911 sc rebuild estimate
 

Hi,

I have a 911 sc and plan to rebuild the engine. How much this will cost me if I do it myself and how much if done by a mechanic (fair price)?

Thanks.

This sounds Like a wise guy...BUT it will always be more then you ever thought.!
Then, "while you are there' syndrome sets in...
Then, the prudent thing to do...since it is a apart...
In the end It will depend on several things...Condition of rotateting assy (crannk rods piston and cylinders) These things can boost you bill in short order
other then that..are you doing the valve job? You will save a gob there
so..plan as min of 5000 grand,..hope its not 10000...

10g's can go fast... lol

I was quoted $8-10k for a top end only by a very reutably indy shop here in the DFW area which pretty much made my decision. Although once I got started I ended up tearing things down the the crank since there did not seem to be much reason not to at that point. I sent the heads out to be inspected and completely rebuilt to Competition Enginerring and the other critical parts were sent to a local Porsche shop to be measured and inspected.

I'd say a minimum of 5K for a DIY, assuming you don't need major work on anything. P&C's can blow that budget, though if your cylinders are good you can go with JE pistons, or the ones from Rothsport racing (these are supposed to be exact forged replicas of the euro pistons at 9.8:1 compression). I figured in that budget some of the special tools which you simply can't do without (which includes the neat circlip tool (where I got it escapes me) which is invalluable in keeping those little buggers from flying across the shop and under a bench (don't ask me how I know)).

NO not a top end !...Esp if you do it you self..whats a complete P.C kit go for.....from 1 to 6 G depending on what you buy right?
Most the time..........ahem.....you can reuse your old P,C. but....you will never know till apart

jrn...., what do you "want" to do ? I'd say its double to hire someone vs. diy, roughly.
You can calculate from there based on your interest, facility, guts, etc.. I did DIY, whole thing with lots of variables and no upgrades for 6K, entire job. Engine only, no clutch, etc, on and on, $700 on tool upgrades. Top end diy could be as little as 2k or less.

Ok, I think the key word here is variables..... I have DIY rebuilt both 944 turbo engines and an SC engine. I did it for far cheaper then 5k.

Here are some variables that you need to account for:

What are the condition of your cylinders? If they are in good condition you can re ring $200 dollars. If your lucky your crank will still be within spec. (rod bearings, main bearings, rod bolts, nose bearing, intermediate bearings, complete engine gasket kit plus 12 steel head studs) Approx. 1100 dollars. Add professional cylinder head rebuild from Anchor industries for approx. 1,000 dollars.

Misc. incidentals add another 500. Makes total come out to 2600 dollars.

If you need cylinders then you can spend alot of money but I recently purchased a excellent set of low mileage Alusil pistons and cylinders for less then 500 dollars simply because no-one wants Alusil.

By the way if you have a 80-83 sc engine you don't need the cam nut tool because Porsche went to a one nut design.

Polish crank?
Oil Pump?
while there..clutch and related parts?
updates and up grades?

as I recall - FLAT RATE TIME to rebuild a 911 engine is about 40 hrs, by an expert mechanic - that is after it is on the bench - and that does not include all the peripheral "while it's apart" work that needs to go to a machinist

Just multiply your local expert shop's hourly rate - x 40

you need to plan on 10k.. if its less, GREAT. example, i had a pitted intermediate shaft. add $800. you gonna reuse cams with 150k miles on them (350 reground, 800 new)? not gonna change the studs (another $800 for supertec) you dont want to reuse bad or marginal parts because you dont have the budget. better to tell the wife it cost 4k less than to tell her it cost 4k more. mine was 12k. about 2-3k of that was "extras" ... so I could have done it for 9-10k. in my view, based on my case, guys who do it for less than 5k are not replacing parts that most people would absolutely replace. its your money.. do as much as your comfortable with. can easily add 4-5k to the bill if a pro does it...

I would have $10K ready and be happy if it's less (with you doing the work). If you need new pistons and cylinders, and you buy a complete clutch kit while you're in there, that's around $5000 right there, and we still haven't talked about stud replacement, camshaft condition, rocker arm condition, crank shaft and rod condition, valve job....

Brett

Everyone here is very much spot on with figures. It's all about what you discover when it's all apart.
I'm currently in the process and my bill is as follows;
Complete gasket kit and all bearings around 1500

New cams as old one was pitted $ 700 off a pelican

New cylinders as the old ones where alusil $ 800 ( low mileage p/c's off pelican )

Two new rocker arms as old ones had scores $ 100

Valve springs $ 160

Je custom pistons $ 1100

Arp head studs $ 500

Machine shop for heads , flywheel and case work $2300

Misc parts while your in there $ 400 ( always something you don't like the look of)

Tools $ 500

Ssi's $ 1200
Muffler for Ssi's $ 600

Then there is about $300 odd dollars on spray paint , degreasers, cleaners etc that some may forget to add in ( I'm cleaning and painting anything that looks old and manky which is pretty much everything.
So you can see there are Alot of little things that add up very quickly to around the 10k mark if you do the complete engine properly.

I was lucky my crank and tunnel were spot on or else I'd be up for more machining and the cost of oversized bearings.

The quotes I got where for around the $ 20-25k mark.

Hope this helps.

911 Rebuild
 

Does anyone know the flat rate time to do a top end vs a full rebuild and what a commercial shop should charge?

911 Rebuild
 

Forgot to mention the engine is a 2.4 1973 CIS

If you got the bucks send the engine out to one of the rebuilders that hang on the rebuild forum

there is no cheap way for a bullet proof rebuild

I rebuilt my engine top and bottom last year reusing my pistons and cylinders and I doubt it's possible to spend less than $6K. I was quoted 40 hours for a top end and 55 for a full rebuild by my mechanic at $100/hr. So it could be anywhere from $5K for a DIY top end rebuild where you don't have to replace anything major to $15K if you pay someone to do it and need new Ps and Cs.

You will need some special tools, a decent work space, the patience to work meticulously, some friends that can help (this board and Wayne's book) and a lot of time to do it yourself. Even then you'll have to pay a machine shop for your head work and possibly to deep clean some of your parts.

If you rebuilt the engine yourself and "doubt" the 6k then maybe you actually didn't perform the work yourself. The key thing is that your pistons and cylinders are good. If they are within spec then re-ring. A quality outfit like Anchor machine will redo your cylinder heads for less then 1,000 dollars. When doing my engine I was lucky and someone did the heads recently so the guides were good. I just freshed them up by lapping the valves in and was finished.

I rebuilt mine for well under $5k (not including tools)... but it took me 2 years to collect all the parts at rock bottom prices. I needed to replace 2 cylinders and 1 piston. I got the cyls free from guys here!! THANKS GUYS! I have 1 left if you need it ;)

I also went to headers and an M&K which are not included in that <5k #. If you are patient and have the time you can cut the costs down a lot. I used flee-bay, craigslist, local friends, and primarily this site to collect all the parts I needed for a full rebuild.

The largest outside expense I had was $1200 for the heads done by one of the best shops, Extreme Cylinder Head. You can get yours re-conditioned for $600 at Anchor Atlantic (still great quality!). I bought the HW kit and sealant kit so that was a big chunk.

After that most of my expenses came in small bills for powder coating, plating, cleaning, and such. I have a blast cab. so I was able to clean and recondition a lot of parts on my own. Blast cab. and compressor to run it are not included in $.

I was able to pick up a main bearing set and gasket kit here for 1/3 retail... I got the cyl spacer rings off flee-bay super cheap. I replaced all the head studs with steel OEMs that I got used here as a set form a low hour race car (Thanks Clay!).

...so you can do a good DIY job for not a lot of $, but you have to trade $ for time or quality. Sounds like something someone said once...

You can also cut more costs by not getting into the extras that are for looks like re-painting/powder coating stuff. Your engine will be rebuilt, but it wont look new.


Regardless of what you do buy Wayne's engine rebuild book. It is educational, even if you are paying someone to do the work.

Enjoy!!

-Michael