9/10/00
Engine Rebuild Cost

One of the common questions I get asked about my Ferrari restoration is how much will all this cost? It’s not something I’m very uncomfortable talking about because it won’t be cheap. Ferraris are notoriously expensive to own, repair, and especially restore, but at some point, I will have to confront the price. I’ve saved my money very carefully, and have spread my restoration across a length of time in which I think I’ll be able to afford it. I’m also extremely blessed to have a resource like François to guide me along in my restoration and show me the ways to save my money, and do things myself.

I recently had the rare opportunity to see a service bill from a vintage Ferrari. The car was a 250GT PF Cabriolet, and the owner was selling it. François was doing a pre-purchase inspection for a customer, and along with the car came an itemized bill showing the recent work that was performed on the car. Although the price for the car was in the low $100,000s, the service bill totaled $35,000! The service covered mainly engine work, but also fixed the usual small items that break on a 30 year old car. The following is a list of parts bought for the engine rebuild.

  Pistons, piston pins, rings, clips $3,143.72 Rod Bearings $528.00 Main Bearings $616.00 Thrust washers $15.26 Exhaust Valve Guides $244.00 Valve Guide Seals $24.00 Exhaust Valves (12) $1,053.08 Inlet Valves (12) $1,049.40 Rocker Arm Adjusting Screws (24) $315.40 Throw-out Bearing (clutch) $168.75 Motor Mounts $53.50 Back-up light switch $67.10 Ball Bearings For timing case (2) $61.95 Bearings for timing chain (2) $69.25 Timing Chain $179.30 Gasket Set (engine) $659.80 Carburetor Rebuilds kit (3) $257.88 Rear Crankshaft seal $60.53 In line Thermostat $188.10 Oil Seal $4.62 Oil seal $5.85 Transmission Overdrive Mounts $28.60 Distributor Caps $339.50 Fuel Line $40.59 Fuel line $179.25 Fuel Line $163.68 Oil Filters (2) $30.60 Oil filters (2) $19.90 Bulbs (13) $16.90 Bulbs (2) $3.00 Undercoat (3 cans) $23.70 Bulbs (2) $2.80 Wire ends (12) $57.00 Vacuum Hose (3.5�) $14.70 C-flex hose $59.89 Fan belt $59.89 Hose #24212 $2.80 Spark Plugs (12) $34.92 Radiator Cap $6.20 Hose clamps (18) $27.00 Metric screws (misc. hardware) $200.72 Clutch disc $463.72     Total $10,540.85

I was lucky with my engine because a lot of these parts came with my car. As mentioned in my last post, I found a good set of used pistons. Although I haven’t gotten a price for them, they’re certainly going to be cheaper than three grand for new ones! I had new bearings installed, and luckily never run, so I didn’t need to buy more. I didn’t need new valves, but I did buy new valve guides, and seals. We chose to replace BOTH exhaust and intake guides. Not all my rocker adjusting screws were bad, so there was no need to replace ALL of them. I think four or five actually needed replacement. I will have to replace two camshaft roller followers that don’t show up on this list, but the rest of the valve train looks pretty good. My engine also came with an extra gasket kit, so I didn’t have to buy that either!

I did not check these prices with any parts sources, so I’m assuming they’re retail prices. My prices may vary depending on my sources, and condition of parts (used or new), but you can at least use this list for a good idea what to expect if you’re going to rebuild a Ferrari engine. François usually charges between 120-130 hours of work to rebuild a Ferrari engine. Although this shop charged more, it will always vary from builder to builder. With this information, I’m going to practice a piece of advice in Ferrari restoration: keep saving my money!

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