WHATS THE GOING RATE TO BORE AN ENGINE?

Hey, Guys:
I haven't had an engine bored in several years, and don't remember what I paid. I agreed to help a friend out to build a 428 CJ for his 68 Mustang. After a long search, he found a genuine 428 CJ for a price he could afford, but it's got water damage to the 3 of the cylinder walls. It looks like it will clean up nicely at .060 over. The only shop we've got in our area quoted us a price of $540.00 which stunned us. Is this shop on line with what you all pay, or are we being scammed? Would appreciate your opinions.

Wayne (SAWDOFF) Pearce

That’s on the expensive side where I’m at, but you can be a captive the the market.

Does that include cleaning and stripping the block? Anything else included?

In my area (SE MI) that's pretty high. For my 547 build it was just under $1100 to bore and hone the cyl's, line hone the mains, cut the decks, install cam bearings, balance the rotating assembly and a little bit of cleaning.

Dave:
No, the $540.00 quote was for boring, and finish hone.

Wayne

That’s heavy for a .060 job imo, but where else can you go?

Dave:
I just got a verbal quote from Hunts Machine Shop in Schenectady, New York for $275.00 for bore, and hone. Just a "tad" better than the $540.00 quote, don't you think? Hunts has a very good local reputation for performance engine work.

Wayne

I am around $800-850 for decking,bore,hone with plate,thermal clean,cam bearings/plugs installed,painted ready for assembly. Line hone is around $200 have to sublet that. Balance job $225.

Pricing is the hardest thing I have found to do since opening my shop.

This is central MS area. We are poor down here!

One thing to keep in mind Wayne, picking a machinist is like picking a prostitute, you usually get what you pay for.

In all seriousness I'm sure I could find a cheaper shop to do my machine work but to me the added cost gives peace of mind that things are getting done right.

Just a couple of months ago a buddy of mine had the decks cut on a SBC block. He assembled the short block so he had exact measurements to give his machinist. When he dropped the block off he wrote how much material he wanted removed on the deck with a sharpie. Needless to say when he got the block back it was cut too short and uneven on one side.

Wickettoby:
I fully understand, and appreciate what you're saying, but the shop that quoted $540.00 is just an "average" machine shop that we approached solely because it was local to my shop. There are other shops within an hour of mine that were nearly half of that quote, and have good reputations as performance oriented shops. We're probably gonna go with one of them, again we only went to the original due to location.

Wayne

Sounds like you have a good plan My FE knowledge isn’t very extensive, is .060 over common place for a 428 block?

Double post

Sounds like you have a plan My FE knowledge isn’t very extensive, is .060 over common place for a 428 block?

Probably wouldn't want to go anymore than that without sonic checking it first.

Wayne