Engine rebuild cost? (2 Viewers)

[Therealtotodile]

Hey all,
Blew my headgasket. Took it to my shop, and they are telling me that the PO had machined the head down so far in the last rebuild, that it is unusable for this rebuild.

2k for the head, and then 800 for machining, the valve job, and and swapping cams and valves.

After labor, gasket set, distributor system replacement(wires, sparks, rotor etc), its going to come to around 6k. That includes some other minor repairs and a refresh on all rubber and what not.

Curious to hear what you all think of a the 6k price tag, and if it is reasonable.

The shop doing he work is The Truck Shop in San Diego. They have a great reputation for yota's and land cruisers, and have done solid work for me before.

Thanks all,
Chris Morrissey

 

[lazy]

Is that pulling the motor and everything? I'm $6k in just parts and machine shop work and I'm doing the rest diy.

 

[Therealtotodile]

Is that pulling the motor and everything? I'm $6k in just parts and machine shop work and I'm doing the rest diy.

I believe so. Curious if anyone else knows exactly what they would need to do. IE; do they need to machine the block at all before the put the new head on?

The mechanic told me the head was really, really bad. Which I believe because the PO is a POS. Its 2k head, 600 gasket, 2000 labor and about a grand in other s***.

 

[Comet]

Is this a reputable shop that works on cruisers? I did everything myself except the head work (deck and valve stems) and my cost six years ago was around $3000 with Toyota Parts. Entire engine minus rings and lower end bearings (They were all in pristine condition.

 

[lazy]

I believe so. Curious if anyone else knows exactly what they would need to do. IE; do they need to machine the block at all before the put the new head on?

The mechanic told me the head was really, really bad. Which I believe because the PO is a POS. Its 2k head, 600 gasket, 2000 labor and about a grand in other s***.

I would expect....head - clean, inspect bearing surfaces (cams snd heads), new seals, valve/sest grind, adjust clearances by grinding valve tips (you'll probably have to buy new shims).

I would go into detail on the rest of a rebuild, but it sounds to me as if you're basically getting a new head and they're not pulling the engine.

 

[zapatius]

Hey all,
Blew my headgasket. Took it to my shop, and they are telling me that the PO had machined the head down so far in the last rebuild, that it is unusable for this rebuild.

2k for the head, and then 800 for machining, the valve job, and and swapping cams and valves.

After labor, gasket set, distributor system replacement(wires, sparks, rotor etc), its going to come to around 6k. That includes some other minor repairs and a refresh on all rubber and what not.

Curious to hear what you all think of a the 6k price tag, and if it is reasonable.

The shop doing he work is The Truck Shop in San Diego. They have a great reputation for yota's and land cruisers, and have done solid work for me before.

Thanks all,
Chris Morrissey

Forget that - buy a new Toyota head. They're about $1500 and won't have to be machined. If you supply the other parts, you could certainly knock a few hundred off as well.

How comfortable would you feel about doing this project yourself? Do you have a garage or carport?

 

[Mtntopper]

Forget that - buy a new Toyota head. They're about $1500 and won't have to be machined. If you supply the other parts, you could certainly knock a few hundred off as well.

How comfortable would you feel about doing this project yourself? Do you have a garage or carport?

New Toyota head? Pretty sure you won't find one of those.

Hey all,
Blew my headgasket. Took it to my shop, and they are telling me that the PO had machined the head down so far in the last rebuild, that it is unusable for this rebuild.

2k for the head, and then 800 for machining, the valve job, and and swapping cams and valves.

After labor, gasket set, distributor system replacement(wires, sparks, rotor etc), its going to come to around 6k. That includes some other minor repairs and a refresh on all rubber and what not.

Curious to hear what you all think of a the 6k price tag, and if it is reasonable.

The shop doing he work is The Truck Shop in San Diego. They have a great reputation for yota's and land cruisers, and have done solid work for me before.

Thanks all,
Chris Morrissey

I just did a new Toyota short block and remanned the head at the most reputable Toyota shop in Denver. Lots of new bits, radiator, injectors, EGR,
full exhaust, etc. I can send you the detailed invoice if you're interested, but the total was way past what you're talking about. I traded $26k for that service.

 

[musthave]

I was going to rebuild the engine on my cruiser but after getting the costs, for another $1500 I got a new one. I went over the wife approved budget of 8K, ended up at 21K doing it myself. Better than government spending. Everything front if the firewall is new, few exceptions.

I think you could do a short block and the necessary items for 10k or so. I did a redhead steering box, not really part of an engine build.

 

[White Stripe]

In my opinion, if a 1fz is costing you nearly 20k it's time for a v8 swap. Calculate hp per dollar.

 

[Mtntopper]

In my opinion, if a 1fz is costing you nearly 20k it's time for a v8 swap. Calculate hp per dollar.

Yes on the hp, but then you're trading away $20k to make your Toyota not a Toyota. Personally I will allow absolutely no hacking on my truck, but I can see in some situations where that might be the right solution.

 

[SaturnAscends]

These prices are insane! On another thread @White Sheep was saying he got a machine shop to do rebuild for $2200, including an $800 rebuild kit. You can save on costs big time, it seems, if you take the engine out yourself and drop it off at the shop.

 

[Mtntopper]

These prices are insane! On another thread @White Sheep was saying he got a machine shop to do rebuild for $2200, including an $800 rebuild kit. You can save on costs big time, it seems, if you take the engine out yourself and drop it off at the shop.

I'll be pulling my first motor in the spring. It's a 1F out of 65 FJ45LV, I'm pretty confident in that operation. Pulling a 1FZ is beyond my current skillset.

 

[White Stripe]

Yes on the hp, but then you're trading away $20k to make your Toyota not a Toyota. Personally I will allow absolutely no hacking on my truck, but I can see in some situations where that might be the right solution.

It will cost more than 20k for a v8 swap. More like 30k. Hacking depends on who does the swap. Some hack, some do a nice job. 80s with nice v8 swaps are commanding pretty high resale value. I'm kind of confused how the rebuild costs are getting to 20k on a 1fz. Seems too high. I would say anything over 15k is too high.

 

[Mtntopper]

It will cost more than 20k for a v8 swap. More like 30k. Hacking depends on who does the swap. Some hack, some do a nice job. 80s with nice v8 swaps are commanding pretty high resale value. I'm kind of confused how the rebuild costs are getting to 20k on a 1fz. Seems too high. I would say anything over 15k is too high.

Agreed. Prices have changed fast in the past couple years though. I'll post the invoice here shortly for the world to digest.

I like the 1FZ, it's right for what I use it for, and it's done it's job well since 1997. In my opinion, I've just set that truck up for its next 25 yr chapter in life.

 

[SaturnAscends]

Yeah I thought these engines were designed for shadetrees in developing countries. You'd think it was a Ferrari V12 by what some of the rebuild rates are nowadays!

Maybe the recent high valuations for 80 series LCs are causing repair bills to increase?

 

[Mtntopper]

Yeah I thought these engines were designed for shadetrees in developing countries. You'd think it was a Ferrari V12 by what some of the rebuild rates are nowadays!

Maybe the recent high valuations for 80 series LCs are causing repair bills to increase?

The recent high valuation of life is the force behind it.
And those are some pretty high tech machines. I put my trust in the literally millions of man hours of math by very smart people with great philosophy that went into that machine. I make all efforts to put it back precisely how it was designed.

 

[SaturnAscends]

The recent high valuation of life is the force behind it.
And those are some pretty high tech machines. I put my trust in the literally millions of man hours of math by very smart people with great philosophy that went into that machine. I make all efforts to put it back precisely how it was designed.

Fair enough, I wasn't saying it wasn't worth it. I'm just unaccustomed to seeing those kinda prices for mechanical work; maybe for a full frame-off resto or something.

Unfortunately at 226k my '97 isn't nearly as pretty as yours, so I couldn't justify those kind of costs. To be honest, all these rebuild threads are making me wanna cut my losses while it's still running good.

These are cool classic trucks don't get me wrong, but time and poor PO maintenance have take a toll, and they seem to dropping like flies lately.

 

[Godwin]

I'm into about $3500 doing an engine refresh and swap, not a full rebuild. I've had the reworked at about $1k and I've replaced gaskets, seals, hoses, water pump, etc. Except for the head work all labor has been mine. Engine has ca. 185k on it, ran well when pulled, and the cylinders looked good so I left the block internals and crank alone.

 

[robmobile73]

Depends on what you want to do/accomplish. Do you just want your truck running again? Or do you have to spend alot to have "piece of mind" that your truck is solid. A smart shop is going to size you up as a customer and pitch the most work they think you will pay for to make your vehicle better than ever.................Forgive me If I'm wrong, but based on posts here I'm guessing you have a 1FZ? On ebay today is a used head for $299, there are a couple others for less than $1500. Toyota 1FZ ENGINE Cylinder Head Landcruiser land cruiser fzj80 valves motor | eBay - https://www.ebay.com/itm/174862436287?hash=item28b69d07bf:g:sMUAAOSw9WRhAZTu Cheapest repair which will likely fail within a year is just to unbolt the head install new head gasket and bolt it back up. Next would be buy a used head check it to see if you can get by without resurfacing, lap valves, assemble, and bolt it on. There is no point in buying a new head if they cost so much.

LC's are expensive vehicles now. Just like a mercedes or BMW. Some people assume if you're willing to pay the high price for a vehicle that you're willing to pay continued big money to own it.......................It's been awhile since I've been to SanDiego, but I remember it being an expensive place to live. You might do better at a shop out of the area. You could probably get a much cheaper price in the next town to the South of San Diego if you want to take a chance.

 

[SaturnAscends]

I'm into about $3500 doing an engine refresh and swap, not a full rebuild. I've had the reworked at about $1k and I've replaced gaskets, seals, hoses, water pump, etc. Except for the head work all labor has been mine. Engine has ca. 185k on it, ran well when pulled, and the cylinders looked good so I left the block internals and crank alone.

Just out of curiosity, I'm wondering why you decided to do a tear-down if it was running good? Mine has 226k and it still runs pretty well, but I was gonna do an oil analysis to get a better idea of internal wear.