JagX, I have done a few motors in my time and you are forgetting a lot of parts in this rebuild. At a minimum, you are going to need an upper gasket set and new head bolts (the factory ones are torqued to yield and should not be reused as they can fail castastrophically and cause a bunch of damage). I know getting parts for this engine is not easy and if you are basing the parts off of a Mustang 5.0L engine, then you are going to get the wrong parts. So, you can plan on about $1000 in parts.

As for the work needed to rebuild the engine, that is going to be a big unknown. Because of the aluminum heads, odds are, you are going to need to resurface the heads and the deck. Because of this, you will need to also rip apart the other side too so the compression ratios remain consistent across the engine. This is going to be another pricey piece of the pie. NOt sure what it costs for an aluminum engine, but I know you can plan on atleast $500.

As for labor, you can probably plan on 10 hours to get the motor out, 10 hours to put it in, and then another 40 or so to rebuild the motor. So, that is 60 hours. Most shops are going to get you for around $125 an hour or so. So, you are up around $7-8K in labor. So, the $10K figure that you were given isn't a bad price in reality.

Not trying to scare you away from the car, but normally to make a car like this worthwhile, you need to do a lot of the work yourself. Getting the correct parts for this car is also a royal PITA. Can they be obtained, I am sure they can. But, how many hours of time are you willing to pay for to have a shop find you what you need? Hence some of the hours that I put into the engine overhaul.

 

 

JagX, besides, for the $21K pricetag, you could probably get a ready to drive off the lot car wtih about the same miles and not have to worry about the "what else are they going to find. The car you are looking at is what is call a "mechanic's dream". They can dedicate a few hours to working on the car, get the pieces, and then turn around and sell the car right away. They end up making the $125 an hour and can clear a decent profit at the end of the day for a weeks worth of work. Even if you figured someone dropped $3K in parts/machine work, you could sell the car for $21K with ease, that would leave you with $5K in profit. Not a bad side job. I contemplated doing something like that, but I just don't have the garage to get away with doing something like that. I know I rebuilt the top end of the 5.4L engine in my Expedition and still dropped a $1000 in parts after I blew out 2 spark plugs. Granted, part of that money was used to port/polish the heads to give the truck a little more umpf off the line. Took me a month, but got the truck back and running. Gotta love a truck that can spin 37's.

 

Yes I agree. These cars drop in value so fast as do all expensive cars.
Finding a fixer upper is not going to save you anything unless you are a Jaguar mechanic.
Just buy a good low mile example.
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