finally I have enough money to rebuild engine.... or do I?

[tparker]

My plan was to do my 340 this spring. I was hoping for a bonus which would go to the engine. Then a couple things happened. We lost a contract at work which may or may not affect my bonus. I just did my taxes and apparently the state took out WAY too much money so I get some of my money back. So Now I do have enough. But the virus hit and that is slowing things down and potentially could wreak havoc with the economy. It may be irresponsible to through money at an engine until things settle down. Argh.

If all this pans out, my 340 will be sent to the shop as soon as I can. 

[JS29]

  It's probably better to be safe than sorry, And if time's get back to normal you still have the means to get it done. 

[kawahonda]

Pros and cons to both ways....best to address your financial situation. For me, I had enough saved up (I'm a recession kid) to where a rebuild cost is not going to cause me any jeopardy or harm, even if I lose my job. Given the fact I started about 6 months ago kinda helps my situation at least. Most expensive things are already done.

Rebuilding takes so much time...it's never as fast as you think. So if a shop is hurting for work at this time, and can still be "quarantined", having an engine to work on is probably good for them.

Another thing that heavily plays into this is if you're planning to rebuild the current engine in the car, which means months and months of downtime. If "worse of worse" happens, now you have a roller to deal with.

I'm VERY glad I am rebuilding a separate engine for mine!

If a tax break makes or breaks whether you rebuild or not, you probably shouldn't be rebuilding at this time.

[blown motor]

I think it would be unwise to dump all your spare money into an engine at this time. We don't know what's down the road and how that might affect your income. You can't eat engine parts. Better to play it safe.

[BIGSHCLUNK]

The economic outlook in my area looks rather bleak at the moment. The governor shut down all "non essential" business. But the "essential"  establishments are not breaking any doors down, believe me. I'd be leery myself 

[Katfish]

I think it would be unwise to dump all your spare money into an engine at this time. We don't know what's down the road and how that might affect your income. You can't eat engine parts. Better to play it safe.

Good advice, give it another 6-9 months to see what the fallout is.

[7E-Bodies]

If your engine shop is like mine (good but very slow), this economy hiccup will be printed in history books before they're done with it.  Mine took my 440 in back in September, saying it may be completely finished in November. I knew there was no way and am totally ok with that, as I'm nowhere near ready for it. They collected $2250 down as half, like I agreed to. The other $2250 will be due upon completion. Thereby, I'm committed, regardless of the wrath of Mr. Covid. I truly don't care if it's done a year from now. They have it apart and boiled/magnafluxed successfully, so I'm happy. This is the busy pre-season for stock car engines as expected, so mine is shelved. Project continues.
All of this being said, I'd advise you to bank the money and sit on it. If all things work out (and hey, this is after all AMERICA), then it'll be there.

[tparker]

It's funny cause I have waited so long and am so close. The car was painted last year,  i spent years tearing it apart and fabricating sheetmetal and fixing dents and rust spots. Got the dash redone and I reupholstered the seats and redid the carpets in headliner. Still got the vinyl top to do when the weather warms up a bit. Was planning on. doing the brakes  and fuel lines while the engine was in the shop. The goal was to drive it around the block this summer.

then bam several things conspire. ACK. The good news is I should be able to finish it up as soon as things get back to normal so long as the economy doesn't severly tank. I have some savings that will be good for a bit and my boss is floating me for a while. But after watching the conflicting stories from the news for the past few weeks, I can imagine major economic issues for the rest of the year. And if that hits me directly, then poof. It all goes away. Obviously there are things way more important as a car,  but it kinda sucks when your sooooo close and the universe seems to have a sense of humor. hmmm....

Anyways, hope you all are staying safe and getting a chance to tinker.

[Matt13]

I'm pretty much in your same area. I have seen multiple listings for completely built 340 and 360 engines on CL and Facebook. Might save you some cash getting one already built.
https://modesto.craigslist.org/pts/d/hughson-mopar-dodge-360/7072575060.html
   htmlhttps://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/898984723893163/.    https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/597196247525666/

[RUNCHARGER]

Can't stop living. I would try to get it done this year. Keeping an eye on these things that seem out of control at this time of course. And yes, engine shops seem to run behind schedule a lot, so maybe try to get a spot inline.

[tparker]

@Matt13   Hmmmm.... That 318 is tempting. I have a 340 and really want to rebuild it, but wow, that 318 sounds impressive

[usraptor]

If your engine shop is like mine (good but very slow), this economy hiccup will be printed in history books before they're done with it.  Mine took my 440 in back in September, saying it may be completely finished in November. I knew there was no way and am totally ok with that, as I'm nowhere near ready for it. They collected $2250 down as half, like I agreed to. The other $2250 will be due upon completion. Thereby, I'm committed, regardless of the wrath of Mr. Covid. I truly don't care if it's done a year from now. They have it apart and boiled/magnafluxed successfully, so I'm happy. This is the busy pre-season for stock car engines as expected, so mine is shelved. Project continues.
All of this being said, I'd advise you to bank the money and sit on it. If all things work out (and hey, this is after all AMERICA), then it'll be there.

Wow, they took $2250 down and now your engine is sitting on a shelf while they work on other customers engines!  Really,  I don't care how good they are that wouldn't fly with me.  I took my engine to a very reputable shop, gave them nothing down and had my engine back in 2 months completely done and ready to install minus the intake and headers.  I paid them the full price when I picked up the engine.  If a shop can't afford to do the work without a down payment up front I'd find another shop.  That's exactly why I don't deal with anybody who wants money up front.  Even when I had my Cuda painted I paid them in installments AFTER each stage of the work was done, not before.   My steering wheel is currently in for restoration and once again I paid nothing up front like some others wanted.  He'll get paid when it's done.  You're correct, they have you over a barrel and there's not a whole lot you can do now except pray they don't keep making more exceptions to finish your engine.  I wish you the best. 

[chargerdon]

Last May my 360 engine blew a rod thru the block.    I found a used block at a salvage yard for $100, it had a good oil pan and timing chain cover which were also damaged on my blown 360. 

So, the used block was seized and i worked my butt off stripping it down to bare block.   I took it to the close by engine machine shop and had them check the block.   They were able to bore one cylinder which cleaned up at .020 over...  So, working with them we decided to build a 408 stroker.  and to save money reuse my J heads, one of which needed two new valves.   

They finished tank cleaning, magnafluxing, and boring out the block to .030, and decked the block, they bought the stroker crank and rods from Scat,  ICON Forged Pistons (-20.5 cc dished).   To save money and  reused my J heads which already had the 2.02 intake valves, and cleaned and resurfaced them to get to 64 CC,  one head needed new valves, of which needed two new valves, they used Chrysler racing intake and exhaust valve.   They did all of the work assembling the rotating assembly, and complete balancing so now internal balanced engine.   They used Performance Rod bearings, rings, new frost plugs, new Cam bearings, Brass, new main bearings, new oil filter adapter ring, and new bronze dist bushing.    They also installed my old Lunati camshaft.  Together with assembly and delivery of the short block with camshaft installed the machine shop total was $2885 and the did the entire work in 3 weeks.

I then added new oil pump, water pump, and complete gasket kit, plus new neutral balance flexplate, and neutral balance Harmonic balancer, new timing chain and gears.   Cost another $985 so i had not counting my labor a total of $3,871 plus i assembled the top of the engine and the timing chain and finished it.   

Reused were:
Oil pan and timing chain cover from used engine.
Lunati 903 cam
Edlebrock RPM Air Gap intake manifold
Patriot Full Headers
Starter motor
Edlebrock 600 CFM carb (someday will upgrade to at least 650 if not 750 CFM carb).

I had seen advertised on Ebay type places 408 short blocks for around $3,000, and almost decided to just buy one of those, except i heard so many horror stories about bad workmanship and problems with these ready to go Short blocks, and if you have a problem the shop is hundreds of miles away.    By having it done locally, if i had a problem they were right HERE.   

I think i did pretty good...someday ill replace the J heads with a set of performance aluminum heads...someday.   Meanwhile this engine runs very very strong..  !! 

[Matt13]

@Matt13   Hmmmm.... That 318 is tempting. I have a 340 and really want to rebuild it, but wow, that 318 sounds impressive

I agree. Your car would really move with that in it!