Kevin; After an engine block is cast there are a number of steps taken to various surfaces to turn a rough lump of cast iron into an operational device. One of the first things that they do is to plain down the top and the bottom of the engine block to make the surfaces true and flat. The second thing that they do is to use a large cutter type drill bit to bore out the cylinders to make them straight and perfectly round. Years later after the car has been driven many thousands of miles these cylinders can become tapered or out of round, and in some instances scored. Of course this cuts down on the engine's efficientcy, can create noise, and in some cases causes it to burn oil. What is done to remedy this problem is to repeat the process that was carried out at the factory and the cylinders are rebored to a larger size. Of course after doing this you will also need a new set of pistons in an oversize of .010'', .020'' up to .060''inches larger then the original pistons depending on how much larger the cylinders need to be rebored. Since you need to tear apart your engine to do this there are other parts that are usually checked over at the same time such as the crankshaft journals, the camshaft, and the timing chain with its sprockets. As a rule you would also want to change the crankshaft bearings at the same time while you have it apart since they are relatively inexpensive to replace. An engine rebuilt can be very expensive if you have someone else do all of the work but it can be done much more reasonably if you handle the disassembly and reassembly yourself and farm out the machine work. If I were you I would make sure that a worn out engine is the problem and not something more minor like a carb problem or the ignition timing being out of adjustment. Even something a little more major like it needing a valve job is still much easier and cheaper to deal with then an engine rebuild. Put it this way, peform a compression test on each cylinder before you even think of tearing that engine down. Best Regards Arran Foster 1954 Imperial Newport Needing a Left Side Taillight Bezel and other trim parts. Also needs an engine rebuild. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kevin Pacheco" <kevin50187@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 4:46 PM Subject: IML: need advice on engin re-build > I read all about elijah scotts engin re-build on his 71, 440. I was > wondering what re-bored mean?, how much can you re-bore it to? Also i was > wondering how much it would cost to get an engin re-build, with a new carb, > and possibly a hotter cam. I was also wondering how long *should* it take > to do all of this, I had my tranny re-built and it took that guy 3-4 > months!! im never going there again. > I also took a look at that page about the signs of am engin in need of a > tune up also, i dont recall anything related to a REALLY weak engin, (has a > struggle to spin tires even in the dirt!!) now thats sad, makes my imp look > like a little girl... > Thanks for your help. > Kevin Pacheco > 1971 Imperial > > _________________________________________________________________ > Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com > > >