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Not a Packard question - but you all are experienced and I ask for your opinions. Have another car - 63 Ford Thundebird - removed engine and sending for rebuild (390 FE engine).

What parts are "typically" replaced ? I have a couple quotes.

Here's a link for one quote for $2,500 - replacing pistons, rings, main/camshaft/rod bearings, oil pump, freeze plugs.

tinyurl.com/ndkugb

But I thought the camshaft, lifters, and timing chain set should be replaced too ?

Anybody else have other recent pricings for rebuilds ? Obviously pricing varies by part of country and what's done.

$2,500 seems high for rebuild not replacing camshaft... Thanks.

This is really a question for someone like Jack Vines, but I'll take a shot at it. A quality engine rebuild on that era engine should typically include at least the following machine shop services: block boiled, magnafluxed for cracks, and decked, oil passages cleaned, cylinders bored and honed; main bearing saddles resized and line-honed; connecting rods straightened and big-end resized, heads resurfaced, valve guides replaced or installed, valve seats ground and hardened exhaust seats installed, valves resurfaced or replaced, lifter bores checked and oversized if necessary for OS lifters, rocker and rocker arms checked and arms resurfaced if needed, crankshaft straightened if needed and ground US if needed (or just polished), cam polished at a minimum, and finally a complete engine balance job on rotating and reciprocating parts. Final assembly should be oil pressure-checked.

Unless you've asked for a bargain job, replacement parts could be pistons, rings, wrist pins and wrist pin bushings, valves (possibly springs), stem seals and valve guides and seats where needed, main, rod and cam bearings, timing chain and possibily timing gears, possibly an oil pump, rod bolts possibly replaced, gaskets, seals welch plugs, etc.

Obviously the needs both in shop services and parts depends in part on the conditon of what is found and the quality of replacement parts vs. the condition of the original parts, and the wishes of the owner. Each individual job will vary to some extent. I'm really going out on a limb here but I'd plan for parts at $2000 and labor about $2500 for New Jersey prices.

Note that u used the word "typical".

Unless u tell us more about the know history of the engine i'm not sure typical can apply here.

What???? Did it set in a field for 10 yeasrs???? Have u recently been driving the car at least 10 miles once every 3 months and for how long???

Need to know background of the engine.

"Typical" engine rebuild is rings, rod and crank bearings, valve grind and/or hand lap. Possibly new lifters if hydraulic.
Variations include: timing chain and gear, oil pump, valve guide sizing.
Judgement calls made at time of disassembly allow for cam, cam bearings, crank grind or polishing, cylinder boring, welch plugs, other machining work.

Since u are not rebuilding it yourself and at your own hand then u are at the mercy of the rebuilder. Parts u get may not be needed because he has parts on the shelf he needs to sell. Parts u get might not be as good what he removes from your engine because he has a "special" engine over in the corner he's building. Welch plugs replaced mite be thinner material than removed or original.

OR, u mite get superior parts too or some mixture.

The list goes on and on.

What ever u do. When u take the engine to the rebuilder be sure to emphasis that the engine will be used IMMEDIATELY for at least once a week service of 100 miles or more for the immediate several months. That will motivate the rebuilder to do a good job. Otherwise he may think that the engine will just set around or trade hands 2 or 3 times over the next few years.

$2500 sounds about par. 7even years ago it cost me $600 in parts alone to major overhaul a 4 cyl OHC. Boring, new cam and rockers and oil pump involved too. There was no labor cost.

Engine had over 150K miles on it.

A good Ford man who knows what he's doing in a well equiped shop for rebuilding should be able to over haul that engine in 16 hours. Figure the labour cost that way.

I'm not real familiar with Ford 390's. But there is a F 390 INDUSTRIAL engine that is used in heavy trucks. I know one man that has ran the 390 Indutrial engines for many years and swears by them.

Do some research to see what kind of turn-key engine is available in terms of the 390 Industrial. Mite be the cheapest and fastest and BEST way out. But i really don't know. But that's what i would do before running to a rebuilder with my own engine.

A good Ford man who knows what he's doing in a well equiped shop for rebuilding should be able to over haul that engine in 16 hours. Figure the labour cost that way.

Shops I've dealt with don't charge labor that way, they have discrete labor charges for each individual machine shop operation.

Don't forget the timing chain or timing gears. The oil pump is important. Push rods might need attention too.

As Owen stated, we charge labor in our shop based on the process performed. i.e. boreing, milling etc. not by the hour. a "typical" v/8, machine work and parts only through us is normally in the 1200-2500$ range. notice i said machine work and parts, we DO NOT tear down or re-assemble engines! we only do the machine work and supply parts. if that quote included assembly, it could be very reasonable. to build your heads alone at our shop would be a min of 800 to 1000$. your "fe" would be on the high side of that price range since it was built before unleaded fuel and the heads cost so much to bring them up to today's standards. the low side is late model v/8's that would not need as much work on the heads.

"your "fe" would be on the high side of that price range since it was built before unleaded fuel and the heads cost so much to bring them up to today's standards. the low side is late model v/8's that would not need as much work on the heads."

ok. i assume that means hardened seats are installed and SS valves????

What if i just want the original seats ground and the orginal valves refaced??? ORIGINAL heads. NOT modified for modern fuels???

that is possible if the o.e seats have not sunk, and all the parts are good. 99% of the "fe" engines we have seen have "sunk" seats. and when we see heads with sunk seats, those same heads have bad guides, unuseable valves, weak springs, and bad warpage.