Hey there. I bought a BC stroker kit with 83mm pistons, MRP crank girdle, Kelford 193C cams, dual valve springs, titanium retainers, bronze valve guides, etc. I sent it to the machine shop to get head and block assembled on a 7 rib block. Here is what they did:

Steel shot blast block
Align hone mains, set girdle side clearance
Hone block
Light hone pin bores & bushings
Deck block
Set up, check rotating assembly
Assembly of short block
Install valve guides
Polish valve stems
5 angle valve job
Set mechanical lash set up for shimless
Resurface head
Unshroud Intake valves
Grind for camshaft clearance
Blend ports, deburr head

What would be the expected cost of a machine shop to do this work and assemble the block and head? Any ball park would be helpful. Thank you!

Head work alone, if done properly would be around £1400
The rest would bring it up to about £2k

totta crolla wrote:Head work alone, if done properly would be around £1400
The rest would bring it up to about £2k

Are you saying £1400 + £2000 = £3400?

No.
Total should be around £2k

How much are they asking then?

https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/df1eb0 ... 1851008435

Above is link to labor rates for one of the shops I use....... it's an excel file

WAG's Havent been in a machine shop in a LONG time, except for cutting disks and even that was a real PITA. Good luck.
Also Sorry but from what I read, cost & quality are often not related!

Steel shot blast block 40-75
Align hone mains, set girdle side clearance 150-300
Hone block 40-80 bore to 83??
Light hone pin bores & bushings 40-75
Deck block 50-90
Set up, check rotating assembly these 2 are 2-600
Assembly of short block together


See totta & olde for this stuff
Install valve guides
Polish valve stems
5 angle valve job
Set mechanical lash set up for shimless
Resurface head
Unshroud Intake valves
Grind for camshaft clearance
Blend ports, deburr head

totta crolla wrote:How much are they asking then?

I supplied all the parts and got hit with a $5000 bill

5k$ does sound a lot for that work.
I'm in the U.K where this type of specialist work maybe less expensive, not sure.
I quoted Pounds Sterling but the exchange rate wouldn't make up that difference even if you allowed a 25% error
in actual cost.

What I have noticed is that if you get machining and assembly work done by a shop
that builds race engines, the standard of work and the cost is higher than a shop that
rebuilds ride-on mowers. There is more attention paid to measuring and setting
tolerances, ensuring that all moving parts have adequate clearances, cleaning and
prepping the block, getting the correct surface finishes and torquing everything correctly.

This extra attention to detail helps ensure that you get the expected performance
and life from your engine under hard use. Looking at the list of parts that have gone
into the build I would think that the engine was destined for racing purposes. So the
extra cost is most likely a good investment.

Having said all that, there are a lot of unknowns. Were the bores checked for wall
thickness ? Was a correctly torqued head plate used when the block was bored ? Did
the head use shimless (one-piece) buckets ? Did the shop have to clean, check and
re-use any components... e.g. the oil pump ? These things all take time and add
extra cost.

Cheers... jondee86

I think location is also a massive factor. Trying to get this work done in San Francisco might be $5-7k while far outside the city could be $2-4k

To be honest the only way l can see an issue with what they charged is if they didn't adhere reasonably closely to a written quote.
I don't know about the US but in the U.K there is a distinct legal difference between a quote and an estimate.

totta crolla wrote:To be honest the only way l can see an issue with what they charged is if they didn't adhere reasonably closely to a written quote.
I don't know about the US but in the U.K there is a distinct legal difference between a quote and an estimate.

I guess thats the problem...I never received a quote and was just told "we will build your engine" and then I get hit with a bill. and when I ask for a further detail, I dont quite get a full answer.

Not WAG's.
http://www.classicmotormachine.com/Cont ... celist.pdf
https://www.rlengines.com/SitePages/priceless.html
https://www.automotivemachine.com/index ... or-pricing

Thanks Bill K
www.enginerepairshop.com