so not looking at getting near my 400I any time soon, should I sit on it or sell it? not being super common here in Australia its certainly a novelty car, I have since found, (for those who havent read my intro) it has dropped a valve, damage other than hole in piston doesnt look too bad through the borescope, I have patterns to fabricate the engine mounts and the car is complete other than missing one air filter base, torque converter and the surround from the shifter, more to the point whats it worth over here? Cheers Russ... Image Unavailable, Please Login
It wasn't too long ago that you could buy two really nice ones for what it'll cost to restore that one.
haha the first thing I did was rip off those cheesey shields, original badge holes were still there, realistically its not a car worth restoring but it wouldnt take much to tidy up and have as a neat runner providing your not paying someone to do the work, that was my plan, $4k to rebuild the heads, replace the piston and all rings bearings and timing chain and all hoses etc, might be worth just keeping I think, market in Australia is much more limited than US
A nice, running and driving blue one sold here about a month ago. Car was in California and listed for $29,000, but who knows what they actually got.
Sorry to say but the combination of $29k and terms like no scam/nice/drivable sounds highly improbable to me.
As for the car in question on this thread, this is a difficult one that mostly hinges on economics which hinges on standard of work, hourly rate and expertise of the person involved in the fix. Then add the 'while you're in there' items like chain, all new valves etc. Best course of action is to replace at the very least all (exhaust?) valves, affected piston and liner, and verify the rod and crank for straightness. If done properly it means the engine to be balanced. And then the missing parts, which may not be too difficult to find though. A friend had a similar damage in an Alfa Busso engine. Only one piston was replaced. After the repair it never quite ran right because of piston slap.
Not possible unless its cobbled together, even then I doubt its possible. Factory rings are expensive if you retain 11 of the original pistons as are bearings and gaskets. You could spend $4K on the heads alone and to tidy a 400 up including a hole in the hood and whatever else has been cobbled over the years I think you're being unrealistic. And in the end you have a re-ringed old engine.
That's no good Ross. A holed piston sounds expensive as the head would have had a pounding as well. What sort of money are you after for it? Is the body rust free? I have a rusty one that might be easiest to transfer running gear into this one if the price is right. Cheers, Al
Al, Ive looked with a borescope and the head doesnt look too bad, hard to see if the bore is scored, its quite rust free but has had lower quarters and sill lower lip replaced and done well, thinking its worth keeping to be honest, its hard to know what its worth, considering I paid bugger all for it haha as for repairing the motor ,if your paying more than 1k a head to re cut and set clearances your getting ripped off I was quoted 900 a head max allowing for repairs to damaged cyl by a guy who I use that specializes in Euro motors), +$500 AUS for a set of exhaust stainless valves, rings and bare minimum rod bearings full gasket set, timing chains are $30 so its not huge money while in there, Ive priced all these and it works out about $4k AUS other than colour change, chev engine mounts, hole in bonnet, shifter surround wood notched for shifter its fairly well stock and hasnt been messed with too much, it would never be a show car thats for sure but the hole in the bonnet was for the air cleaner when it had a chev engine in it, sad... it has also had GAZ coilovers added to the back so the SLS has been removed, interesting to see everyones different opinions too BTW, not knocking anyone with my reply, we all see things in different lights...
Im in the business and a grand to do a pair of 12 cyl heads, guides, valves (the intake valve stems will be tapered) and setting proper valve heights and shims with new springs then you're the one getting ripped off if you think you're getting all that for a grand lol. Thats not even taking welding into consideration.
