F40LM

My '86 is still using a little oil, not alot, about what you would expect in a 25 year old engine. Oil pressure is ok, not great, but ok. Fuel economy ok, not great, but ok.

And I have two spare engines in the shop. One (late '85) already torn down from PO, the other in a '83 parts car.

Am considering using components from both spares to build a replacement engine from ground up using new seals, gaskets, water pump, bearings etc. Have the cylinder walls done. Powder coat the intake, Nissan alternator, and a few other improvements. Hopefully a N-tune MAF is it ever becomes reality. Plus, it will give me chance to become very well familiar with the internals of my engine. Not wanting to spend thousands of dollars on this. But I realize this cannot be done for $500 guys (like my SBC 350 for the Corvette lol).

Not a race engine, just a fresh rebuilt to replace the one I have now.

Am looking on Pelican etc for a 'complete' rebuild kit. Suggestions welcome.

My 944 is a work horse, about 500 miles a weeek currently.

Is this a crazy idea or should I stick with what I have and try to improve on it. The present engine has given me over 40k of great service. Sooner or later it will need alot of attention.

I would plan to do this over several months, slow but sure.

Last but not least, everyone have a great 4th of July!!

michael

JustinL

I'm in the process of rebuilding a 968 engine. There are a LOT of little pieces to buy. I don't think it could be done for under $500 even cutting every corner. At a minimum and on a budget, you would need all the seals, rings, rod bearings. If you are having any machining done, the price will jump up.

F40LM

JustinL,

Thanks for your reply. Maybe you misread the sentence. Like I said I realiza this cannot be done for $500. While I realize the 968 is more complex and more $$ for bits, could you give me an idea how much your rebuild is costing?

michael

xsboost90

a ground up rebuild with new seals, bearings and polish the crank usually runs me about $800 in parts and machine shop costs. Add in new rings and having the bores polished correctly and you can easily double that.

JustinL

Balance shaft bearings - $110
Pilot bearing -$7
Rod bearings- $69
Balance shaft seals- $25
Head gasket kit- $218
Oil filter- $8
Crank case gasket kit- $172
Main Bearing set -$202
Head stud kit- $320
Miscelaneous bolts, studs, etc. $50
Repair cylinders, nikasil block- $1336
New custom pistons, rings and misc block machining- $1300ish
Balance rotating assembly, flywheel, pressure plate, misc machine shop work $750

I'm in just over $4500 +my time +shipping charges on this engine now, but most of that was new pistons and cylinders. The machining I had done locally wasn't cheap either, but they checked my clearances and did some assembly as well as balancing everything. I also probably bought doubles of a few seals, but I'll find out later.

StoogeMoe

Well, you could get the forged rods out of the '83 and use those.

You should replace the valve guides and seals, and have the valve seats done too. It adds up. You won't escape for under $1000.

F40LM

Xsboost90 $800 to $1,500 ballpark is very doable for this project.

Would to know who you buy your stuff from when you do this.

Michael

MAGK944

LR can clean, spec, machine and supply the parts you need for a short block rebuild for $1,999. I think it's a good price. http://www.lindseyracing.com/mm5/mer...de=ENGINE944NA

V2Rocket

why head studs/custom pistons? higher CR? and how bad was the cylinder scoring to need repair like that? thats about the cost of sleeving the block with steel

JustinL

The gouges were pretty bad and Nikasil has been a pretty well proven performer. The cylinders needed to be over-bored to fix them, hence the custom pistons. The old pistons got pretty beat up as they were tearing away at the cylinder walls. I thought about sleeves, but being similarly priced to the repair that 928 motorsports offered, I decided to stay with aluminum. New head studs went in because the plating process requires all ferrous metal out of the block. I felt better installing new studs.

There's some pictures of the gouges in this thread:
https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-...lass-act.html?

BryO

I just picked up and 87 engine to rebuild for my 88.

Block 89k - just to clean and check out $100
Crank - just to check out and polish - $160
If turned $280
Recondition Rods - $120
Turn Press Plate - $60
Balance - $280
Does not include rings or new bearings

This is just for the block.

Head is another story.
Port, polish 5 angle valve job - $600 plus
This includes matching the intake and head ports, new valve guild.

Adds up quick.

JohnKoaWood

If for your 88N/A you will want to reuse the head and pistons from the 88 motor at a minumum... all else is same between the two motors (unless you verify the part numbers of the components to match those in the 88 motor)..

If for your turbo, have fun, as they are the same between the two years!

MAGK944

Quick related question: If you sleeve these engines due to deep scoring etc, why can't you bore/hone to refit the stock pistons rather than spending $$$'s on custom pistons? Plenty of piston coatings out there to protect them from the steel liners.

EJnMN

All NA's get completely rebuilt. Its just a matter of whether you do it all at once, or in a long endless series of projects.