Am I being ripped off

Hello to all
I’m not someone who frequents forums or social media, but given the dillema I’m faced with at the moment it was suggested to me by a colleague that I should come to the source for some clarification on this,
Firstly let me explain something, I am in the media well known in Melbourne mostly and I do amongst other exotic cars own a Ford Thunderbird, the problem I have is that I’ve been told the motor in my car has low compression in 3 cylinders and is very Smokey from the passenger side exhaust, I took the car along to a mechanic who has done some work for me in the past but specialises in European exotics rather than American muscle. I believe the Engine is a 292 and according to the mechanic requires a total rebuild. The price I’ve been quoted is a tad under $15k is this an acceptable price or am I paying the celebrity price. Should I swap for a 5 Litre maybe, Is there someone out there who specialises in these cars and could do the job as Tow it in Drive it out. , People say to me you can afford it but I just hate being ripped off.
Any help appreciated. Classicman

Hi C'Man,

a one word answer, YES! - sounds like a sting

I hate it when stuff like that happens, as it has with me, two blown engines and I don't have the resources you do, let alone getting the wife off my back!

But in your case lets break it down:

- remove and install engine, say $500, it's not that heavy compared to the later 390 engines
- engine rebuild, obviously need a few quotes but for $5,000 you should expect it to be rebuilt like new
- if you need sleeves, add $1000 more I think?
- add another $1000 contingency for towing, carb rebuild, run in etc

I don't know if that list will cover it off, there are quite a few members here who will correct that for me over the next few days.

As for drive in drive out, there are several that come to mind who I would never recommend but I won't put it in writing here! There is one company that I have heard great things about but never used them myself, Orger Engines in Bayswater; their current build time is 4-6 weeks, I asked them last week.

Click this link to read about them, the owners name is Colin: http://orgerengines.com.au/. Not sure if they do drive in/out but you could ask and they are pretty good to talk to.

Keep an eye on this thread over the next couple of days, hopefully there will be more advice coming in for you. You may need to have someone deal on your behalf to get the 'street' price, not sure how that would work though!

Finally, before you make the final call, feel free to post here again with the company you are going with, if they are not flash...we will advise you!

Hope it works out for you,

Graeme

Hi Classicman
Obviously since you're talking 292 then It's a babybird.

I would think that 15k would be top end of the market, but I guess if you're talking exotic car mechanic then the hourly rate will no doubt be north of $100 Hr so that's going to add up very quickly combine that with machining and new parts. But then $15k is a lot of money.

You will find we'll have some guys coming on the site later who have more experience than me when it comes to Pricing on engine O/Hauls and I'm sure they'll have good advice for you, if it were me I'd be looking at a nice little crate 302 with a C4 or FMX trans and do the job for less than $15k, but of course that means you'd lose the matching numbers and maybe devalue the car long term,

P.S How's that Mustang of yours going. All the Best Dave

Thanks
I agree with the fact that the hourly rate is going to be high but this amount of money seems ridiculous, would love to do the 302 thing not worried about matching numbers but I've been told the V of the engine is too wide for the engine bay, Is this true.

I had the cylinder heads done on my Mustang 2 years ago by a chap in Heidelberg who worked from home but I've lost his details, he's the type of guy I'd like to take this car to,

I'll keep checking back in to see if anyone can assist, by the way lots of nice cars here. I've spent a bit of time reading thru, thanks for the help.

Hi Classicman,
Sorry to hear of your dilemma, but please keep the Y- block. I can't vouch for these guys - Pirotta Motors , 7 Newcomen Rd, Springvale, (03) 9546 9400. However I know they have a strong history with Y-Blocks & Fords in general. Maybe they can convince you to run a set of tripple 2-barrels with the rebuild ? Much more sexier than the 302.
Or give John's Rod & Custom (03) 9796 2251, they should know of another Y-block friendly mechanic.
Cheers & good luck.
Paul.

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Hello Gentlemen
Thanks for the information above yes i do agree rebuilding the original motor is probbably my best option in keeping the car original as the concorse boffins like to see them.
Now OceansideTB I have heard of Pirrotta infact when you mentioned him i got thinking and I'm sure he use to own one of these, same model as mine I believe. anyway i rang him yesterday and spoke with the son seems he runs the business these days his Dad does have a babybird and they did the exact same rebuild on it some two years ago so thank you for that lead he was very helpfull in talking me thru the whole process much as mr64tbird has done above, I didn't divulge who I am until we'd finished discussing pricing etc, and his comment was no problems same price for everyone here, no celebrity fee, although he did mention he'd heard about me paying a rather large sum of money for a service on a european exotic a couple of years back. anyway they've organised a flat top tow truck to pick the car up monday morning. Gentlemen thank you for your assistance you've been most helpfull. i will drop in from time to time. I did see a post by Sue when i logged on some I'm off to read that now.

Hi Again .
The guys at Pirotta`s have many years of working on these baby birds so they should be a good choice, the whole family of Vella`s and Pirotta`s have had alot baby birds over many decades . Joe`s black 57 has a 302 with motec fuel injection a very quick car , i have met them several times over the last 20 yrs and are good people, i m sure they will treat you well . Good luck
Mark Mr64tbird

Thankyou Gentlemen
Your assistance is truly appreciated, I picked my car up earlier this afternoon and I'm very pleased with the results and final pricing, saving of $5000 from the initial quote and the engine master down there performed a little magic as well. car is driving beautifully.
Again thanks for the help.

That's fantastic news Classicman and I must say you seem to have received a very fast turn-around for an engine rebuild. I am so jealous!

Hope we see you around during the warmer weather.

Graeme

Evening Classicman,

Great to heard that all when well for you !!!!

It's good that there still decent workshops out there

Hope to see you & your Baby Bird in the warmer months.

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great result, very quick turnaround, that's amazing remove engine, dismantle, machine work, rebuild, refit engine all in 9 days. very good result. i know where to go when I need one done, thanks to OceansideTB for heads up.

He's a link to a function at the Pirotta's workshop , gives you a bit of an idea of the work they undertake -> http://www.ozrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=43220&start=60

Hey moderators , could you please high-light my last Pirotta link ? Cheers , Paul.

Hey Paul
We're very close to getting the Website online and we've set up a prefered Supplires section in there so we'll put Pirotta motors in there, I'll get a business card and scan it in so it will be there for all eternity, well for a while. How did you know about Pirottas when you live in W.A.

It's funny you know, I was born and brought up in Springvale and my very first sighting of a TBird was when I was 15 walking to school one morning and this pale blue 65 cruised by up SVale Rd, the indicator went on (Sequential of course) and i was hooked the next few days i asked around as to who owned it and found it it was Joe Pirotta so i went down to SVale Sth Clarke Road to the sandpit they owned and bowled into the Office tracked Joe down and he took me for a drive in it I was hooked, what a car. I remember going to the drags at calder when they were running Satisfaction the wildest Ford Cortina ever built, Here's a clip of the car It drags on a bit. Charlie Caruana use to drive the car and damn he could pedal that little cortina.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dKS3FXZSUU&feature=relmfu

Hi Dave, with regards to the Pirottas, knowledge of their talents was via the Oz Hotrodders forum - ' Ozrodders.com '. I'm always on the look out for any info on Tbirds in Australia, so the story on the launch of a new Hot Rodding magazine at their workshop grabbed my attention, especially as the photos showed 2 babybirds & a floor full of 30's to 70's Ford muscle.

Oh that explains it,
Yeah great site ozrodders, it was that site and US Muscle that made me start up this Forum, When I started it was The Classic Car Forum thinking that guys who own Classics have nowhere to congregate online like Hotrodders & Muscle car guys, but it didn't take off with Classic Car people and it was mainly just friends with Thunderbirds who'd come on and post which led to more and more Thunderbird owners so that was decision made. Thunderbirds Downunder.

Re Pirottas, one of our members Sam painted Pirottas very first Hot Rod a T bucket back in the 60's when old man Pirotta and Charlie Caruana decided Australia need a Hot Rodding scene, I believe that was Australias first Hot Rod and that same Rod is still in it's original paint and could still win shows today. Here's a pic
Not bad built almost 50 years ago and no rebuids since then.




How about this in a TBird this is the Engine from the Cortina (Satisfaction} 427 SOHC