Ball Park Price of a engine rebuild

[Shezbo]

I know this is a difficult one-I have a old but running lump. It blows out some smoke and is generally tired-compressions low etc (it also does not run unleaded)

 

Ball park how much to rebuild? Think re-bore - pistons-re-gring crank new shells-unleaded head-full kit for the carbs (I appreciate that this is slightly finger in the air-but i need a start point/budget idea)

 

Please assist-thanks

[Bully]

My TR4A is undergoing a complete rebuild at the moment, including an engine rebuild. New 86mm pistons and liners, new cam, head skimmed and unleaded added, crank reground, balanced and scroll seal ground off. Pistins, con rods, flywheel and clutch balanced, and flywheel lightened.

 

All in about 2500, but that includes a lot of parts.

 

Depends what you want doing and how much you can do yourself

 

Bully

[Alec Pringle]

Hi Shezbo,

 

How long is a piece of string ? Any more easier questions, like what's the meaning of life, or when will the universe end ?

 

Before anything else, try a few good cars. That'll at least give you a feel for what a standard engine properly built goes like, and what you can expect from a 'breathed-on' lump.

 

If you drive the car to a TR specialist, and leave them to yank the engine out, rebuild it comprehensively in standard format, and shove it back in - £4K would be a bargain, £5K nearer the mark I suspect, and you'd probably finish up with another £2K of ancillary work while you're at it. Because it's there . . .

 

If you're looking at uprating the engine, then add another however much you care to spend, bearing in mind the law of diminishing returns. Say £1K-£3K, before said law cuts in with a vengeance.

 

Alternatively you might purchase an off-the-shelf exchange unit, and undertake the out-and-in yourself, but by the time you've to'd and fro'd with a hire van etc etc there probably still won't be too much change out of £4K, and it'll certainly come to a healthy chunk more than £3K.

 

Rebuilding the block isn't normally too much grief, it's the head that is more likely to be suffering from terminal old age - consult the Moss site for cost of a new head !

 

TRGB seem capable of turning out reliable standardish/warmish engines, at least from what I've heard from satisfied customers, and if I was looking for a really quick lump from a TR specialist I'd probably go to TR Enterprises or Revingtons. They're all guys with a good track record and a reputation to uphold. But, as ever, define your parameters first and make damn sure of the budgetary variables.

 

There is an entirely different route. Buy the workshop manual, the parts book, the Roger Williams book. Then read 'em ! Get to know your local TR Register group, and garner a few mates. Chew the fat. Find a good local engine shop - we're talking TRs here, tractor engines not rocket science. Scour ebay and the classifieds for a few months. Buy the bits at the right price as they come along. It takes time and patience. Then purchase a crate of ale. That's for the weekend working party to hoick out the lump and give it the once-over. Drag the lot over to the engine shop, meanwhile despatching the carbs to someone like Andrew Turner and the dissy to someone like Martin Jay. Let them all do their thing, make sure the engine shop balance everything, and chuck another crate of ale at the workshop lads and a bottle of malt at the guv'nor. Then some weeks later buy another crate of ale for the local group weekend working party to help bolt everything back together and stuff it back in.

 

The total bill for this entirely different route will come to somewhere between £2K and £3K. With luck, the lower end of the scale ! Not only that, there's a bigger bonus, you've just bought into a whole new local group lifestyle, and you'll be returning the favours now and again over the next few years, or decades. And you'll know just what's gone into your engine, which will probably still be going when your grandson inherits it . . .

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

[Shezbo]

Thanks guys (Alec, in particular!) lots of common sense-ta