Nothing wrong with a 500-600 buck patch job(done them myself)But it aint a rebuilt.Mech and gmc248 are closer to the real price of a rebuilt.(thats why i say 1275 is a good deal for new) A good machinist could probably have 20 hours in doing a halfa$$ rering job with out checking and magnafluxing anything(which is part of a rebuild)Thats ordering parts checking clearances hit or miss valve job and no parts @ 30 bucks and hour(and if he is that cheap its a backyard deal) so 600 bucks is a litle hard to do if you want to eat, Valves and springs should be trown away along with oil pumps. Cranks turned and checked for straightness and on an on. Heck bigbass why not just rering it in the truck,no need to pull it.Now your talkin 400-500 bucks(buy one of those cheap paw or engine kits).Dave i hate to tell yah even if he got the parts dirt cheap he did not rebuild it,but if your happy thats all that counts.But please dont tell me he rebuilt it cause i have been doing these for 30+ years and it cant be done(even at 10 bucks and hour) I will change my thought from spraypaint to refreshin(thats how most hackers get away with not calling it a rebuilt)Hell i did it 3 times on the 235(in the truck) and got 355,000 miles out of it so i know were your coming from. Some times the money just aint there
