ricky racer
501 Club
There are a lot of times visitors to this site wonder how much it costs to rebuild a Farmall Cub C60 engine. I'm currently in the process of rebuilding the engine of a late 40's Cub so I thought I'd list the costs of my rebuild. Keep in mind, I'm doing all of the mechanical work myself and only farming out the machining of the block. Every rebuild is slightly different so you mileage may vary.
I purchased this Cub for a forum member who didn't adequately protect his investment with a 50/50 antifreeze/water solution. It appears that the engine was recently rebuilt prior to the block freezing and breaking. When I purchased it, I hoped the block would have an external crack that I could possibly repair. That was not the case. The block had internal cracks so a repair was out of the question. Now, I wouldn't normally buy such an unknown specimen but I had an ace in the hole. I had a spare Cub engine setting in the barn. Doesn't everyone have a spare engine setting in their barn? :?
I knew nothing about the spare engine so before making an offer on the Cub with the cracked block, I pressurized the spare engine block to verify that the block was sound and not itself cracked. My hope was that I could pull the bad engine and just install the spare engine and move it on down the road. Well, that didn't happen. I placed the spare engine on an engine stand and cranked it over to check the compression. I recorded 0 psi on each cylinder. :shock: So, off comes the head which reveled stuck valves which was no surprise at this point. I measured the bores, which were still standard size. The cylinders were worn .007" over nominal. A lot of guys might have just added new rings and called it rebuilt but I couldn't do that in good conscience do that.
The crank in the spare engine had been turned .010" under but was badly worn. The crank in the cracked engine was also turned .010" under but was was really nice and measures spot on so it is going in the reworked engine along with the connecting rods. The pistons in the cracked engine are fairly new, .030" over cast iron pistons in like new condition so those are going into the spare engine. I took a piston along with the engine block to the machine shop so the bores could be fitted to the pistons. I also had the block cleaned, valves and seats ground, new valve guides installed and the block decked. Since I couldn't find any .030" piston rings, I had the machine shop order a set for me.
The costs for these services are as follow but keep in mind, costs may vary in your area:
Clean the block: $60.00
Bore block to fit pistons: $100.00
Deck block: $50.00
Install valve guides: $40.00
Valve job: $110.00
Total labor: $360.00
1 set of .030" over rings: $45.00
8 valve guides: $20.00
Total parts: $65.00
Grand total: $425.00
Now keep in mind, the crank didn't need to be ground and I didn't have to buy pistons. I still need to buy bearings, seals and gaskets. I'll be ordering those from Hamilton Bob later this week. Those should run me around $230 or so. A few bucks for assembly lube and Permatex, etc., and I'll have about $675 in the rebuild doing all of the mechanical work myself. Once the Cub is back together, it should make someone a nice little tractor that should run well for another 60 years with a little care and maintenance.
I started the build today by painting the engine block and installing the cam, lifters, valves and setting the valve clearance. I really enjoy the building portion of a rebuild. :{_}: Here's the engine block before I started reassembly today.
I purchased this Cub for a forum member who didn't adequately protect his investment with a 50/50 antifreeze/water solution. It appears that the engine was recently rebuilt prior to the block freezing and breaking. When I purchased it, I hoped the block would have an external crack that I could possibly repair. That was not the case. The block had internal cracks so a repair was out of the question. Now, I wouldn't normally buy such an unknown specimen but I had an ace in the hole. I had a spare Cub engine setting in the barn. Doesn't everyone have a spare engine setting in their barn? :?
I knew nothing about the spare engine so before making an offer on the Cub with the cracked block, I pressurized the spare engine block to verify that the block was sound and not itself cracked. My hope was that I could pull the bad engine and just install the spare engine and move it on down the road. Well, that didn't happen. I placed the spare engine on an engine stand and cranked it over to check the compression. I recorded 0 psi on each cylinder. :shock: So, off comes the head which reveled stuck valves which was no surprise at this point. I measured the bores, which were still standard size. The cylinders were worn .007" over nominal. A lot of guys might have just added new rings and called it rebuilt but I couldn't do that in good conscience do that.
The crank in the spare engine had been turned .010" under but was badly worn. The crank in the cracked engine was also turned .010" under but was was really nice and measures spot on so it is going in the reworked engine along with the connecting rods. The pistons in the cracked engine are fairly new, .030" over cast iron pistons in like new condition so those are going into the spare engine. I took a piston along with the engine block to the machine shop so the bores could be fitted to the pistons. I also had the block cleaned, valves and seats ground, new valve guides installed and the block decked. Since I couldn't find any .030" piston rings, I had the machine shop order a set for me.
The costs for these services are as follow but keep in mind, costs may vary in your area:
Clean the block: $60.00
Bore block to fit pistons: $100.00
Deck block: $50.00
Install valve guides: $40.00
Valve job: $110.00
Total labor: $360.00
1 set of .030" over rings: $45.00
8 valve guides: $20.00
Total parts: $65.00
Grand total: $425.00
Now keep in mind, the crank didn't need to be ground and I didn't have to buy pistons. I still need to buy bearings, seals and gaskets. I'll be ordering those from Hamilton Bob later this week. Those should run me around $230 or so. A few bucks for assembly lube and Permatex, etc., and I'll have about $675 in the rebuild doing all of the mechanical work myself. Once the Cub is back together, it should make someone a nice little tractor that should run well for another 60 years with a little care and maintenance.
I started the build today by painting the engine block and installing the cam, lifters, valves and setting the valve clearance. I really enjoy the building portion of a rebuild. :{_}: Here's the engine block before I started reassembly today.
How about the cam did you replace it?
