Auto mechanic needed

[ReconRat]

I thought engine rebuild shops would rebuild the entire engine (V-8) for around $1200-$1500. Has it changed? Has that price gone up? Dunno...

And as cheap as I am, I've done head gaskets on V-8s for a few hundred bucks and a lot of work. It's not hard, it just takes tools and time.

Gosh, the old days are gone. People used to throw engine rebuild parties, and pull and rebuild an engine over a weekend.

[jporter12]

If it were me I would find a used junk yard motor and have it thrown in.Seems like the cost is about the same, I bought a 80k mile 5.4 for mine for like 900 paid 500 labor(guy I found on CL) had some stuff done like new plugs n wires and fluids all together it was like 1700. I've since sold the truck to a friend who still has it it has almost 300k on it now did the swap at like 160. Its been my experience with ford motors if they have been overheated they never run right after that. seems as if it does long term damage to the rest of the parts and failure is a lot more likely. Again just my 2 cents

That might be true of older Ford engines, unless they're completely overhauled, but I've put head gaskets on some of the newer ones (not that many, gasket technology has greatly improved) and they've run just as good, if not better as original.

I thought engine rebuild shops would rebuild the entire engine (V-8) for around $1200-$1500. Has it changed? Has that price gone up? Dunno...

And as cheap as I am, I've done head gaskets on V-8s for a few hundred bucks and a lot of work. It's not hard, it just takes tools and time.

Gosh, the old days are gone. People used to throw engine rebuild parties, and pull and rebuild an engine over a weekend.

These days, you'd likely have close to that amount in parts and machine work! A valve job on a V-8 is roughly $225 (or more) to the machine shop.

I believe on this application, you'd have around $200 - 300 (minimum, if you get a good price from the parts supplier) in parts alone just for the head gasket job. It's an expensive head set, then you need plugs (platinums is advised) Thermostat, coolant, oil and filter. You CAN get by with JUST the actual head gaskets, but they're over $100 for the pair!

Auto repair is become a bit more difficult, but even moreso, EXPENSIVE. Since I've been working in a shop for the past (nearly) 10 years, the average ticket has gone up significantly. Labor rates have gone up, parts have gone up, overhead has gone up, difficulty of the jobs has gone up..... Fortunately for the customers, it seems the shop I work for is lagging behind a bit on price increases, due in part to lower overhead, and to be competitive. We are off the beaten path, so most of our business comes from referals, therefore, we HAVE to be on top of our game, and do a good job.

/rant