One of our customers who purchased an Engine Rebuild DVD was interested to know how much it would cost for the engine kit and to have the specialist work done at the engineers before he started - so here’s the answer. 

Hi there,

Just watched your MF35 23C engine rebuild DVD (very, very good) . Id just like to know how much it cost to rebuild that engine. Planning on doing my own soon so I just need a rough estimate on how much I would need to spend.

Many Thanks

W R  Gloucestershire

Vintage Tractor Engineer’s answer 

Full engine kits are approx £220 for pistons, liners, bearings, gaskets etc.

The engineers charged approx £450 to £500 +VAT for skimming head, skimming
block top and resetting liner standout, fit valve guides, recut and grind
the valve seats, fit and ream small end bushes.
We didn’t need a crankshaft re-grind, but that would be another £80-£90
approx.  Injectors are £22 each to service.  Injection pumps cost about £250
to refurbish with a new hydraulic head and set up.  Hopefully the injection
pump wouldn’t need doing and you may get away without doing the injectors
but it would finnish the job off if you were to have them serviced.
Unlikely that the flywheel will need any work and hopefully your clutch will
be OK.
Unlikely that you will need the block planing so that will save you a nice
bit from the £450 for the engine (maybee £100-£150 saving for that).  If you
remember from the DVD we had an issue with the liner standout which was why
our block needed some work.

So in total you could be looking at £700-£800 +VAT which is quite a lot of
money.  My advice though is whilst it is in bits you must do everything that
is required, otherwise you will end up with half a job and the engine might
not run much better than before you begun.  These particular engines have a
reputation for been bad starters but a good rebuild often solves that problem.
I know that the 3 cylinder Perkins is the prefered engine of choice for most people
but if the 4 cylinder 23C is running right then they are a pleasure to the ear.

At least if you are able to follow the DVD and do the job yourself then you
can save a considerable amount of money - and you know that the job has been
done right!  There is nothing more satisfying than bringing the engine back
to life and knowing that you have done it yourself.  Even after all the
engines that we have done I still love to hear them strike up again for the
first time after a strip down.

Glad you enjoyed the DVD.  We tried to make sure that all the relevant
technical content was contained in the production so that people could
follow it for their own engines.  The timing of the engine is particularly
tricky, but hopefully the DVD should be a big help.  When you get around to
doing your engine just email us if you need any advice - we don’t know
everything but we’ll try and help if we can.

Regards,

Steve Ridsdale VTE