I suppose it depends on the condition of your engine as to whether a pro should completely rebuild it or not. If it just needs freshening up, it might be a good project to get your feet wet. You should probably go out and interview 2 or 3 machinists and get their thoughts on the matter. Many will do the checking and machining for you and leave the assembly to you. Others will prefer to do the machining and assembly so they can offer a warranty for you. My thoughts are that these are fairly straight forward engines to go through but not as easy as say a SB chevy. There are a some quircky issues like how to properly setup the crank clearances that need careful attention. A good machinist might be willing to give you some guidance. I don't know of any good step by step books that go through the rebuild process for a stovebolt other than the factory shop manual for your specific year engine. Seems each independant book or article I read has contradictions to previous books or articles I read. The latest article in Hotrod Deluxe is a good example of contradictions or just mistakes. They say you can't align bore the main journels without using custom bearings?? They say to set the oil clearance of the mains to .008"?? Factory specs are .001 to .003. Do you use shim packs or not?? These are some of the weird quirks of this engine. Also there are some subtle but important differences between the years that may affect obtaining the correct replacement parts. For example, upper oiling differences between the years require the correct rocker parts to ensure proper oiling. I wish someone with a lot of experience with these engines would write a comprehensive guide to rebuilding these relics and cover the details and differences that can trip us up sometimes.

Ed Fallon
In seemlingily endless process of restoring a stock 1953 chev 3100 pickup.