Rebuild vs new install

[mlcrew94]

It looks like the crankshaft oil seal is bad so I believe my only to options are to pull the engine and do a rebuild myself or buy a complete already rebuilt engine. What is everyone’s thoughts on which route is best. Can anyone point me to a solid rebuild kit?

Guess I should let you know what engine I’m dealing with. Lol. It a 787 out of a 97 challenger 1800

 

[Dr Honda]

Totally up to you. You can save some $$$ if you do the build yourself... and you know it's done right. BUT.. there's no warranty of any kind.

Because of that... it depends on your abilities to do everything properly.

 

[mlcrew94]

I have faith in my abilities to do it properly and I love saving money. Are there any complete rebuild kits out there that will come with all seals and gaskets or do I have to pretty much piece one together?

 

[mikidymac]

The best quality is oem but also more expensive.

If it were mine and I was keeping it for a long time I would do OEM crankshaft, seals, pistons/rings, balancer and rotary shaft bearings and seals, any local machine shop can change the balancer bearings and seals for you and a WSM complete gasket kit but using the OEM seals and Group K boring the cylinders.

If on a budget OEM crank, SBT balancer, WSM full gasket kit and pistons, Group K boring cylinders.

I get all my oem parts from Pro Caliber with free shipping. Their oem cranks are $364 which is sometimes cheaper than the “cheap” ones with shipping like SBT.

 

[mlcrew94]

So mikisymac what if the engine is a SBT engine? Looks like I have one possibly original engine that was rebuilt before I bought the boat and the other engine is an SBT engine that I just did a top end rebuild on it. The SBT engine is the one that has the leaking seal. My brother in law has a machine shop so the bearings and seals will be no problem changing

 

[Dr Honda]

Just because he has a machine shop doesn't mean he can press apart a 2-stroke crank. It takes some specialized tools, and a little bit of "Black Magic". I've done a few, but I wouldn't do them for other people when my shop was open. I would just get an OEM replacement, and do the rest of the work.

The OEM crank can go 20 years. I've never seen an SBT go more than a few seasons.

 

[mikidymac]

The SBT engines seem to be fine but they do cut corners with machining and quality.

I wouldn’t have anyone rebuilt a crank but your machinist will have no problem doing the balancer bearings and seals.