I'm trying to get a baseline idea of what I should pay to have the following done if after disassembly, my shortblock and components reveal they are OK.

Hot tank it
Hone Cylinders and Re-ring (remain a 350)
Fresh bearings throughout (bottom end and cam bearings)
Possibly polish crank journals for undersized bearings if needed?
ARP rod bolts
Reassemble shortblock

I think this would make for a nice setup to put my LE2 back on top of while I collect funds to put a stout 355 together a year or so from now. I would do this now, but I need to put the $ into a CPT tranny instead.

Recommendations on types of bearings and rings to use on a stock 350?

 

It really shouldn't be that expensive to do, especially if you're going to do the reassembly. If not I think most shops charge maybe $150-$200 to assemble a motor.

I would suggest using the Clevite H series bearing, everyone I know who runs them seems to have great luck. Not sure about rings though. If you have to go over-bore you might look into the Mahle piston/ring package. I weighed them out and they were quite a bit lighter than stock, and forged.

My main, rod and cam bearings came to $112. Boring .030 over with a torque plate and honing cost me $150, so I'd say for just a hone you'd be well under $100. I'm not real sure how much it is to have a crank turned, it might be cheaper just to buy a stock one that's within spec and use it. Looks like Summit has ARP rod bolts starting at about $50.

You might also consider having the block decked while you're at it to get a better quench area. It cost me $100 to get .020" taken off each side, and this way you know your sealing surface is perfectly flat as well. This way you can run the Fel Pro headgaskets as opposed to the Mr. Gaskets that everyone seems to be having problems with (quality control) lately.

 

If you go that far, just have it bored .030 over, and put in forged pistons. It wont cost that much more, and then you will have 355 bottom end that will handle that top end just fine.

When I had a local race engine shop quote me a price, it was around $1200 for all machine work (including zero deck and use of torque plates), bearings, resizing rods, balancing, and that might have even been assembly. All I had to provide was a shortblock, and forged pistons with rings.

 

i'd say $1500 for shortblock only

Hot tank
Hone Cylinders
Fresh bearings
polish crank journals
pin fit pistons
resize rods
rebalence
square and deck block
align hone mains
gap rings
Reassemble shortblock

dont forget to buy arp main studs also no more stock bolts

 

Since we're talking about rebuilding on a budget... I was told by a reputable speed shop here in Houston that it would cost an additional $400 to turn the block into a 4-bolt main. If you were doing something like LE2 or 3, would this be something you really might want to spend the money on due to the extra power? Or is this mainly just for forced induction/N2O applications?

Hope this questions fits the thread. Budget rebuilds with LE2 package.