Cost of diy engine rebuild?

[RoyBatty]

Hi again all. I have my daily driver that is a '75 and a '78 with a hole in the block.
I have purchased another block from pick and pull that appear to be in good shape.
I was going to just repair the engine for the '78, but then it occurred to me that I "could" overhaul tbis engine and put it in my daily driver and swap it's engine into the '78.
So then, barring any really nasty problems. What is the average cost to do a stock overhaul on an 1800?
Nothing fancy or special, just a nice clean job.

[So Cal Mark]

really varies on the condition of all of the parts and machining costs in your area. Rod and main bearings are in very short supply at the moment, and the prices have doubled due to the shortage. If you bore the block, I'd expect you'll spend $1500 doing it yourself

[vandor]

Hi Roy,

You may have noticed that your '75 and '78 Spiders have the alternators on different sides. Because of this the front crank pulley is also different. These crank pulleys are NOT interchangeable, as the nose of the crankshaft is different aswell. So if you build and engine for either car, you need to be sure to have the proper crank and pulley in place, depending on which side the alternator is on.
One way around this is to use a custom made pulley. Miller's Mule makes such things.

As far as costs, a big factor is whether you will be using new pistons or not, as they are $350-$400. Whether you need them depends on the conditions of the bores, but it's somewhat unlikely that a ~35 y.o. engine will be in super shape.
You can likely do it for $1200-1500, but this would also be a good time to replace the clutch, the radiator/heater hoses, etc etc, so the costs can go up.

Easiest way it is to just add up all the parts you will need, and add ~$400 for machine work.

[RoyBatty]

Thanks guys.

[boogiedude]

Hi Roy,

You may have noticed that your '75 and '78 Spiders have the alternators on different sides. Because of this the front crank pulley is also different. These crank pulleys are NOT interchangeable, as the nose of the crankshaft is different aswell. So if you build and engine for either car, you need to be sure to have the proper crank and pulley in place, depending on which side the alternator is on.
One way around this is to use a custom made pulley. Miller's Mule makes such things.

Csaba, I just rebuilt a motor from a '76 with the alternator mounted on the passenger side. I kept the alternator as is, and used the crank pulley from my '78 motor, since the '76 pulley was missing. All I had to do was get the dished water pump pulley and run the belt for the water pump and alternator off of the innermost groove of the crank. I've had no problems so far.

[vandor]

... All I had to do was get the dished water pump pulley and run the belt for the water pump and alternator off of the innermost groove of the crank. I've had no problems so far.

You may have noticed that the rearmost groove is about half as big as the one that originally drove the WP and alternator. This means that they are now turning at about half the speed they were intended to. In most driving situations this may not be a problem, but in slow traffic the alternator may not charge enough, or the WP may not pump enough. My suggestion would be to get a custom pulley from Milles Mule, that fits a late crank, but has only a large rear groove.

[BEEK]

from practical application, i have used that particular setup, drove the car in atlanta traffic, slow and fast, moving and not, the car never overheated , nor did the alternator not charge enough. fiat aparently had lots of room for alternator and water pump speed differential built into thier design

[boogiedude]

... All I had to do was get the dished water pump pulley and run the belt for the water pump and alternator off of the innermost groove of the crank. I've had no problems so far.

You may have noticed that the rearmost groove is about half as big as the one that originally drove the WP and alternator. This means that they are now turning at about half the speed they were intended to. In most driving situations this may not be a problem, but in slow traffic the alternator may not charge enough, or the WP may not pump enough. My suggestion would be to get a custom pulley from Milles Mule, that fits a late crank, but has only a large rear groove.

I've actaully got the factory single groove crank sitting on my workbench now, waiting for a reason to have to pull the rad and install it. Good point though about the pulley size. No obvious side affects, I drive the car every day

[vandor]

I've actaully got the factory single groove crank sitting on my workbench now, waiting for a reason to have to pull the rad and install it. ...

It won't fit, as the crank nose is a different design. No idea why they changed it.
That is why a custom made pulley is the way to go.

[tartan18]

I found out the hard way about getting the right pulley to fit my crank nose. Check out this information from Miller's Mule and note that the crankshaft nose is EITHER 29mm or 30mm.

http://www.millersmule.com/File%20Libra ... 0Guide.pdf

Thanks to Jason I ended up with the right pulley -- and it adds a "bling" factor to my engine compartment.

[narfire]

wrong thred

[manoa matt]

I'm not sure the exact year of the change from the 29mm crank nose to the 30mm crank nose, but I suspect it to be somewhere around 74-75 in the early 1756cc engines.

I know for a fact that 1976 1756cc engines had a single track crank pulley with a 30mm crank nose. I have a 1976 single track pulley installed on a 1981 FI crank. Deep water pump pulley also from the 76, with the alternator on the exhaust side and everything lines up.

[pastaroni34]

It is true, there is a 30mm rear groove crank pulley. It may or may not be a standard item for a 76 (124), no one can really tell since they're interchangeable. Some Lancias had a 30mm rear groove pulley also. When you throw 131's into the mix also, there's more confusion.

There is also what I call a "Lancia offset" pulley which looks like a rear groove but is actually offset about 0.150" Some Lancias (beta/montecarlo) had this pulley or the pulley with other accessory drives..

I have just under 30 different OE pulleys here. I know what pulleys exist but have no way of verifying from where they originated. I should really update the pulley selection guide some day...

Nevertheless, I do have nearly every combination on the shelf, most can also have a trigger wheel mounted too.