How much did it cost to build your motor?

Im trying to collect money to build my motor and am wanting a guesstimate of how much it will cost.

FIRST OFF: How much does it cost to get my block (O10 350) bored .030, and crank (billit) machined? I know it will vary, but shoot me a guess.

Here's my plans for the motor:
355
LT1 Flat Top Pistons
Vortech Heads $500
Scoggin Dickey Baseplate $399
LT4 Hot Cam
Hooker Supercomp Headers(already have)
SLP Siamese Runners/Edlebrock High Flow

Well, that's basically all I want to do for now. How much do you think that will run me? And what kind of ET should that get me assuming my 700R4 was perfect and I get good traction?

Budget times TWO...I hate saying that but it saves headaches during the buildup.:) You'll also need new fasteners/gaskets/sealants, etc...quality gaskets and fasteners REALLY add to a pricelist but typical replacement pieces might be sufficient and they'll be cheaper of course.

What about other valvetrain pieces? new roller rockers? new roller lifters or are you using stock roller lifters? Valvesprings? machineing the Vortec heads to accomodate the lift of a Hotcam(especially if you use 1.6 rocker arms). Will you need an exhaust for after the hooker headers? Or will you just have a custom Y pipe made to fit the long tubes back into a 3" single exhaust that you already have? Resizing of the rods may be needed, especially with new fasteners., etc.. The pricelist of machine work goes on and on:mad: . Stop by a local shop if you can and ask for a machining pricelist. I'm guessing $100-200 for the boring+ hone to size. Crank machining could be 100-300, balancing is up in the air depending on a lot of things. Odds are you'll find a really good deal somewhere nearby. I'll look for a pricelist around here. Goodluck!

you can save yourself some time/money if you buy the high perf. vortec heads from scoggin dickey that already have the guides cut down and good springs installed.


cam bearings about $80, installation about $40

main/rod bearings about $100

dont scimp on the gaskets either. get felpro's. prolly about $150 for all including the one piece rubber oil pan gasket.

about $140 for boring the cyl.s

$40 for freeze plugs

high temp silicone, assembly lube, thread sealant, 10 qrts oil and 2 filters, (to break the eng in and change the oil after)

dont forget new sp. plugs, wires, header gaskets, coolant, serp. belts, the mandatory chrome timing cover and valve cover gaskets, and on and on and on.

pushrods about $40-80

will your stock inj.s be good enough to handle it?

it is never ending and always as denny said, plan on doubleing your first est. by the time its done.

chris

Just get ready to spend and spend and spend a little more. When you think you're done you'll still be missing some little part that you just have to have so you'll spend yet again. But at least you aren't building a big block motor. For those you spend all your time bent over so the parts guy can get to your wallet easier. :D

I would advise against installing the LT1 pistons. Pay a little more money and get a nicer set of forged pistons, that way you will be set if you decide to add a dose of Nitrous or something.

Don't use synthetic oil to break in the engine, it's so slick that the bearings won't seat properly. Get the $.93/quart autozone straight 30 weight and a cheap filter for break in. Run it for 30 minutes, drain it, and refill it with the same. After 500 easy miles, drain it and fill it with whatever and drive it like ya stole it.

Almost forgot, the Edelbrock high flow base won't mount to the vortec heads, you'll need the Scoggin Dickey vortec TPI base for that.

Originally posted by 97WS6SCharged
Just get ready to spend and spend and spend a little more. When you think you're done you'll still be missing some little part that you just have to have so you'll spend yet again.

Ain't that the truth. I am sitting at about $2500 right now. That is including my $1000 TFS heads and the $250 Comp 227/233 for the 355 I am building. Expect to spend and spend... cause it never ends. I am assembling it myself so I have allowed myself to buy a bunch of new parts where usually I would have gone used. I still probably need to spend about $1000 more on gaskets/arp bolts/ machine work on the crank etc. But I am trying to budget at least another $2000 because I know I need a new intake and throttle body... :cry:

Mine is looking kinda like this...

$1700 for Eagle rotating assembly

$1100 for Dart Pro 1 heads plus $1000 in porting and assembly

$260 for Holley FI intake

$460 for Holley 4 bbl throttlebody 1000 CFM (still not sure if it's enough)

$470 for 75 lb/hr injectors

$1600 for twin Precision SC-61 turbos

$700 for wastegates

Plus what I haven't spent for machine work, gaskets, plumbing and intercoolers, not to mention a decent tranny, rearend, and suspension. One day it will be finished.

Twin Turbo GTA :)

I paid $1500 for long blocking my World Products Motown 350 race block .060 over. $1025 for GMPP fast burn vortec alum. heads not including port and polish. I also bought the SDPC high-flow TPI base intake. Adding the block brings it to $4500, plus cam, rotating assembly, SLP headers, and alot of other little things you have to have, or just plain want, brings to about $8500, not including the thousands in labor I put into it, and favors from welders and machinist.

I'm sure others have spent much, much, more.
To tell you the truth, it won't ever stop, until you decide to sell it, and believe me, only a gearhead would offer anything close to what it worth.

As far as performance goes you'll only get as much out of it as you put into it.

My machine work bill was $230 for it to be hot tanked, ball honed, new freeze plugs, new cam bearings and the stock crank was balanced.

The problem with building, aside from the lil things adding up very quickly like mentioned above, is you'll need supporting parts when the engine is built. You'll make 300-350 hp, then you'll need to build your suspension and that'll cost a grand if you use new parts. Then your tranny goes out. And the ever so fun tuning :) That's $350 for the stuff to DIY, or on the low side it'll be $500 for a dyno tune.

But it sure is fun :)

I am at about $1500 or so.,
http://www.transamws6.com/pics/11-2003/lt1_pass_side.jpg

http://www.transamws6.com/pics/11-2003/lt1_driver_side.jpg

yeah but just think, at least you arent wasting your money on a new car. a sweet third gen built up right will run you about the same as a new neon or sunfire. and who wants to drive one of those?

$12.500 for the motor-- carb to oil pan --434sb

Zeph, how much you pay for the complete LT1 motor? Looks like a nice clean swap you did.

My motor swap ran me around 3000$, the engine itself probably only cost me 2000$, but I had a crapload of other things I bought to complete the swap (Starter, flexplate, fuel reg, headers, ypipe, etc etc etc) I think I spent like 200$ on hose/clamps and stuff like that.

Once you start the swap and you get to the point of no return, you gotta spend money to complete it.

I bought the complete motor for $1000, sold the iron heads, caprice radiator and manifolds, , bought some Aluminum heads and painted the block and the intake.
Now that I think about it, I've got probably over $2K in the motor.

Winning the lottery helps alot. :D I'm waiting for my turn to win $80 million. Anyone want to give me the 6 winning numbers?

i'll give you the 6 numbers if you give me the 80 mil... :D

going fast costs way to much..... :(

Originally posted by baddest305
$12.500 for the motor-- carb to oil pan --434sb

See...This guy never dicks around! Awesome, I can't wait to see pics/timeslips from that new setup.:eek: I'm guessing easy 10's on motor and God only know what on the bad stuff.:D

If he can get the rearend to plant. All the power in the world won't help you don't get traction until the 1000 ft mark. :D

Originally posted by 97WS6SCharged
If he can get the rearend to plant. All the power in the world won't help you don't get traction until the 1000 ft mark. :D

Always the optimist, Chris!!! I'm guessing you didn't see how his 305 hooked.:bow:

My 383 blower motor (about 480HP at the crank, well over 500 ft/lbs torque) if I had to build it from scratch again....

383 Short block... around $1400 using an old 350 junkyard block. KB Hypereutectic pistons, stock rods with ARP rod bolts, 383 stroker crank, 400 balancer and flexplate. Block clearancing done by me before it went to the machine work for boring/honing, etc. Final assembly by me.

Cam and valvetrain.... Comp Cams XE 268 ground on a wider blower-friendly 114* LSA. Fresh cheap-o Mellings lifters, pushrods, 1.6 roller-tipped rockers. Maybe $250 for the whole mess.

Heads.... AFR 190s $1300 (plus 4 week wait)

Intake.... Weiand 142 blower kit $1500. Home-tweaked QJet junkyard carb, maybe $50 in parts

Ignition.... Home tweaked junkyard HEI distributor, maybe $75 invested total. MSD ignition another $125 (although i got it as a Christmas present)

Odds-n-ends..... $250 for gaskets, odd parts, etc.

TOTAL: Just shy of $5000 complete from carb to pan, balancer to flexplate, ready to drop in.

Dude, there is no way I would build a blower motor with hypercrap pistons. The only reason my supercharged LT1 has hypercrap pistons in it is because they are the stock pistons and they just haven't given up yet. My 383 for the twin turbo setup is forged everything. By the way, the LT1 put 441 HP and 462 ft/lb to the tires. Life is good, until something breaks.

Agreed, I would never RECOMMEND using hypereutectic pistons in a blower or nitrous application. I used them on a dare. I was told by many people (like you) they would never hold up. Having used them MANY times in mild nitroused street motors without a failure (most recently a 400ci small block making round about 500 at the crank) I felt confident I could make them live a long life under the blower.

I figured if I set them up with proper ring end gap and stayed well clear of detonation they'd work just fine. A year in so far and no problems.

ANY piston will fail under detonation- forged pistons just take a little longer to break. The main reason that hypereutectic pistons have a bad reputation with boost/nitous is that most people do not follow manufacturer's specs for ring end gap. Hypereutectic pistons put a LOT of heat in the top ring. This can easily cause the ring ends to butt together, instantly destroying the piston. People blame it on detonation when really it was improper assembly that killed them.

Hypereutectics, therefore, often require MUCH larger end gap than you would see on a stock piston or an aftermarket forged piston. My KB hypereutectics are set up with .032" of top ring gap, per manufacturer's recommendations. On any other kind of piston that would be WAY WAY too big, but not with these.