P.S it a 302
automatic transmission

 

They will do whatever you want done from machine work to complete assembly.Rebuilds are fairly easy to do.If I were closer I would help for supper and a cold Pepsi.

 

you have one with 282,000?

was this ever rebuilt?

So you recommend the full rebuild

 

284,000 now.All original except Waterpump and 1 fuel injector.Am I on borrowed time??

 

that is correct.They will do what you want. i just brought my 289 block in and said jet tank it, freeze plug it, bore it if necessary, hone it, regrind the crank if necessary, and tell me how much it will cost before you do any of it!! Then i thought "well i am knowledgable, i can put this back together, learn, and save $150, but they will have to put the rings on the pistons for me." Definately need to chill, and you should probably just do the whole thing.

 

Might want to check out the price of a short block, by the time you get all your machine work done you may exceed the price of a short block. The guess work is already done. add valve train,heads, manifold,wala your there. With that many miles i would defitnitly go all the way.

 

ok I am going to show even more ignorance
when you say buy a short block does that come gutted
or ready built?

I assume gutted ..you mean it may be cheaper to get a block
and work with parts i already got, replace ring check for piston damage....etc? then having mine machined

 

You ask some good questions that are not easily answered. I have wanted to rebuild an engine myself but always consider these things. 1. An engine overhaul kit is going to cost 300-500 2. A complete overhaul by the machine shop (heads worked, block bored, honed, magnafluxed, crank checked and ground, completely cleaned, reassembled, etc.) will cost around 1200-1500 dolloars. Now since I don't have all the special tools such which I know I could spend a few hundred bucks on plus I would still have to have the block bored. It always makes since to me to have the machine shop do the work. I mean the approx. 1000 diff. between doing it yourself and the shop is not a small amount of money but on the other hand look at some of the other things we spend 1000 bucks on that don't have near the importance of the engine. Good luck

 

A short block is an engine that has already been rebuilt. It is missing most of the external bolt on stuff...heads, intake, etc. You turn your block in as a core. Or you can get a long block and only need an intake, carb, exhaust, fire, and some other stuff and you don't have to meddle with a rebuild, just bolt in the "new" engine, turn in your old one..and you are on your way....

 

Short block is a rebuilt block with new pistons, bearings, cam bearings, freeze plugs all assembled but does not include heads, water pump, starter, alt, etc.

 

I will admit to doing a bunch of half-butt engine rebuilds with some success. But I cannot recommend it. For peace of mind nothing beats a complete rebuild. A year later you won't still be worrying "should I have put bearings in, how long will those rings last, etc, etc. Every time the engine has a problem you'll wonder if it had something to do with you not completely rebuilding it properly. Peace of mind is worth a lot and you'll enjoy you car more.

 

Good points

but for me this is a hobby for myself I do want to push myself to "MY" next level i don't compete with anyone but me on my abilities. So i really want to dig in there slowly
and the tools purchase are secondary since this will probably not be my last project. I have been wanting to do this for many many years. I just want to get opinions of where people think too far is for a first timer

But i would just not feel right about dropping the engine for rebuild and have someone do the work.

I 'd feel i would have cheated based on the goals i had set in the beginning of this project.

Am i still making sense or did i hit my head a few to many time on that frame removing the tranny? /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

Short block sounds like a pretty good "happy medium"
and probably allows to avoid getting the head rebuilt
by some incompetent with a good ad in the yellow pages!

Actually a speed shop in town was advertising "new egine for $999 with core!! I did no inquire but it sounded cheap
this would kind of make sense now!

You guy's are such a great ressource

 

Naw, I personally hate to send stuff out to the shop. I want my fingers in everything because that's what I've got this junk in the garage FOR. Everybody's got a first time. Read books, ask questions, make mistakes. No one got to be a Nascar pit crew member overnight. I can think of no reason the average person can't rebuild an old engine. Just some stuff HAS to be done by a machine shop.

 

I wanted to reply to your post because you worded it for me
damned if i do and screw up...damned if i dont i'll pay down the road....

I like the short block idea makes it complete but leaves the hard to access part with the pro, if i screw up (not too bad )
with the heads then it should be easier to fix

 

It all depends where you want to go with the rebuild, and what you want to learn during the process. If all you want is another stock engine, buy a short block or long block. If you want specific performance parts, balancing, etc., find a reputable machine shop, check their references, and have yours rebuilt.

If you just want to learn how to do it, build it yourself, leaving just the magnuflux, boring, hot-tanking, and such to the machine shop that has the equipment for doing that sort of thing. In the long haul, you won't save enough money to justify doing it yourself, but you will learn a lot during the process.

Be careful, as it's pretty easy to get carried away (ask me how I know). The engine I'm assembling in my garage right now to drop back into my '66, I already have $3k invested in, and still need a carb. But I held nothing back this time. It's a 289 with a nice, radical Lunati cam, bored .030 over with 10:1 flat top pistons, double roller timing chain, 351w heads with screw in studs and guide plates, roller rockers, Performer RPM intake and full length headers, and it's all balanced and blueprinted ... can't wait to get it installed, but am about 2 weeks out still.

 

Sorry..forgot to answer part 2.Ford pistons suck at best.Mic the block and bore it if it needs it.Also mic the crank.I would go with a complete rebuild.

 

This time around...working with the external components
and the heads sounds good to me.... a short block would do that for me... The 73 outside of the mileage was in pretty good shape and i paid fair money for it, i do not want to get over my head and become one of these (idio...) persons that get it all apart and sell it because they lost it.

Also i do not want to put on the road a bad resto, vintage car's deserve my respect and i don't want to put a lemon out there!

 

If you decide to go with a short-block and you want it to be a really nice, long lasting engine, you should have the brand new assembly balanced and blueprinted after you get it. Either that, or buy the short block from somebody that will do that up front.

If you decide to buy a Ford Racing short block it will NOT be balanced or blueprinted from the factory. They build these things on the assembly line, just like the engines going into the new cars. No special attention goes into them.

If you find a reputable machine shop you may even be able to have them build you a short block or order you one and b & b it for you as a package.

Then again, you can have the same machine shop work your bottom half for you too and you will end up with the same basic deal.

One more if...

If you go with a new short block make sure it is a roller block. You will be much happier with it in the long run. You will also be happier with a set of roller rockers on whatever heads you end up with.

Just my $.02...

 

I'll give you my short story...

I wanted to build an engine myself because I wanted to be an engine builder. I've never done it, so I decided to do it.

It's one thing to say, "yeah that's a Ford crate engine" vs. "that's the original engine and I rebuilt it myself."

I started with a 289 and had it torque plate bored, honed, fluxed, tanked, decked, and had cam bearing installed for about $475. Another $450 in parts that included a 302 crank, rods, hypereutectic pistons (installed on the rods), and everything else needed to build the short-block.

Heads will come later, probably Ford GT-40P (new, assembled with rockers and pushrods for $400) and I've already bought the Edelbrock 1406 and Performer intake (to match the Performer cam that came with my short-block build kit).

So by the time I'm done I'll have about $2000 into the engine. Sure, I probably could have bought crate for that much but it wouldn't have been original and I wouldn't be an engine builder

Read a post of mine from a few days back. I messed up my main bearings necessitating the purchase of a new $30 set. I also managed to break the lobe of my cam (god only knows how). Yeah, I goofed but I learned to deburr the crank journals and be really carefull installing/removing the cam.

Now I know and that's 1/2 the battle.

Whatever you do end up doing, good luck.

-Aaron

 

I did read your post when you posted it....

After sleeping on it I kind of feel the same now....if I start
having this one do this ...this other one do that i will still put 75% of the work and effort and in the end probably get 25%
of the satisfaction.

Plus the numbers on my car all match as far as i know, i don't know if I want a foreign block either short or long, the engine as is was running pretty fair, i am not gonna learn much from
a purchase wilI i.