Engine rebuild cost

[Brian VT]

I'm thinking about getting a spare engine built to have on standby.
It's not something I would consider attempting myself so I would need to find someone capable and willing.
Say you bought a used engine that supposedly "ran good when pulled"(yah, sure), how much $ would you budget to have it rebuilt? My pump and injectors should still be fine when the time comes so I'd likely swap those over.

Also, is there anything you can test on a used engine that's sitting on a pallet or is it a total roll of the dice?

 

[Nero]

Compression test on a pallett. Thats what I did. Found I had one bad hole. Disassembly proved it.

Justin at R&D will build a good core for ready to drop in for $6500

The engine I'm building for my dad, the pistons alone were $1100, and with how many hours in labor I have cleaning and misc gaskets and stuff, Justin's price definitely feels fair.

 

[Brian VT]

Thank you.
What else to look for in a donor engine? Does it matter what transmission it was driving?

 

[Nero]

Transmission doesn't matter to me. Running status also does not matter. I have bought 3 trucks with dusted engines. All ran, but burned oil like crazy. Even the engine that was originally in my dads white truck ran, but one hole was over 0.040 wore out, so it would have needed sleeved. The engine block I bought to replace it had a good block, but both heads were cracked.

Honestly it's one of those 'you don't know what you have til you take it apart'

 

[Brian VT]

Transmission doesn't matter to me. Running status also does not matter. I have bought 3 trucks with dusted engines. All ran, but burned oil like crazy. Even the engine that was originally in my dads white truck ran, but one hole was over 0.040 wore out, so it would have needed sleeved. The engine block I bought to replace it had a good block, but both heads were cracked.

Honestly it's one of those 'you don't know what you have til you take it apart'

I won't be the one taking it apart to find out.
So how does it play out if I buy a donor and send it to R&D and it needs sleeves or heads? It goes from $6500 to ...$10K?
And what about the transmission connection from donor to mine when someone I hire tries to swap my engine for the rebuilt one?
That's why I'm here asking how much $ to budget and what to look for in a donor.

 

[Nero]

If I remember right, Justin only does one build, and that's it. He sleeves all blocks, and uses powestroke rods on all builds, regardless of prior condition.

As for the transmission, they all bolt up the same to the idi. So whoever does the work should be able to see to remove the flexplate and move the whole assembly over. They share all the same bolt patterns.

 

[ROCK HARVEY]

Jake_IN posted his machine shop invoice in post #21 of this thread:

7.3 tear down/rebuild (hydrolocked)

I'm sorry to hear that. I haven't tried to contact Justin so I have no personal experience. I also can perfectly understand since I'm the same way. I was using those two as examples of people who I would trust their work enough to pay them to build an engine for me. There may be a few more, but...

www.oilburners.net

It was $3500 for parts and machining labor, but didn’t include the assembly because he put it together himself. I’m sure prices have gone up in the last 5 years, but it’s good to have a reference point.