What should I expect to pay to have a 95 Disco 1 3.9 rebuilt? Any recommendations of shops or sources for a rebuilt longblock?

Dusty,
A couple of thoughts...
If you have a choice, I'd switch to a 4.0. The bottom ends are cross bolted, the rod & main bearing journals are bigger, the rods are longer, and the pistons are a more modern design. A 4.0 shortblock with a 3.9 cam will drop in place of your 3.9 shortblock. The only downside to a 4.0 is that replacement oversize pistons are not readily available as far as I can tell. Machining and assembly costs will be in the neighborhood of about $750 for a short block, about another $400 to do the heads, too. You can find parts pricing information for the rings, bearings, and other internal engine parts at www.aluminumv8.com or www.roverparts.com. George at www.roversdownsouth.com sometimes has bearings & stuff and can get anything from the UK. Parts can be expensive but I have found that I can build and install an engine in a customers Land Rover for about the parts & shipping cost of a new short block ($4000ish). What will make or break the cost of the build will be the bores. I have found that the Land Rover v8s tend to have minimal to no bore wear, even after high mileages. If this is the case and your bores measure ok, then you won't need to overbore & replace pistons...this will save $$$ and allow you to rering & hone the block & turn the crank & recondition the rods. FWIW I share shop space with an automotive machine shop....machining & assembly labor numbers are what they charge here in Albuquerque. I'm sure there are plenty of machine shops in Cali, but the local prices are probably higher. I think you should be able to have a nice long block professionally built for around $2500 ish, excluding installation.

I gotta disagree Rob. The larger journals offer little to no advantage and the cross bolted mains are overkill for a 185 HP engine. The 327 Chevy went a long time on small journals and two-bolt mains.

Chances are that the majority of wear in this engine is in the rings and camshaft. I haven't encountered excessive crankshaft wear, nor piston problems (they usually end up in pieces in the pan, not wearing out).

IF it is truly worn out, a used engine is almost always the better way to go, in spite of my dire predictions, the supply seems to be as strong as ever.

Any competent machine shop/parts house can find you better pricing on the bearings, etc. I'll see what I can work up for you as well with respect to the bearings/rings/gaskets. Camshaft options abound.

I gotta disagree Rob. The larger journals offer little to no advantage and the cross bolted mains are overkill for a 185 HP engine. The 327 Chevy went a long time on small journals and two-bolt mains.


Hmm, Big Fan of the sm journal 283 / 327 (302 if you mix up some parts), but I imagine that the cast iron block of the SBC v. the ally Buick could be a significant variable here, no?

... Oh, and in my experience, the 327 was Really Happy with a .030 overbore and a little head / cam / induction work ... another story, another day... Sorry Dusty, a little off topic.

KAA

Hmm, Big Fan of the sm journal 283 / 327 (302 if you mix up some parts), but I imagine that the cast iron block of the SBC v. the ally Buick could be a significant variable here, no?

KAA

LOL, we're also talking twice the horsepower from the weakest 327 to the strongest 3.9.

I just think the 3.9 is a great engine that will take a licking and you never know how long it takes to get to the center (oops, wrong licking-where's merv?).

The 3.9s just don't seem to suffer from crankshaft problems in my experience.

We see problems with cam wear, overheating, sleeve slippage (but not in 3.9s, any indicator of its robust nature), grenading pistons. We really don't see that much hard part breakage in these engines and the wear seems to be for the most part limited to the valve train. When's the last time we heard of a crankshaft breaking, or the block flexing causing problems?

I got busy today at work and only had time to order/lookup prices for my own parts today. I'll try to have some parts pricing on Monday.