by chris
Share
This is a very rough costing guide to re-build my Ford pre-crossflow (Watermota) engine excluding any labour or travel. Some of the smaller items were unnecessary but thought it would be better to have a few spare nuts on hand rather than lose a day on the project establishing the exact number needed for example. Some service kit parts were duplicated, in part due to items being stuck in customs and then finding a UK supplier with immediate stock.
The costing also doesn’t include some consumables such as wet’n’dry paper to clean up mating surfaces and I had to use more expensive spray can degreaser as I had no facilities to rinse down parts to then dispose of the oily water in an environmentally conscious way. I’ve also not included wire brushes or paint brushes.
| eBay – Historic Car Parts | Economy Diaphragm Kit for Solex Carb | £16.98 | |
| eBay – Historic Car Parts | Pump Diaphragm Kit for Solex Carb | £20.98 | |
| eBay – Classic Parts Store | Union pipe fixing kit for carb | £10.20 | |
| Sheridan Marine | WaterMota Solex PSEI Carburettor Service Kit | CB004 | £13.76 |
| ASAP | Coupling 1/2 UNF (M) – 1/4″ Tube | 2-76945 | £10.80 |
| ThunderFix Hardware | Flanged blanking plug 1/4″ Brass (For thermostat housing) | 902058 | £2.77 |
| Specialised Engines | Front crank pulley and Front crank oil seal | £62.88 | |
| Scholar Engines | Strip, clean, blast and re-assemble cylinder head including crack test, unleaded conversion, valve guide replacement, fitting of valve guide sleeves, cut inlet valve seats, set up for cutting valve seats, refacing cylinder head and parts: Exhaust valves, Guide Sleeves and Valve guides | £665.81 | |
| Scholar Engines | Modify/re-manufacture engine to gearbox stub shaft assembly | £595.20 | |
| Burton | Mahle HD Crankshaft big end bearing set | VP819/020 | £48.02 |
| Spalding fasteners | Set of 5/16 UNF Self colour nuts for manifold | £1.96 | |
| Spalding fasteners | Set of 5 x 5/16″ UNF A2 Stainless Nyloc Nuts | £2.99 | |
| eBay – Classic Parts Store | Set of 4 manifold studs UNF/UNC Exhaust | £2.50 | |
| eBay – R_Bolts | Ford xflow bell housing and starter motor bolts | £8.99 | |
| eBay – Nibby Pit MCS Ltd | Pack of 8 5/16″ UNC Brass exhaust manifold nuts | £6.85 | |
| Sheridan Marine | Manifold drain tap | N1710 | £15.44 |
| Sheridan Marine | Block drain tap | N3580 | £15.44 |
| Sheridan Marine | J-Type Gearbox bell housing gasket | L020 | £3.78 |
| Sheridan Marine | Oil Seal forward J-Type | N7010 | £66.89 |
| Sheridan Marine | 2 x Watermota Pipe Connector | £20.00 | |
| Burton | Piston set | £326.02 | |
| Foxs Chandlery | Copper pipe | £20.00 | |
| Amazon | Engine paint | £24.00 | |
| Amazon | WD40 Degreaser | £49.84 | |
| Amazon | Draper Cylinder hone | £42.60 | |
| Amazon | Piston ring compressor | £14.99 | |
| eBay | 2 x Second hand Solex Carburettors | £30.00 | |
| Sheridan Marine | WaterMota Pre Crossflow Bottom Gasket Set | £49.95 | |
| Sheridan Marine | WaterMota Pre Crossflow Head Gasket Set | £59.95 | |
| TOTAL | £2209.59 | ||
So in conclusion, the re-build came to around the £2400 mark with all the driving around dropping parts off to machine shops etc.
Although time will tell, I feel like I have pretty much a new engine which with care should last a further 20 years or more before needing a strip down. I would anticipate the crank shaft front and rear seals to leak slightly within the next three or four years by way of normal wear and tear.
Would I do it again? Absolutely, but only with someone on hand with genuine mechanical skills like I had.
