Engine rebuild vs Ali Khamenei's new bottom - eBay

[Hubbell]

I'm going to strip my recently purchased alloy headed engine and I'm weighing up the cost of a bottom end rebuild vs an Iranian bottom end which is currently for sale on eBay (£600.00). Roughly how much will a proper rebuild cost? By that I mean new pistons and liners, new connecting rods and a reground crank plus new seals and other bits and bobs. Could anybody give a rough estimate for material costs if you have carried out a similar re-build?

 

[Panky]

From Speedy Spares price list. For mains and big end bearings about £50, piston set £160, rings £40, oil pump £40, gasket set say £10, timing chain and tensioner, £11. Plus machining costs for re-bore and crank grind, your time and effort and all the other bits I've forgotten plus VAT makes the new engine look a bit of a bargain I recon.

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[martin maltas]

Works out about the same to rebuild yours against buying new. I've used the new ones and would go that route anytime

www.commervanspares.co.uk
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[Hubbell]

I've used this company called Southern Engines before and they're are top guys. I've been down to their workshop which is basically a big greasy shed with a huge amount of industrial looking bench tools. Anyway here are a few of their prices (which I think are reasonable)

ENGINE BLOCK PRESSURE TESTING From £60
ENGINE BLOCK REFACING From £50
ENGINE BLOCK REBORE From £80
ENGINE BLOCK LINER FITTING From £80 plus liner
CRANKSHAFT REGRIND From £80
CRANKSHAFT POLISHING From £30
CRANKSHAFT ALLIGNMENT From £30

This is for the machining part alone and could potentially top £600.00...

http://www.southernengines.co.uk

 

[Hubbell]

One other thing. Is it worth carrying out the valve seat conversion to safely run unleaded without relying on additives? Southern engines quoted £22.00 per valve seat.

 

[nickclubman]

Doesn't an alloy head already have hardened valves. Before spending this money, why not get yout current set up checked over? Still not 100% convinced your big end has gone on the evidence from Pandy. Try the cheap solutions first.

 

[Panky]

The ebay engine doesn't include and oil pump, cam or timing gear so you need a new pump and the other bits will have to be salvaged from your new ally head engine, but still worth it I think.

Founder of the Non-Facebook Club

 

[Hubbell]

What else could the knocking be other than the bottom end? I've changed the distributor and the coil to rule out a misfire. I've run the engine with the ancillary belt off so that rules out the fan, the water pump and the alternator as the knocking was still present under load. It's also seriously down on power. I'm not willing to spend any more money on the present engine.

 

[Hubbell]

Does the alloy head have hardened valves?

 

[bazzateer]

It should do otherwise the valves would wear the seats away in no time.

I am not a person, I am a number, 395 actually......Be seeing you!
If I told you I was a pathological liar, would you believe me?

 

[steve williams]

has your engine got a starting handle dog?
these can come loose and allow a slight sideways movement in the crank
sounds like a bottom end knock

 

[Suinnyboy]

Had one of those crank handle things on my 75 Range Rover, bloody useless!! Tried it once when my starter motor died and couldn't crank fast enough, even though it was a low compression motor (8.15 to 1). It eventually became redundant when I fitted the bull bar. I found parking on a hill worked better until the new starter motor arrived.

Cheers Stephen

 

[jimberlake]

When I got some work on my alloy head the chap said it shouldn't need seats putting in. Saying that I had loads of additive left from my old car so adding that for this long trip.

The Blue Toaster

 

[Panky]

I always put a capful of Valvemaster in on fill up, even though the ally head has inserts I'm not sure if they are hardened steel.

Founder of the Non-Facebook Club

 

[greg]

Some say the aluminum head cools the valve seats quite well.
I do check the compression/valve clearances regularly, over time, on my iron one though.

The simpler the better

 

[commeracer]

None of our vehicles run hardened seats, and never used an additive. There is alot of misinformation about regarding this. I tested a Holbay head and the seats were not hardened, so i doubt the Alpine/Rapier ones are. It's very simple to check. austenitic work hardening irons are NON magnetic, cheaper steels ARE magnetic. The same applies to valves, a good quality valve is NON magnetic, sometimes they are 2 piece friction welded with a NON mag head and a MAG stem.
If you really want to do it, then just do the exhaust seats

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Founder of the 6 speed club

 

[greg]

Apologies for mentioning the Beddie again but I am on the final of 3 sizes of tappet adjusters on 2 of the exhaust valves yet the inlets are still all on the first size.
So at some point I will be forced to replace the exhaust seats only.

The simpler the better

 

[nickclubman]

Have you had it running properly, nice and smooth? Is it running on all 4 cylinders? Are the engine mounts in good condition? Have you checked the tappets? Are they at the right gap, have any worked loose? Is the crank pulley secure?

 

[Hubbell]

Can you upload video or audio files? It's running on 4 cylinders. It started knocking as I was going down a hill doing 60mph and it let out a high pitch squeal before it stalled and after 45 mins it started again only to be knocking under load and 50% down on power. Bearing in mind the problem occurred when the engine would have been at the highest RPM it doesn't tie up with something external working loose.

 

[greg]

My timing chain tensioner gave up one day and the chain rounded off the crank sprocket...
I wonder if your timing chain jumped a tooth.

The simpler the better