[PonchoV8]

I found that I have the matching number engine to a Y88 that I sold last year. Is it to much to ask for $500 for the complete running engine? It has the original block, carb, intake, carb accs and distributor, etc--all the orignal pulleys went with the car last year--I swapped in a running 400 and used all the old stuff to get it drivable again. The heads look to be the only non-original piece. The engine was known good running condition and is reported to be rebuilt but not run much due to the car's condition. It still has good paint in it as if it was recently rebuilt. Here's a pic of it as it was in the car.

$500 sound fair?

[2manyT/A'S]

I'd give that much for a "core" numbers matching motor for MY T/A.
If the guy doesn't buy it,he's NOT thinking STRAIGHT!

[PonchoV8]

I just don't want to feel like I was sticking him up. I really do believe it's a recent rebuild. He already said he wants it.

[bonneville Joe]

Id say you have the upper hand in the situation. I agree with the price being a core price. How many guys out there like me have a very rare T/A ('70) with the wrong motor that would pay any asking price to get the original motor back. I think you are being too nice to him lol...

[turbo]

Five hundred is more than fair. I am sure he would be happy to pay it.

[PonchoV8]

I bet he'll be happy with it. I wouldn't want someone to stick me up. I wish someone would offer me my original Y88 engine for that, but supposedly it's long gone.

[68ragtop]

If the guy is just going to use the car as a driver, maybe he doesn't care as much. But as far as an investment value goes, I think having the number matching drive train makes a considerable difference in the value. I'll bet it easily changes the value of the car three times what your asking for that engine. ($1500 more) If the car was ever restored to a strong #2, or a #1 car, the engine becomes worth even more..

I just it depends on what the car is now, & what the guy is going to do with it in the future?

[PonchoV8]

I'd gladly keep it for the $500, but since it is original to his car, I'd rather not bust up the pair since he's going to restore. Even 400s are going to be slim pickings in a few yrs if the scrap prices stay where they are.
He still tried to talk me down on pricing. Maybe I was asking for trouble by pulling the pan, but I wanted to be sure that I was representing the engine correctly. I was 'told' by the previous seller that it had a level of rebuild (I assumed if so, it was a fair one). Turns out it was freshened with a re-ring and bearing kit instead. I assume it was a spun bearing or loss of power at some point--though the heads are earlier editions too--original shortblock, intake, carb, probably dist. The heads will be easy to locate for this yr.
It's nice and clean inside, so it has been completely apart and back together. I let water get in the bottom of the pan with the fuel pump off sometime last year, but nothing ever ran through the engine and it never exceeded a level out of the bottom of the pan. But I guess he was thinking I was selling him a 1400 rebuild for $500. I think he's doing well with the engine even with it still being standard inside. It ran fine when I started it.

[68ragtop]

Originally Posted by PonchoV8

I guess he was thinking I was selling him a 1400 rebuild for $500. I think he's doing well with the engine even with it still being standard inside. It ran fine when I started it.

He's stealing it from you at $500 IMO....

Your being very generous, & he doesn't know the deal he's getting.


.

[2manyT/A'S]

Originally Posted by 68ragtop

He's stealing it from you at $500 IMO....

Your being very generous, & he doesn't know the deal he's getting.


.

Some people just DON'T get it!

[bobzdar]

Originally Posted by 68ragtop

He's stealing it from you at $500 IMO....

Your being very generous, & he doesn't know the deal he's getting.


.

Generous? For a run of the mill late '70's 400? $500 for a late '70's carb to pan 400 is fair, nothing more, nothing less. I'd be pissed if some sucker tried to overcharge just because the engine matched my car, but some people are in this 'hobby' to make a buck and some are for the enjoyment. If it were me, I'd trade him for the running engine currently in the car and tell him I'd help if he supplied the beer rather than try to make some money off of him, unless I had no use for the engine.

[PonchoV8]

You know what, some of the stuff on this site is just more and more retarded every week. I'd forgotten that this is the norm in all the forums, not just the Clubhouse and Lobby.
I offered to trade him the engine and $200 for the Safari Wagon engine in the car and he declined--he also lives 100 miles away.
I have my own Y88 now without it's original YA--and no replacement YA to install, which is why I had the engine in the first place. Now that my car has no YA coded engine it that will hurt the resale value of my car. But I'd rather the guy have it since he's doing a full resto. That way another classic Pontiac survives in a more original state.
Will you grant me approval for being a hobbyist and not forsake me to the likes of someone that wants to earn money like a capitalist does? Pretty please?
Some people just need to jump to fewer conclusions and accept that not everyone is out to get them. You should see the moron in the street forum that accused me of being a hoarder last week--because I bought two more 455s out of a junkyard from where they'd been sitting for sale for 10 yrs.

[mechanic17]

Next time you talk to him tell him the price is $800. . .

Some people just can't be happy until they beat a price down, but that will change his tune.

[68ragtop]

Originally Posted by bobzdar

Generous? For a run of the mill late '70's 400? $500 for a late '70's carb to pan 400 is fair, nothing more, nothing less. I'd be pissed if some sucker tried to overcharge just because the engine matched my car, but some people are in this 'hobby' to make a buck and some are for the enjoyment. If it were me, I'd trade him for the running engine currently in the car and tell him I'd help if he supplied the beer rather than try to make some money off of him, unless I had no use for the engine.

HHmmmmmm. Trying to make money off of him? I guess when he gets offered an extra 15% for the car when he sells it someday, he will go back to PonchoV8 & split it with him? Or do you think when he sells the car he should put it in the local paper instead of ebay so he doesn't overcharge anyone? They might have all been "run of the mill" in 1985, but its 2008 & its a 30 year old, correct numbers match engine to the car.

[turbo]

W72 engines are the last of the great pontiac big blocks. They are becoming more scarce every day. The man would be foolish not to buy the numbers matching engine. You could spend five hundred bucks restoring and plating the carb alone.

[bobzdar]

Originally Posted by PonchoV8

You know what, some of the stuff on this site is just more and more retarded every week. I'd forgotten that this is the norm in all the forums, not just the Clubhouse and Lobby.
I offered to trade him the engine and $200 for the Safari Wagon engine in the car and he declined--he also lives 100 miles away.
I have my own Y88 now without it's original YA--and no replacement YA to install, which is why I had the engine in the first place. Now that my car has no YA coded engine it that will hurt the resale value of my car. But I'd rather the guy have it since he's doing a full resto. That way another classic Pontiac survives in a more original state.
Will you grant me approval for being a hobbyist and not forsake me to the likes of someone that wants to earn money like a capitalist does? Pretty please?
Some people just need to jump to fewer conclusions and accept that not everyone is out to get them. You should see the moron in the street forum that accused me of being a hoarder last week--because I bought two more 455s out of a junkyard from where they'd been sitting for sale for 10 yrs.

I wasn't implying you were taking advantage, $500 is a fair price for sure. And, you offered to swap him engines and give him some cash which sounds like a good offer to me. I was talking about the people that would overcharge this guy just because the engine matches his car. It's like charging somebody more for water right after they get done exercising because they need it more than somebody who hasn't. Or like the oil companies jacking the price of gas because of some natural disaster (ala Katrina). Only an a-hole would do that.

As to the w72 400's being a 'valuable' engine, no way. They still made a bunch of them and they weren't particularly powerful.

["QUICK-SILVER"]

I've got to ask, is this W72 a vin.#s matching motor? If it is, it don't matter how many they made this one is "one of one".

Heck of a good price if this is the case.

If anyone out there has the original, one and only W72 motor out of my 79 10th TA
can I have it for $500.?

[68ragtop]

Originally Posted by bobzdar

As to the w72 400's being a 'valuable' engine, no way. They still made a bunch of them and they weren't particularly powerful.

I agree, they made a bunch of them & for sure not powerful by today’s standard. I know I don't think the same as everyone else, But I know if I was buying another Y88, I would pay more for the identical car with the numbers matching engine. For sure more than $500 maybe thousands depending on what the car is & its value.

So that being said, I was just thinking the car was possibly sold for less money because it didn't have the original engine? Now that the engine appears, & will increase the value of the car again. If it’s a W72, that would be even more true.

For a standard 400 core being used as an engine replacement, $500 probably is close to the right number, maybe even a little high if it’s in buckets & unknown machine work is in the future.

My point was, your buying one of the more important aspects to a cars originality back & thats worth quite a bit. At least IMO becasue I am a nut about originality. If thats not important to the guy, he probably wouldn't even care to have the engine at all. From the sounds of it, maybe thats actually the case?

Maybe we just need to know more about the car that was sold. How much it sold for, what options, & some pictures. Do you feel like sharing that PonchoV8 ?


68RT

[PonchoV8]

the story is:
This L78 400 Y88 car was bought on ebay for about $1650 delivered as a non running, non operational, non original engined Y88 needing a restore--with a reportedly rebuilt 'correct' engine. I bought it from someone that posts here sometimes. Since it had the wrong heads, it wasn't checked for VIN status. The seller wouldn't bother and I assumed that's because it wasn't original. I bought the car to lose money on it just to get a correct engine.

It was resold on Craigslist for either $1400 or $1500 at a loss just to move it out the door quickly. I chose to take a loss just to help my car gain value with a correct engine (I have a WS6 Y88) and to keep neighbors from complaining. Almost a yr later, car gone and engine stored at my house, it was determined that the dates coincided with the car's build date. I emailed the buyer and confirmed it was the original engine. If it wasn't worth anymore than any other engine, he wouldn't have jumped at it. He told me later that he was just trying to get the best deal he could by asking me to take less. I don't suppose he looked at it through my eyes. I won the car on ebay, paid to have it delivered, removed an engine, installed an engine, repaired some wiring, paid $75 for a steering column, removed it from a junkyard car, removed the damaged one from this car and installed the new as a replacement, drove a million miles the other direction looking for seat tracks to replace the rusted tracks, removed them from a different junkyard car and installed them in this car,got the car running-driving and sold it for less money than I paid (not even including my labor and parts)--because I wanted to make my car more valuable and or desirable/salable with a correct YA. I know I had a couple of weeks labor tied into trying to iron out problems with his car to get it running, but that was my choice. Ten months later I was about to start installing the engine in my Y88 when I discovered (1) my car's '74 400 isn't damaged, (2) the YA is matching #s to his car, and I'd hate to bust up the two if he's going to restore it. Even though I'm going to lose all money labor, and time (money in lost value for my car), and a ton of labor I put in, I'd rather give the engine up to keep it with it's original car. The $500 that I got from this YA would just cover the cost of the other running 400 (not the installed price) that I gave with the car and the money I lost on resale. I worked for a couple of weeks, and irritated my neighbors and lost money. I wish you guys hadn't reminded me just how much time I've wasted and now I'm down two engines.

[turbo]

We need more people like you in the hobby. The W72 in not a HO, Ram Air or a Super Duty but it can be turned into a great street engine by changing cams and bumping up compression. They are fun to drive cars, especially with the WS6 package and can out handle earlier T/A's. I know I have both. The way junk yards are scrapping the old cars and the supply is getting less and less W72 engines will be harder to come by. Good 455 engines are getting hard to come by today. W72's will not be far behind in the upcoming years.