The block, head and crank came back from the machine shop last week looking lovely.

I was initially a little shocked at the $5000 bill, made up of $1500 on the head, $1000 for top hat liners, another $1500 on the block itself and around $1000 for the crank, rods and balancing. However when I looked through the invoice I really have got a lot for my money. Everything is clean, straight, balanced and back to proper tolerances.

I decided early on to replace everything else, and I've spent around $2000 on new parts. Around $2500 in labour and I have a $10000 engine.

All things being equal though I should never have to touch the engine again.