Rebuild myself or pay?

[riverbound]

Took my boat out this morning and discovered a problem with my boat. It has a really bad knock deep down in the motor. Time for a rebuild. I don't know if I should do it my self or pay someone to do it for me. I have rebuilt the top end of a motor before and am fairly competent with tools. I also have a buddy who owns a machine shop to do all my machining. Will I save that much money doing it myself?

[HyPerformance79460]

If you think you are confident enough to do it then go for it. when you pay for someone to do it your payin mostly on the labor for them to do it cause a good shop can get the parts for cheap. the only bad thing about buildin your own motor is that if it grenades you can only blame yourself. in the end it is up to you.

[moneysucker]

Of course being in a boat, there is no waranty so you might as well do it your self. I am sure you have friends who can help you. That is what I did, Recruited (Kid napped) Knowledgable friends to come up and help me. I think it would have cost less if I would have just paid his assembly fee instead of the food and beer it took to keep him there. It was greatly appreciated and I learned a lot, mainly what I did wrong on the olds motor I built for my old boat.

[riverbound]

I am leaning towards doing it myself. but don't know what combos work. Right now I have a stock 460 (maybe a cam) and just want something reliable with good power what combos do you guys run and what kind of power are you getting? I am going to stay with logs and my enclosed engine compartment (safety reasons). I just had the pump rebuilt by greg @gs marine it has an A impeller. The boat is a 1976 spectra 18.
Thanks for any advice:D

[RENEGADE 3#]

do you know the four strokes in a 4 cycle engine? if you do i say go for it. cause you will save alot of cash and you will really start to know youre shit. i personally like the boys who do all the building them selfs. a mechanic if you dont know him personaly be prepaired to bend over. GOOD LUCK!!!! ;)

[LVjetboy]

I rebuilt a 429 (several times) on my old jet and I paid for a BBC in the new(er) jet. Depends on your goals. Rebuild yourself and there's pride in accomplishment...plus learning. If your goal's moderate power, experience not as important as attention to detail. And you can save.
My first 429 jet boat engine rebuild (I'd rebuilt 3 engines before that) I made a mistake that trashed my bearings. I thought the shop cleaned the heads after machining...nope. Even though I was anal about cleaning the block, the heads had fine metal powder caked into several corners looking exactly like clean metal. I put them on. Later they said sorry, and replaced the bearings and sleeved a cylinder for free...but the cost in time? Just an example of how doing it yourself is a learning curve. The other engines I rebuilt turned out better. And I'm glad I did them myself.
If your goal's big time power, experience is key. You may not want THAT learning curve. You pay for both the knowledge of assembling a matched combo plus the experience to do it right the first time. And paying for that is well worth it.
Well worth it if you choose a good builder that is.
jer

[riverbound]

I am going for moderate power small cam, intake manifold, port polish the existing heads, Really dont know what else should be done for more power. The buddy that is going to help me assemble races cars, the buddy that owns the machine shop is into building boat motors just looking for advice on what mods should be done and not done for a reliable lake boat.

[moneysucker]

Page FryJet He is a big ford guy, He built his very well. PM him or go to the Petrofied, Moneysucker, Quack attack thread. He is always over there. Good Luck

[OMEGA_BUBBLE_JET]

Originally posted by riverbound
I am going for moderate power small cam, intake manifold, port polish the existing heads, Really dont know what else should be done for more power. The buddy that is going to help me assemble races cars, the buddy that owns the machine shop is into building boat motors just looking for advice on what mods should be done and not done for a reliable lake boat.
just my opinion here but if you are only going to build a 'moderate' engine with a 'small cam' then I wouldn't waste my time porting and polishing heads. Unless you have a large profile cam porting and polishing heads can actually HURT performance.
Not trying to flame you just trying to prevent you from possibly making a HUGE mistake.
Good luck and I recommend everyone build an engine at least once. Take your time and check everything twice.
Omega

[hack job]

i would also pm lakesonly he is a huge ford guy and knows his shit.
;)
he is a great guy and has lots of suggestions.;)

[Jet City]

Lakes Only is pretty sharp on the BBF's, my opinion is that the porting will be more or less negated by the use of logs (I.E. save your money), same goes for larger valves IMO. You could build a mild 9-9.5:1 460 with a 230@.050 cam (such as Comps 280H) a dual plane intake (Stealth) an 800-850 DP Holley, and a high volume marine oil pan, something like that would be very durable, economical (to build) and more lively than the stock mill.

[riverbound]

Just got off the phone with Greg @gs marine and he advised me to do it myself. he will pull the motor for me and then I can set it up in my garage
You could build a mild 9-9.5:1 460 with a 230@.050 cam (such as Comps 280H) a dual plane intake (Stealth) an 800-850 DP Holley, and a high volume marine oil pan, something like that would be very durable, economical (to build) and more lively than the stock mill.
What would something like the above engine cost to do? I already have the carb. and a high volume oil pump.
Sorry to be asking so many questions but this is the first time doing this. And there will be many more.

[Jet City]

Originally posted by riverbound
Just got off the phone with Greg @gs marine and he advised me to do it myself. he will pull the motor for me and then I can set it up in my garage
What would something like the above engine cost to do? I already have the carb. and a high volume oil pump.
Sorry to be asking so many questions but this is the first time doing this. And there will be many more.
I would guess $1700+ and up (you know the story here) for this, depending on how involved and carried away you get. The question you have to ask in my estimation is, are you after a solid engine that fits the above description, or looking to upgrade later (spend more now). That will determine how much you should invest into the bottom end, good rod bolts (such as ARP and a resize) and hyperutectic pistons at a minimum, but above all don't skimp on the oiling system, the heads would be a regrind or lap at this stage (if the guides are OK) as most of these marine engines don't run enough hours to wear out the guides before the bottom end is shot. The 280H cam can be run with your stock valvetrain by the way, although I would check the clearance at full lift against installed height. I would approach this like a stock rebuild with a few perks, which is what it would be. Good luck-

[riverbound]

Thanks for all the info, I am trying to get the motor out this week and then I will probably have many more questions.

[roostwear]

The knocking you hear.... is it at idle? Does it go away off-idle? Point being, you may be tearing it down for a driveshaft/spline problem. Never hurts to freshen up the engine, but if you're trying to fix a symptom, a little deeper investigation may be in order.
Just my opinion...

[riverbound]

The knocking is there at all speeds it does not go away with rpms the driveline was just rebuilt when I had the pump rebuilt (1month ago) If I start the boat there is no knock until I run it for a little bit then it comes and does not go away. Here are the items I am looking at putting on and if anyone has any recomendations I would appreciate any input.
Carb-Holley dp 750
intake-edelbrock torker 2
Cam- not sure yet
Rebuild kit form P.A.W. (40 over)
Fuel pump-change to mech.
ignition-MSD 6al
dist-msd
Heads-port/polish factory heads.
If any of you would recommend changing anything I would like to hear what and why.

[flat broke]

Originally posted by riverbound
The knocking is there at all speeds it does not go away with rpms the driveline was just rebuilt when I had the pump rebuilt (1month ago) If I start the boat there is no knock until I run it for a little bit then it comes and does not go away. Here are the items I am looking at putting on and if anyone has any recomendations I would appreciate any input.
Carb-Holley dp 750
intake-edelbrock torker 2
Cam- not sure yet
Rebuild kit form P.A.W. (40 over)
Fuel pump-change to mech.
ignition-MSD 6al
dist-msd
Heads-port/polish factory heads.
If any of you would recommend changing anything I would like to hear what and why.
Ditch the torker2 for a Weiand Stealth, Call Clay Smith for one of their mechanical fuel pumps, buy a $20 holley regulator, don't buy the rebuild kit until AFTER you have disassembled everything and have had the bores checked.
Also PM Beached 1 and ask him about his ford combo. I know he has a pretty good running Spectra 20 with a BBF. He just repowered last year, so the prices should still be somewhat fresh in his head.
Chris

[riverbound]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by flat broke
[B]Ditch the torker2 for a Weiand Stealth,
What is wrong with the Torker? What makes the stealth better? Sorry for the questions but I want to make sure I do it right the first time.
The motor should be coming out monday So I will know more once I begin to tear it down. And I will not order anything until I know exactly what is wrong.