Some of you may remember a few weeks back I posted about the 300 4x4 that I was going to rebuild for a customer. Well the guy can't make up his mind what he wants to do(I think he's looking for a cheap way out). Any way he decided that he would go to the local Honda dealer in Florence and try to buy a "crate" new engine for his 300. His opinion "You can buy a Chevy 350 from GM for around $1800.00 ,How much can a single cylinder cost"...Well needless to say he was disapointed , the cost dropped my jaw to I cannot believe this price he was given if anyone can dispute this please tell me, the price he got was $3100.00 for the engine. Any of the rest of you ever purchase a complete engine before.

 

It IS a Honda engine though, . Just kidding. A local dealer tried to tell me an engine for a 190e was $4500 for just the motor, excluding installation. Wonder what a max engine runs? I'll call the Lawn Boy dealer and see.

 

For that much, he could part out his current Honda (or keep it), and use the $3100 and buy around a '96 model in like-new condition. That's crazy.

 

That remimds me of what one of my instructors said awhile back.. He used to work for the GM Plant in Shreveport,La. where they build the S-10 pickups... One of his superiors set out and did a little figuring on what it cost them vs. what it cost the consumer.. A new S-10 off the showroom, let's just say $13,000.... The individual parts it cost them... I think it was roughly half that amount. Here's the kicker, each individual part purchased thru the GM Dealership to build one identical S-10 Pickup..... over $100,000...
Tell me somebody isn't making money!!!...
Honda (and probably all) ATV manufacturers are about the same way.. a friend of mine wanted to buy a bearing for the front end of his Honda 3004x4... The bearing was more expensive that buying the entire assembly that the bearing rides in, including the new bearing already installed...Go figure...

 

Since this incident this morning my curiosity on this subject has really gotten stirred. I have to go to the Polaris dealer monday to pick up some gaskets for a 350 I am working on. I'm going to see how much they want for a couple of diffrent sizes of their complete Engines. Ought to be interesting.

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Kevin Gowdy aka Kagey 1999 Polaris Magnum 500

 

I rember reading in a magazine, dirtbike or motocross action back in the early 90's that they bought a 90' CR250 all in the smallest parts also. The bike retailed for $3,200 new. In parts it was over $90,000
Joe