Twin cam rebuild cost

[Grib]

I am about to buy an Elan +2 and was wondering how much it would cost to rebuild the engine if I need to, the parts seem to be readily available but is there anything out of the ordinary that will always need replacing? I don't really want to tune it up but if I need to get it rebored and replace pistons, rigs, & shells and get the valve guides & seats done how much should it cost me?

[cliveyboy]

For a specialist to rebuild an engine properly ?3000+
QED quoted me ?2800 but told me to budget ?3500
For just a head refurb with unleaded seats etc I would be expecting ?1000.
If you want everything done removable water pump, vernier pulleys unleaded seats, ARP bolts the bill can run ?4000

Clive

[tdafforn]

Or you can do it yourself..
Just did a bottom end conversion of a 711M block.
Including vernier cam sprockets, water pump and ARP. Cost between 800 and 900 pounds
Tim

[Grib]

I would be doing the work myself, I just wondered whether I should budget for any additional parts other than pistons, rings, shells, gaskets etc. What are ARP bolts?

[elansprint]

I did the sprint engine about 5/6yrs ago including guides & seats cost about ? 900 for everything. best investment was the new starter ring gear starter motor never drops out now until it fires. Can recommend Susan Miller for the head work done inside 10 days. I am local to a twin cam specialist wanted 6 weeks not open Saturdays did not seem to care if they had the job or not. Get the core plugs out & get all the sand & rubbish out of the water jacket while your at it
Good luck with the build
Ian

[alaric]

Had mine done at QED for about ?3.5k. I went for a prof rebuild because on stripping the engine I found a broken piston ring, so could see that the rebuild was beyond my limited experience. They found one of the con rods was bent, and also that the head had been skimmed so many times that the compression ratio would have been too high. They modded the combustion chambers to compensate, with good results. They also converted the head to unleaded. This price included a complete refurb of the carbs and running in the engine on a dyno. When the engine came back it looked brand new.

I had a good read of the book by Miles Wilkins on the twincam - if you're thinking of rebuilding the engine yourself that may be the first thing to buy; it's very easy to bend things like the end cover when trying to get the engine to come apart...

For me it was one job out of hundreds in my +2 restoration - there'll be plenty of time for me to rebuild the engine in the future.

Sean.

[a1topdog]

Its worth noting that QED don't do the engineering anymore - they just sell the parts. When I spoke to them a while back they said they were fed up with training people up , only for them to then leave and set up on their own.