing the sniffer. Second rebuild my 1991 5.7L L98 engine to squeeze more power. I don't plan on racing or working my equipement hard.

Here is what I have been quoted from one of the links I followed on this THIRDGEN.ORG. site. Sorry for the lack of details at this stage but I believe this is a ball park figure at an early stage.

Engine bored out to .30 over with all the new good stuff, i.e. pistons and rods.
Comp brand roller cam- hydraulic $1500-1600
AFR heads 67-72cc w/valves - $1600-$1800
Blockstraightened/lined (what ever that means)

Total price out the door labor included approx $10K tops.

Approximate hp 350 to 400 smog legal of course. Does this sound right? Please see my current mods below.

Does this first estimate sound like it's in the ball park?

Is there anything missing that should be replaced, such as intake, etc? Any other questions I should be asking?

Thanks.

 

you can get a gm crate motor and have it installed for less than that.

 

I live in Canada so the prices might be different but here's what I got...
Bore the block (make sure they use a torque plate) - $20 per hole
Line hone (straightens main bearings) - $100

From summitracing.com:
Hypereutectic pistons 4.030" bore - $300 or less for Keith Black/Speed-Pro
Comp cams roller cam kit - At MOST $1000 for retro-fit cam, lifters, springs, retainers, timing chain kit everything you need... No way it's $1500-1600 they're screwing you on that one. It's even cheaper if your car originally came with a roller cam, like $800 or less.
AFR heads are in the range you listed, $1600-1800, but they seem like a bit overkill for only 350-400hp, you can do that with stock heads.
Connecting rods - $200-600 depending on how strong you go.
Intake - I'm not a TPI expert, but you'll need to replace your stock TPI to get over 4500 rpm, and get to 400hp I think.
Exhaust - A good set of headers and full exhaust you'll need.
Tune - The most important part of it all, you'll need to tune your computer for everything to work properly and for you to pass emissions...

$10,000 seems a bit much, considering you could get a 330hp/380ft-lb crate engine for $4000 and have it installed for a little more then a grand.

 

The $10K estimate range is really like no mans land, because it could be as highest $10K or as lowest say 5-6K. Big difference. And to you point, I did start looking at crate engines and do see the ZZ4, ZZ383, and others etc which I could get put in for way under as you put it. I called back up and was relieved to hear the guy that is quoting me the price is working on a more precise quote. We'll see where that ends up. If the cost of rebuilding my engine is more than a crate motor with all the new parts then it makes more sense to just get a crate motor.

What is an approximate labor cost to change motors?

 

By what standard?

 

Do you mean what state?

California, if so.