My Head gasket , engine rebuild , cost breakdown (1 Viewer)

[half k cruiser]

For those of you who are interested, and because of all the threads I see on this, I thought I would post a breakdown of what it cost to redo the engine on my wife's 94. Keep in mind, other than machine work all labor was performed by me in my garage.

Backstory: Back in February of this year (2014) I noticed coolant contamination in the oil. I decided that with 207k on the clock and figuring we will pretty much keep this vehicle forever I would just rebuild the whole thing. The truck at this point had sprung several oil leaks and the power steering system needed an overhaul. So out comes the motor.

So here's the breakdown of costs:

Parts
-OEM re seal kit $303
-upgraded timing kit $91
-Clevite bearings $80
-NPR piston rings $131.59
-PS kit + HP hose $100
-Drag link tie rod ends $72.50
-Water pump, hoses, vacuum lines, fuel lines, harness connections, lubricants, coolant, and all other odds and ends $ 180.42

Parts total $958.42

I also took the cylinder head and block to the machine shop to have them done.
-valve job and surface $685.43
-block decked .10in and cylinder walls step honed $255.59

Labor total $941.02

Then I needed some tools, like a shop crane, floor jack, engine stand, gigantic torque wrench, and lots of other little odds and ends.

Tools total $795.82

So after all was said and done I came to the following total. Please keep in mind I may have misplaced a receipt here or there but the totals should be within $100 of actual moneys spent.

Total rebuild cost $1899.44 Cost w/ tools $2695.26

 

[ranma21]

Thanks for sharing half k cruiser. That is not bad at all

 

[2fpower]

I need to have you over and pick your brain on pulling the motor on my next project.
I have beer if you have time.....

 

[Howard705]

That's being effecient. The tools you'll have forever. No mega-overkill on anything. Engine parts list reads nearly exactly like mine-on the back burner for now.... I dissasembled my head-checked on surface plate at .006" will have milled and cleaned for around $100. all valves checked within .001" lash. will reassemble all cleaned with new guide seals.

 

[Jan-78FJ40]

Such information is very useful, but also outlines a problem (without criticizing the thread starter here), which is the definition of a rebuild. What was done here is the absolute minimum, and therefore the costs were relatively low.
For a complete rebuild it would include measuring all cylinders for wear, tolerances and roundness (probably this was done here, I assume, and just not mentioned). A complete rebuild will include new pistons, pins, pin bushings and rod bearings, as well as measuring the rods for tolerances. At the least a complete analysis of the old pistons. I assume the block was magna fluxed and cleaned inside out, as this definitely needs to be done. The oil pump should be checked as well, and all the timing gears. Usually head bolts and rod bolts need to be new.

Again, I am not bashing the thread starter, but people need to be aware of the difference between a minimal rebuild and a complete rebuild, and often one cannot getaway with a minimal one.
cheers,
J

 

[half k cruiser]

@Jan-78FJ40 The bearing clearances were checked, albeit with plasti guage. The cylinder bores were fine and there was no need to replace pistons, head bolts or rod bolts. In fact the bearings really didn't need to be replaced either I did it simply because they had 200k on them. With the exception of a small nick in one they looked perfect. The cylinder walls were not measured for roundness as there was no evidence of non uniform wear. In fact there was little evidence of any kind of wear. The factory cross hatching was still very evident on 5 of the 6 cylinders. Number 6 suffered some water staining where the head gasket was leaking.

 

[Jan-78FJ40]

@Jan-78FJ40 The bearing clearances were checked, albeit with plasti guage. The cylinder bores were fine and there was no need to replace pistons, head bolts or rod bolts. In fact the bearings really didn't need to be replaced either I did it simply because they had 200k on them. With the exception of a small nick in one they looked perfect. The cylinder walls were not measured for roundness as there was no evidence of non uniform wear. In fact there was little evidence of any kind of wear. The factory cross hatching was still very evident on 5 of the 6 cylinders. Number 6 suffered some water staining where the head gasket was leaking.

Awesome. I wish my diesel rebuilds would have looked that good.
Cheers,
J

 

[l1coeea9]

Now that you have all of these tools, are you going into the engine rebuild business?

 

[half k cruiser]

Now that you have all of these tools, are you going into the engine rebuild business?

I have actually thought about it. I figured it would be a good way to make some extra cash. Buy some trucks with blown motors, rebuild, resale. I don't really have the room in my drive way for extra vehicles though. I wouldn't mind getting a hold of a spare 1FZ and fixing it up in case someone needed one.

 

[OGBeno]

Building your own engine is one thing, going into business and taking people's money for it is a whole other ball of wax...

Be very prepared for an endeavor like this.

It's not as easy as it seems.

Just a friendly FYI.

 

[half k cruiser]

Building your own engine is one thing, going into business and taking people's money for it is a whole other ball of wax...

Be very prepared for an endeavor like this.

It's not as easy as it seems.

Just a friendly FYI.

Your not telling me anything I don't already know there. I have definitely thought about things like unforeseen costs, warranty, etc. All stuff I really don't want to deal with along with a paying customer.

 

[OGBeno]

Yup. If you do go in this direction, make sure you do a few things like:

1. What will a warranty be from you?

2. What will make a customer want to buy a long block 1FZ from you?

3. Parts: Enough margin to make a profit?

4. Labor: will your hours be commensurate with book rate and/or currently available rebuilders as well as pros who have built many, many 1FZ's like Robbie, or Mudrak, or Torfab, or Harness at ACC, or xxx...

5. Cores: Do you understand the quality of the core you are working with or the one you receive if you go in this direction: IE: you build an engine and a customer sends you their core. Their block might be junk and now you are stuck with it, etc.

6. Customer: LC clients are definitely a different breed. You see many, many threads about "bad" vendors etc. when much of it was a misunderstanding from the beginning about expectations.

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

Building an engine may actually be as easy as it seems. Lotta little stuff has to go right tho. Should let a machine shop take care of installing the bearings for example, and they can (and should!) check and polish the crank, stuff like that.

Going into business, that's not easy.

The machine shop that i am most familiar with would charge at least a few grand to build the engine, and a lot of that is the warranty.

Looks like Total Seal makes gapless rings for the 1fz-fe, fwiw.

 

[half k cruiser]

@Timpanogos Slim why would you say a machine shop needs to install the bearings ? I don't think I looked at total seal, and have never heard of a gapless ring, I will have to research that. The NPR rings are supposedly OEM, and they are made in Japan same as the Clevite bearings.

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

@Timpanogos Slim why would you say a machine shop needs to install the bearings ? I don't think I looked at total seal, and have never heard of a gapless ring, I will have to research that. The NPR rings are supposedly OEM, and they are made in Japan same as the Clevite bearings.

Yeah actually when i said that i was thinking about the times I've watched my friend install camshaft bearings in chevy v8 blocks.

I am not familiar with the bearings in a 1fz.

Bearings that are installed as a full circle in one piece, it's best if they are installed with the right tools. The shop my friend works at spent a lot of money on a tool with a ton of different diameter dies for inserting full circle bearings. To you and me it may look like a steel pipe with a round thingie on the end, but that's a precision thingie and they have a wide selection of them.

The half circle bearings, yeah, do it yourself.

 

[half k cruiser]

Last look at the odometer shows I'm at about 7k miles since the rebuild. I just changed the oil the other day and it hadn't leaked or burned any noticeable amount in all of that time.

 

[95ToyCruiser]

Nice thread man!! I respect anyone who does it themselves and doesn't get crazy spending $5000 on parts...

The way I look at it, these things were designed to be worked on in 3rd world countries, they're not F1 motors...

I "rebuilt" mine after it was sold to me with a knock (got it for a song)...only problem was I threw a rod before even getting it home to my garage!!!

Oh well, besides the parts I stole off of my spare 1FZ-FE (crank, 3 Pistons and rods, and oil pan) the rebuild cost me $600 with new bearings, rings and all new OEM gaskets...

People, especially 80 guys seem to over do and over spend on everything... I just built the bottom end strong and threw it back together, been purring like a kitten ever since

 

[half k cruiser]

@95ToyCruiser yes, the while your in there stuff will nickel and dime you right past your budget. When I did mine it was with the expectation that this vehicle would be in our fleet until it was wrecked or rusted to pieces. That's the main reason I lavished so much attention on it and made damn sure everything was sealed up tight and all hoses and wiring would be good to go for the conceivable future. Its also our main family vehicle and I don't want any surprises when we go on road trips.

 

[Howard705]

Nice thread man!! I respect anyone who does it themselves and doesn't get crazy spending $5000 on parts...

The way I look at it, these things were designed to be worked on in 3rd world countries, they're not F1 motors...

I "rebuilt" mine after it was sold to me with a knock (got it for a song)...only problem was I threw a rod before even getting it home to my garage!!!

Oh well, besides the parts I stole off of my spare 1FZ-FE (crank, 3 Pistons and rods, and oil pan) the rebuild cost me $600 with new bearings, rings and all new OEM gaskets...

People, especially 80 guys seem to over do and over spend on everything... I just built the bottom end strong and threw it back together, been purring like a kitten ever since

^That's a thread that I would like to see. Anybody can replace/machine everything for 5k and get good results. Takes good judgment and some experience to get results like this.

 

[Twinair]

Engine building is not a difficult job. It does require reading if you've never opened a particular engine. It will require an investment in tools (duh) and some aspects of the build will require a machine shop. Disassembly and reassembly are simple but requires organization and a methodical approach. My very first build had me sweating bullets as I turned the key for the first time. When the motor fired to life on the second turn of the crank a warm sense of confidence and accomplishment came over me. I now go into repairs without anxiety. It's a puzzle, go solve it. Dumber people than you and me do it everyday