I am looking at rebuilding the engine in my truck myself. It has 413k miles on it now and still runs, but burns oil very bad. It used 15qt to go 400mi. I have most of the tools needed to replace all of the internal parts, but not sure if i can get away without all of the extra machine work (boring, porting, decking, etc...). Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated. This will be my first complete engine rebuild so I'm wanting to get all the advise I can before I jump into the deep end.

 

You can leave out the porting unless you are changing the heads, but if you just change parts without the machine work you are wasting your time and money.

 

Thanks, thats the answer I was afraid of. I'm on a bit of a budget and trying to cut corners when possible, but I still need to make sure I can depend on this old beast for another year until things settle down here and I can get it all done right. I'll probably end up haveing the local machine shop rebuild it for me as the cost is just the same if i have to get all the machine work done to the block and heads, but their work comes with a warranty (that I'll probably never need).

 

Find your self a low mileage wreck yank the motor

 

Just finished looking at everything on it and found alot of surprises. The cylinders are all between 3.983" and 4.004". The rings are shot but every cylinder is true all the way around. Crank and cam are still in great shape, but it does need lifters. I can't find any reasons not to use the same block. There is no scoring or scratches on the cylinder With new internals it should be good as new right?I planned on getting the heads machined/rebuilt or replaced if they are bad enough. Any chance it will be dependable if I just get the block decked and heads taken care of? I can hone it myself. Just trying to pinch pennies where I can until we get settled in and I have more time to beef it up a bit, and get started on the body.

 

Or consider the alternative of installing a short block. They're available at most large parts stores. That way all the internal work is done for you, you just re-use your manifolds and fuel system.

I think if you carefully price it out, the local machine shop isn't going to save that much money...

As 86C10 said, if you go to the junkyard, they'll usually guarantee a motor to start and run for a short period. This would will put you into a running engine more than likely for less than what you'd give the machine shop.

 

Wrecked parts aren't an option. Even if I pull another motor (possibly with a carb and 4bolt main ) it would still get rebuilt. I've seen many junkyard engines let go very early.

 

On the other hand, if you start purchasing replacement components they could easily cost more that the short-block, even without machine shop charges...

If you really want to cheap out, just throw a new set of piston rings in what ya got, and run it till it drops. Then you'll have your chance to get " settled in", at which point you can buy a new engine and have done with it.