Challenge budget question....Engine rebuilds

Need to know what counts as a performance enhancement and what can be excluded. The engine used on our 2016 challenge entry has since developed what appears to be a bad wrist pin knock. So we're gonna have to open it up. While in there we'll obviously check all bearings, rods, rings etc. If we're replacing worn or damaged parts with OEM equivalent does that cost count in budget? Obviously if we replace components with higher performance enhancing parts they will hit budget. What about rebuild items that required that do not enhance performance? Keep in mind we were able to compete with the engine at the last challenge but four more Auto crosses after the challenge with multiple heavy handed drivers has taken its toll on the motor

Pretty confident the general concensus here will be all bearings/gaskets count toward the budget.

Your best bet may be to email GRM for a determination.

If rings and some other crap count, i might be able to help you cheaply. Plus its a 350, everything costs like $3

Thanks Pat. You're right small block Chevy parts are cheap cheap cheap. Fortunately I have enough in my budget to easily cover it without getting anywhere near the cap.

i literally bought out a surplus parts website that closed of everything chevy about 12 years ago for 10 cents on the dollar. i have 350 ring sets in every size, dozens of cam2 oil filters, and some other extras left around.

Another quick question. If I remove stuff from the car that I had in my budget last year, can I pull that out of the budget pull that out of the budget? For example I had to count a $60 fuel injection fuel pump. But now I'm going to carburetor and I won't be using that new fuel pump I put on. Can I subtract that 60 out of this year's budget?

In reply to Ovid_and_Flem:

Yes, if you remove something from the car, you can remove it from the budget too.

I'm not sure I can buy into the idea of free engine rebuild parts... That sounds like a big can of worms. Odds are pretty slim that engine was in perfect shape when you bought it.

Engine rebuild parts should go in the budget because a worn engine contributes to the purchase price of the car. Same with related machine work. A lower mileage junkyard engine is probably cheaper than a rebuild, because all those little "while you're in there" things add up quickly, even with a SBC.

when i started with mine I had all the rebuild parts from Left overs, the block had 1 bad scratch and for challenge purpose was going to do just that 1 hole, Take it to 060 throw in an older 'nuther piston, Then found a nice set cheap and had to bore all 8,that's the point I was over budget, So I said well lets make some Horse Power. so no that one can't run But I'll likely run up on another,and will use left overs,maybe even claim $20 in Pieces to Re condition A running engine. And don't forget to tell someone you love them Today!!!

Thanks for clarifying everything guys. Makes perfect sense that I will have to claim rebuild parts even if they are OEM. I don't know why I got it in my head that repairs might be excluded. Glad to hear I can remove Parts removed from the budget. I probably spent $150 on fixing fuel injection and now that money can go towards carburetor conversion. Thanks again everyone

Not to muddy the water, but it seems we have had some previous questions about components (power steering pumps, windshields etc) that died or wore out after the car was purchased that were allowed to be replaced with functioning equivalents. I do agree it's a slippery slope, but if the engine was functioning well at purchase and developed a bad wrist pin I would think that parts directly associated with the wrist pin fix itself would be free (i.e. Just that piston, pin, rod, and bearings/ rings for the new piston or rod). I could probably even see the head gaskets being free since they really can't be reused and add little or nothing to performance, everything else I could see being a budget item since it wouldn't have to be replaced.

In reply to itsarebuild:

You are right, but it would be pretty hard to prove any engine internals were not worn when purchased (on a 20 +- year old sub $1000 car with perhaps 200K on the odo).

Extremely slippery slope.

It's simple to prove the car was purchased with a good windshield or alternator.

I would suggest that nearly zero Challenge cars are functioning anywhere near as well as they would with a basic rebuild.

I don't disagree it's slippery. But I also wouldn't ding someone for it on a challenge car unless other parts of the budgeting seemed sketchy too.

When the DC-SDAC team rebuilt the engine for the silver bullet, they ran three different bore diameters because selective boring was cheaper than a matching set of pistons.

Well, you could treat it as an assembly. So if the car had a running 150k engine when you bought it, you should be able to replace it with a similar 150k mile junkyard unit.

Maybe that's a different way to look at it?

I'd take this opportunity to upgrade that engine. Junkyard LS shouldn't be that much more than a rebuild.

Stampie wrote: I'd take this opportunity to upgrade that engine. Junkyard LS shouldn't be that much more than a rebuild.

That certainly is an idea that has occurred to me. And I've considered it. But old school small block Chevys are so Dirt Cheap now that the ls Motors are the rage. I'm just afraid I would get down a slippery slope trying to build a junkyard LS.

At the present time I'm finding a bunch of performance parts for old style small blocks really cheap. For example a guy's got a new in the box scat stroker crank on Craigslist locally 4 $90. I've always wanted a torque monster 383. But I'm not ruling the ls out. I'll just have to wait and see how much damage is done to this old motor. In any event I've resigned myself to have to put all of the rebuild in the budget and that's only fair.