Parts, 2003 vs. today

[greg g]

I was going through my business card file (yes some people still retain old habits) and I found a piece of folded paper.  It was they list of engine rebuild i ordered from Egge in 2001.  Anybody have a similar list with current cost?

 

.030 over pistons.  164.00

Rings.                        52.00

Main brngs.              68.00

Cam brings.              26.00

Oil pump.                   56.00

Timing gears.             50.00

Timing chain.             54,00

I got some other stuff from Terrel Machine in Texas, ~150.00. Valve train parts, freeze plugs were sourced through the machinist.  He charged me 800.00 to boil out bore,deck, mill the head, balance, lighten flywheel, port matching, install parts necessary to short block status. I brought it home did the head, manifolds, accessories and reinstalled.  If you have similar in current cost let's see them.  Motor still running as it did 20 years ago so pretty good annualized expense.

[Bob Riding]

 I sent my '56 230 cid motor to Schedler's Engine Rebuilding & Supply, Inc. in Fresno, CA. They quoted me over $5k to do all parts and labor, with a 6 month lead time. This shop is well respected and has been in business since 1959 with Wayne Schedler, the 80 year old son of the founder, running it now.

Based on that price, I decided I could do the reassembly myself, so I told them to do what was needed to be within spec, so they:

• hot tanked the block and head
• decked the block
• bored the cylinders .040 (they had been .030 over)
• supplied new .040 pistons with new pins/bearings, reassembled
• cut new valve seats and resurfaced valves
• polished the crank journals
• installed new cam bearings
• installed new brass freeze plugs (they didn't like the steel ones from other suppliers)
• supplied new .040 pistons with new pins/bearings, reassembled

The valves, valve guides, tappets, springs, camshaft, crankshaft, and timing chain were all within spec so I reused them.

Total cost - $1,108. It took about 2 months. I was very pleased with the quality of their work. I think I was lucky that a lot of the motor was still in good shape from the prior rebuild they did in 2002. I asked Wayne if he remembered working on the motor from their 2002 rebuild and he said "of course-how can you forget a Plymouth flathead?!" 

I then purchased rings, main and rod bushings, gaskets, etc from Roberts and AB for another $600 or so. 

  

 

Here's a rebuild receipt from 2003. The rebuilder was in the CA Bay Area. I bought the 265 Chrysler and sold it last year from the guy who bought it from the guy who rebuilt it and it had never been run in 20 years! 

1954 Chrysler 6 Cylinder Engine Rebuild Invoice.pdf

[Merle Coggins]

This is the receipt from the machine shop where I had my engine work done back in 2006. Included .030" over bore, decking the block, milling the head, new valve guides and seats, new pistons and rings, and new wrist pin bushings. I thought $732 was pretty reasonable at the time.

Looks like my 6 new .030" over pistons were slightly cheaper than Greg's, but his rings were a little cheaper. 

 

[DJK]

This is from the machine shop last summer. Parts came out to $1000 from Andy Bernbaum and a few other sources.

[desoto1939]

we all know that just within the last year the cost of food, living, clothing has gone up along with gas.  So trying to compare parts and engine prices with todays cost versus 2003 which is 21 years ago basically is irrelevant. If you want to play that you have to pay.  

 

So can i compare the cost to strip my 1939 Desoto to bare metal, all the doors removed fenders removed glass tkaen out and replaced with new glass, new headliner installed, new tires installed on painted rim and pin striped and the painter even helped me assemble the car and this price of $2900 included all of the above.  Yes $2900 cash so can i compare that to todays cost, not really.  Five new ribbed Goodyears white wall tires now cost me $1500 plus mounting back in 1996 I paid around $625. 

 

So yes prices have gone up and so have the manufacturing costs and also the supply factor to consider.

 

Look at the price to take your car to the mechanic getting $150 hr at the dealership and maybe more, INFLATION has ARRIVED.

 

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com