Reasonable prices one should pay for machine shop work...

[psiturbo]

In this deal of taking the engine to a machine shop is new to me, just to have an idea I will ask a few questions and see how prices very by area/location.

Like for example, How much am I looking at for cylinder head resurfacing or decking the block?

What about cleaning the engine block and measuring the crank etc with proper bearings?

I am sometimes terrified as most machine shops never have a price posted on the store, seems like walking to a camera store in NY city, nothing has a price and most times tend to be super expensive.

[therieldeal]

are you upgrading the rods and/or pistons?

if not, i would just leave the bottom end ALONE. replace what you can replace yourself (gaskets, pumps, etc), but don't touch the crank/rods/etc. there is no reason to.

[psiturbo]

I am contemplating the BelFab that are selling at 949racing.com

BP/B6 Belfab connecting rod



Thats the deal, depending on how much I am looking at on machine work then I would buy or just leave it stock and run a conservative 12 psi for now. I do have new piston rings, rear main and cam seals and the seals for where the axles connect to the differential.

You, I just dont want to start buying stuff and when I go to the machine shop its too much cash to burn for me, at least for now. I had other things planned like painting the car, go MS, etc.

By the way, when I swapped the crank pulley for the aluminum one the alternator had to be changed as instead of a V channel belt, the alt and crank are multiple channel belts. I could not find a 1.8 dohc alternator, all are gone, I was wondering if I can use the alternator from the 1.8 sohc or the 1.6 sohc once I put back the stock harmonic balancer.

[therieldeal]

so your aluminum pulley used the 5(or whatever) rib belt??

grab a crank pulley from:
96 EGT
Kia BP
Miata BP
GTR (lol)

they will all work. that belt is so much better than the crappy v-belt!

[KAinjection]

I just had a block done, MX6 2.2L. $180 got me bored over .020, hot tanked, freeze plugs removed, decked the block.

I also just had some heads done on my 98 626 KL. $190 got both heads surfaced, pressure tested, and jet washed+ segregated lifters. last part basically means that the guy made sure everything went back where it came from since it had to be removed to clean them.


Dont have the machine shop assemble the engine, you can do it if your going to tear it down that far. No need to measure bearings or anything, cause there is no need to worry about bearing sizes unless the crank journals need machined. Same thing with piston bores, if you still see crosshatch and there are no scratches, grooves, or ridges at the top of the bore, just run a hone down into it to remove glaze and be done with it. Install STD size pistons and rings unless its been bored before or you want it punched out bigger.

[1st Gen]

The machine shop I go to is awesome. I think the guy has a soft spot in his heart for back yard mechanics because he always has time for me and is always honest in his opinion. I actually took him a big hunk of salami for Christmas just because he's so cool. He doesn't work for free and I would never expect him to, but he's always affordable.

[jay]

Y'all take good care of that machinist.... Them sort are right handy to have on your good side!

[psiturbo]

I actually took him a big hunk of salami for Christmas just because he's so cool.

That must have been one good overhaulin.

[Rivet]

the machine shop is not the place to save a few bucks. Don't look for the cheapest guy in town, look for the best guy in town. He might be a few dollars more, but you'll save money in the long run.

I disagree with 300zx.... Measure everything. Know what what you have and what it needs. He is right on the do as much yourself as you can, that is where you can save the $$$$. What brings the cost up at the machine shop is the labor for all the "mechanic" type work.

If you can't find a decent machine shop locally, my guy here does engines from all over the country. If your not sure what to measure, I can post up some job sheets from our "Engine Major" class.

[psiturbo]

Thanks very much, will do my homework then. I am new here in this city, yellow pages, mapquest for me.

[me19875]

The machine shop I go to is awesome. I think the guy has a soft spot in his heart for back yard mechanics because he always has time for me and is always honest in his opinion. I actually took him a big hunk of salami for Christmas just because he's so cool. He doesn't work for free and I would never expect him to, but he's always affordable.

what place is it?

[KAinjection]

I disagree with 300zx.... Measure everything. Know what what you have and what it needs. He is right on the do as much yourself as you can, that is where you can save the $$$$. What brings the cost up at the machine shop is the labor for all the "mechanic" type work.

Unless your a really meticulous person, or your assembling race engines, measuring things like bearings and such is pointless if the engine has never been touched before. The surfaces never make physical contact so nothing wears, so whats there to measure? Cylinder bores I could see if you think there may be a problem, but in that case there would most generally be other indicators suggesting a problem, or if you were just going to punch it out anyway, why bother with measuring?

I know what school and books say etc etc... and I have been there and rebuilt a chevy small block and measured every single component that had a specification tolerance, it takes forever and for the average person is just not necessary, especially for a person that has never done it before. Keep it simple, so you dont get overwhelmed. Yes like he said you should certainly know what you have, so you know what it needs, and tearing it down, and doing a visual inspection on it will tell you most anything you need to know. I never order anything for a rebuild until I have tore it down and inspected it first.

I think the next engine I rebuild here in the next couple of weeks, a 5SFE for a Toyota Camry, I will take lots of pictures and attempt a write-up for all the people curious about rebuilding there own engine.

[Ace]

I paid $300 for my head to get hot tanked, machined, pressure tested(LOL apparently not), replace cam seals, valve seals, lifters, and re grind the seats.

[psiturbo]

so your aluminum pulley used the 5(or whatever) rib belt??

grab a crank pulley from:
96 EGT
Kia BP
Miata BP
GTR (lol)

they will all work. that belt is so much better than the crappy v-belt!

Ace, 300zxrb, Rivet and especially 1st gen, thanks for the reply!

Therieldeal, Are all those pulleys the two piece style? You know that it has the pulley where the belts run and another smaller piece that goes behind which seems more like a plain circular paper weight. I found one for 30 dollars including shipping. I find it ridiculous when I have just bought a complete block (pistons/rods/crankshaft with the V-belt harmonic dampener) for 50.00.
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On a side note:

If last resort, Can I use the alternator from the SOHC 1.8/1.6?

[Ace]

Yes you can. check the sticker on it, it will say 65a or something like that and thats how many amps its puts out.. it doesn't have to match so yep you can run it without any issue.