I realize times have changed but for younger folks on here these were the prices in 1928 to rebuild a Chevy six. Parts first. cylinder head 18.00 cylinder block 30.00 oil pan 5.00 crank shaft 18.00 camshaft 6.00 flywheel 6.50 piston & pin .010 o.s. 1.65 ea piston pin .45 compression rings .15 ea oil rings .25 ea connecting rod 2.25 ea valve .45 ea valve spring .06 ea valve guides .20 ea rocker arm .40 ea valve lifter .35 ea tappet screw .05 ea tappet screw nut .01 ea labor grind valves and seats, tune engine, adjust tappets and re-time engine $12.00 total engine R&R plus rebuild $78.00 This info came from my 1926 to 1929 Chilton Rapid Flat Rate & Repair Manual. It also provides the OEM part numbers. Truck Shop
If you add all those parts and labor it comes to $3,118.87 in today's dollars.
And back in those day's it was common to expand or knurl the piston skirt and file to fit the bore. Truck Shop
The list you have shows a .010” os piston, I bet many were knocked in the block after the ridge was reamed and called it done. After she’s broke in she won’t use much oil.
I love reading this stuff, thanks for sharing!
my house was built in 1903 and when I renovated in 1990 I found a bunch of old newspapers from the 1930 and 40s that were used as insulation in the front porch area, they were nailed up with 1 nail in the top middle by the bunch about an inch thick, so they came out of the wall in good condition so you can read them, other than the prices and specific events it was almost like reading todays paper with all the BS, but was interesting to see were the adds for products for sale and almost everything made in the USA, some prices werent as cheap as I would have figured but still very interesting to see, I saved those papers and wrapped them up well and maybe in another 50 years someone else can read them again and compare news and prices, I like to keep and read through any very old papers or magazines, on one hand such a simpler life back then, maybe a harder life to live, but im gona say better than what we have now..
There is a restaurant a ways from here is a small town that never changes, population 150 or so, they have old newspapers as wallpaper in their bathroom from that era that I think were papered on when they were current issues. Anyway one of them references old Mrs. X, a widow, who was reputed to be hoarding gold coins/nuggets in her house that the government had deemed all were to be turned in to them, remember about this time they confiscated all gold at about $20 and then immediately set the value at $35. Just thought that was interesting, that they were prosecuting/persecuting this old widow for gold she may or may not have had, at that time.
The best boring bar I ever used was a 1938 Storm. Very slow feed. How many of you know or have seen {nick name} a one arm bandit? Truck Shop
I didn't see on the parts list the little brass shims that fit over the rod bolts that could be removed one or two at a time to reduce the ID of the babbit rod bearings as they wore. Mike
I wonder what the average wage was back then?
A quick google search shows union wages at $.90/hr for that time frame.
Your correct-I didn't type in the total parts list. Below is what is know as a one arm bandit or portable in the block crankshaft grinder. Winona/Van Norman was the common one, I used one on a Farmall years ago. Truck Shop
The engine i put in my 1963 F600 had been rebuilt but before i put it in i replaced the rearmain seal and i saw the pistons had been Knurled. I had been told years ago about grinding crankshafts steal in the block and i tryed to figuare out how the machine work thinking about it alot and about the first time i got on the inter net i looked it up. I bet it worked good back in the low rpm only go to town once a week days.