No - we only had the head done, not an entire rebuild. What I was saying is that if you figure that the labor on your head is going to be $200, budget $400 to be safe. Or go talk to a local machine shop to get a good idea. I would never assume that you could have the head R&R'd AND rebuilt/machined for $400! I was taking into acount the fact that you'd be pulling it yourself.
Brian ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bristol, Kirk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, January 31, 2003 2:11 PM Subject: CRX: Re: 87 CRX Si Head Gasket > >I'd budget high for what you want done and plan on $400 - better safe than > sorry! > > Are you saying $400 for a shop to do the work? It sounds like you got a > great deal on your Wrangler. I thought engine rebuilds were usually > $1,000+. I'll be doing all of the work (except machining) myself. I'm just > trying to figure out what the machine work alone would cost for re-surfacing > the head only and maybe taking a few thousandths off in the process. > > Right now I'm estimating $550 or so if I do it right - $140 head gasket, > $200 machine work, $40 piston rings, $20 misc. gaskets, $150 adjustable cam > sprocket. Or I'm looking at just going cheap - $60 for gaskets, clean the > head and bolt it back on. I was a little too nice to the wife this > Christmas, so money's short right now. I may need to go the cheap route > just to get me by for a few months. > > > >Finally, as far as the internals, are you burning oil? How many miles does > >it have and how has it been cared-for? > > I burn about half a quart every 1,500 miles which isn't bad in my opinion. > It's got 109K miles but it's been used for years as a SCCA improved touring > race car. So it's been cared for but definitely driven hard. > > The engine runs okay but seems to be a little down on power. I checked > compression and it's running 150 psi in three cylinders and 128 psi in one > cylinder. I did a wet compression check and all cylinders jumped 30 psi. > From this information I assumed that the piston rings probably are worn but > not bad. If the cylinder with the low compression had bad rings, then I > would have expected it to jump more with the wet (oil) compression test. It > didn't, all cylinders had the same amount of compression rise when checked > wet. The manual spec for compression is something like 150 psi nominal and > 125 psi minimum. So I'm guessing I've got a bent valve, bad valve seal, or > bad valve seat in that one cylinder. I had planned on taking a closer look > when I had the head off. > > >You may want to run a leak-down and compression test before tearing it > down. > > Would a leak-down test still be worth doing before the tear down, > considering what I've stated above? > > Excellent advice about the bottom end!!! I never considered where that > extra compression would want to go once I rejuvenate the head! New rings > are only $40 for a set, so I'll have to add that to my plans for fixing the > engine. > > Thanks, > > Kirk Bristol > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
