how long do you take to rebuild?
 

Just curious here after a few comments on another thread.

How much time do you put into a rebuild? Just a top job including re-ring? I think a shop quotes about 40hrs. but what do pelicans take timewise?

I just did a 3.2 re-ring and top job and it was like 60hrs(a lot of which was just cussing at the car, and reading) it was my first 3.2.

Six months.

The book call for I think 35-40 hours for a 3.2. I may take alot longer if you have to repair broken bolts/studs etc.

Long time not cutting corners = quality
Short time (bragging) = mistakes= low quality

If you want to brag about doing something fast, drive your car on a race track. Don't turn wrenches on it fast.

Well said!!!!

not for bragging, who cares how fast you can build it if you blow it up. But what is reasonable? Some commented it was being rushed at that timeframe, so I wanted to see what others have spent.

So engguy, what is long time and what is short time?

To equate time spent to the quality of a job is tantamount to completely dismissing experience and expertise.

Long time not cutting corners = quality
Short time (bragging) = mistakes= low quality

Long time = quality is nonsense
Short time = mistakes = low quality is equally lame.

Let's examine the claims.

By this logic if a mechanic does a job the first time and it takes X hr. and then when that job is performed a second time at x-y the quality of the second job is a lower quality because of the time required was less.

Expertise and systems knowledge increase with each job performed. There is a diminishing return but each subsequent job should be better and faster than the previous one..

Is this conclusion always true? Few things are always but generally knowledge and experience improve performance.

That said, take your time , ask questions and allocate more time than you might expect.

Every engine is different and will require different amounts of time.

60 hrs might be a reasonable time for a first assembly.

Well said Henry, especially the "allocate more time than you might expect".

So I'm curious, with the "Short time (bragging) = mistakes= low quality" generalization BS aside, how many hours does it take to do what Donnie has described?

Agree, it depends on who is doing the work. If I had a job at say Jimmy Bean's Porsche joint that pays all his top mechanics $17 an hour, and since precision tools cost a bunch I may have a few harbor freight things in my box, but who needs them, I've done so many that I don't need to check anything (don't laugh I know lots of folks that work like that) besides we get everything from the machine shop and they are supposed to give us the right stuff. So I just quick slap stuff together with all those cleaned parts sitting there if you can't long block it in a 8hr shift you'd probably be in the unemployment line, but we didn't deal with the heads that was the machine shop guys deal, we just put it together.
I see no reason that you can't have it all in and running at the end of day 2. If your really fast day number 1. But that is with cleaned parts, a give a crap attitude, and a machineshop hopefully covering your rear. Unless you decide you don't need machine work on anything, and don't need the parts too clean. Drag race guys, and Nascar engine assembly competions do complete assembly in less than an hour or so, but that is a team of at least 2 I think.
Then there are the ones that build F1 Engines they brag about it taking 2 weeks or more. I read something about one brand of F1 engine taking 2 people 120 hours to assemble it, and that is with nice shiny fancy clean parts and sub assemblies assembled by others.
Like mentioned by Henry it depends on skill level, your tool supply, and parts availability etc.

4 months... read read read.... re read because forgot what I read before....carefully take stuff apart...look over and clean all parts... multiple times... read some more...obtain parts....check parts... take heads to machinist...send back wrong parts...get new parts...fit things together multiple times to understand how things work... read again in the Wayne book... check all threads on this site....send in dumb questions....get good answers.... be ever so careful... even built a torque wrench calibration machine..... put engine together and fire it up.... one cam was in 180 out.. next time things will go much better I should think..

very well put, except for the last two I hope. I am at 7 months since tearing apart my engine. hopefully I will start putting it all back together this week and be finished in two weeks (thats the plan at least). what I have learned so far... find a reputable PORSCHE machine shop and even then still check all their work just for piece of mind.

In my case, I'm entering my second year.

Doing things correctly applies to posting on online forums too, IMO.... :rolleyes:

I think you need to qualify the question in two ways... its 'How long do you take to rebuild?"

1st, To me thats starting with the engine in the stand ready to disassemble... not with all the parts shiny and clean on the bench checked and ready to go.

2nd, there are 2 classes: pros who do this for their living and the rest of us.

Personally... I'm not a pro and my engine was on the stand ready to disassy in Oct. of 2005... I'm still waiting on parts ;) but almost ready to slap it all back together... so thats um... just over 22 months and counting...

how depressing... I never actually did the math :(

*sigh*

-Michael

True,

I meant from the time it goes on the stand for teardown. Pure wait time for parts does not count, and the pros have done it more and have better access to parts(usually) so their numbers would be lower.

I think one of the best things I've done is do the top end rebuild myself...I gives me a real connection with the car and others that have done similar and makes it easier to diagnose issues/etc. I think the elapsed time is really not important.. the actual turning wrench time is really not that much for a DIY but it is for the pro. I spent a lot of time out in the garage starring at the parts and situation, try this and that to see how they go together and cleaning things... lots of what a pro would say is wasted time.. anyway my car now runs very good.. and no drips hitting the floor