This might sound like the easy way out, but I must throw this out as an option. If you are new to working on cars, assembling your own engine might not be the best beginning project. Installing the engine in the car and getting all the bugs out of your new set-up can be enough of a challenge. If you are having all of the machine work done by a local shop, ask them how much it costs to at least assemble the short block. You may be surprised. Then if something goes wrong, you don't have to figure it out for yourself. I don't want to sound like someone with money to throw around or like someone who just pays someone to do the work for them. I have done just about anything you can do on a car myself (including rebuilding engines), most things more than once. Sometimes out of nessecity because of low funds, but mostly because of the pride in doing it yourself. BUT, I know many people who have attempted to rebuild their own engine, and either screwed up something big-time and had to do it all over for big bucks, or screwed up something minor and tried for a long time to figure out what went wrong. I know one guy who gave up on old cars completely because his cam, intake and carb swap project on a camaro gave him nothing but grief. Another friend bought the whole car, and after degreeing the cam, we found that the timing marks were off, and there were also some minor problems with the used carb he bought. Who knew? The worst thing is that the original guy that started the project was so turned off by the problems he had and the money he spent, he didn't even want to buy the car back for the same price he sold it at, and that's just plain bad for any car enthusiast to see. So to make a short story long, I would at least check into the cost of having a pro assemble at least the short block, and go from there, because I'd hate to see a relative newcomer get turned off on his first project because he bit off a bit too much. Hey, anybody else agree, or am I just getting lazy???
