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MG MGB Technical - rebuild price???

how much will it cost me to rebuild my 1800 my self like just for the parts and I do all the labor

thanx for your help

~Andrew
Andrew Phillips

Andrew,

Contact the folks at <www.brittek.com> who offer both minor and major engine kits for the 1800.

Regards,

L.C. '74 B/GT
Larry C.

Andrew-
It all depends upon what you term a "rebuild." If you try to cheap your way through by regrinding and reusing your old valves, simply regrinding the seats rather than installing leadfree seats, polishing the crankshaft journals rather than have the crankshaft indexed and reground, etc., etc., you'll have an engine that's been "overhauled", not an engine that has had the benefit of a true "rebuild". An engine like that won't last near as long as a true "rebuild". Of course, you can't calculate the costs merely by totaling up the cost of parts. Even if you handle the assembly yourself, you'll still need the services of a competent specialist machine shop. In addition, parts prices can also be effected by quality and source. Of course, there's the matters of the carburetors and the distributor (rebuild, replace, do nothing?). If you want to go for an increase in power, the price rise can start to get steep. Larry recommended Brit Tek. They're good people and don't sell crap. They know that quality counts. They even have a technical help line to advise you if you have a question or get stuck. Like I said, good people.
Steve S.

Andrew,
I agree with what the others have said. But just as a point of reference, I spent in the neighborhood of $1200 for the last couple of rebuilds. This included all the parts and machine shop costs. It was pretty complete...pistons, bearings, reground cam, timing gears and chain, oil pump, etc. I also changed distributors. Machine shop bored, honed and skimmmed the block and line bored it. They resized and balanced the rods. New seats, guides and valves in the head which was also skimmed. This isn't everything I did, but should give you an idea. The cost does not include any of my labor.
There's nothing like doing it yourself. Not only do you know what you have when you're done and get to know your engine, but it's a great feeling of satisfaction.
Rick
Rick Jaskowiak

Andrew,
I'm going thru this process at this time. As Steve and Larry recommend Btittek is what I used for the Major Engine kit and Head Kit. The Eng. will get the deck will be milled flat along with the head. Balance
the crankshaft, rods, pistons, flywheel, boar cylinder 30 over, and head rebuild for unleaded gas. Cost of parts for block and head $2000.00, I'm doing the labor. The carbs will be replaced with a super charger out of Australia. The cost with cam and disrib. will come close to $4000. http://www.hi-flow.com/super.html
Hope this helps...
Dennis

Andrew,

I'm in the middle of doing mine right now - in fact, just yesterday I got the thing back into the car. The total cost approached a thousand dollars. I'd guess that it was about 50/50 parts/machine shop. Unless you have the shop, there is no substitution to the machinist. I ended up going 30 over on the cylinders, 10 over on the crank. New pistons, obviously. Had the head done too - cheaped out and reused parts there where I could. Ran out money, quite frankly... I did all the grunt work myself. Very dirty at first. If you go down this road, get one large and one small box of zip-lock type food storage bags and a good marker for nuts, bolts, and small parts. Good luck.

Curt
Curt

Three small points:

Do NOT skimp on valves, guides and valve seats. At the very least, get the OEM parts. Skimping here will make the difference between success and an 'also ran' rebuild.

When I rebuilt mine (in 1980! and it's got over 100k miles on the rebuild), I used the OEM Hepolite piton rings. These are iron rings as opposed to chrome. If you intend to drive a long time between rebuilds these do not wear the bores as much as chrome rings.

I know that many people recommend chrome rings but, as a mechanical engineer, I thought about it for a while before settling on iron rings. For engine longevity, I think they are the best choice. Only after 100 k on the rebuild, is the engine getting a bit tired. Currently I am only consuming about one quart of oil between oil changes.

Lastly, GLUE all lower end gaskets with approriate gasket cement. This cuts down drastically on the propensity of MGB's to leak oil. No need to be a 'purist' here.
Richard Smith

My rebuild for 77B 3 years ago ran me about $1500, about $900 in parts (with a decent discount, retail was about $1050). $600 in machining costs (wholesale rate) for the head and block.

Getting ready to start another rebuild for 71 GT, but in anticipation of this I have been buying parts for a while now as they were on sale (B & B clutch for less than the crap Q-H!) at Moss, http://www.mossmotors.com.

If you can wait a little while, buy parts you know you will need on sale to save a few coins. Unless you have a specific overbore in mind already, you won't know what size pistons to get until the bores are measured. As suggested, Ziploc bags and a fine point Sharpie marker will save your sanity. Label everything!!! Good Luck.
Paul K

Wow you guys really pay through the nose for parts and machining - it costs me around $650 for all the parts and all the machining on a standard engine! And the only parts I have machined are the block, crank, head, conrods and flywheel - everything else is new and good quality.

If only it was cheaper to import stuff into the USA!
Chris Betson

Yup, Spent nearly $1200, most of it on parts on my latest rebuild last year. Do it right the first time, don't skimp out.
Luis

Richard,
You have discovered the downside to cast iron rings. They seat and wear fast. Your oil usage is probably that the rings have worn enough that the end-gape is well outside spec.
Leland Bradley

Chris,

Cheaper over there, huh? Yes, I've noticed that. I gotta tell 'ya... Back when I started my rebuild, there was someone from the UK that said that used engines for this car were somewhere around $60. Man... I sat for days wondering how to get one sent over here. And would it be worth the risk... The company I work for even has an office over there. Thought I might take advantage of that somehow. Needless to say, I ended up spending the money and doing the rebuild. Heck, our economy could sure use the help these days!

Curt

Curt

This thread was discussed between 21/07/2002 and 25/07/2002

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