What's the most efficient method of getting an engine together, in the car, and moving? 1. Rebuild what you have - average rebuild cost (doing as much as you can minus machine shop work)? 2. Buying a rebuilt long or short block (who do you buy from [I'm thinking dependability]) and building it up? 3. Throw in the crate engine? I'm talking mild build - 350 horse would be cool, and I'm talking Ford 302 (currently have a 10 year old Fox body 5.0 in my Falcon).
Which do you have more of, money or time? The crate motor would be the quickest but most expensive. You could rebuild cheap depending on what parts you pick and what machine work you have done or need to have done. The compromise would be the rebuilt long block. You would need to call around to machine shops in your area for prices and determine what you are comfortable doing.
Silentpoet's right, a crate motor and an after noon and your on the street. But that costs $$$$. Doc.
I personally prefer to do everything myself. I've heard that it's not the destination but the journey.
Cl***ic! I think the long block is the best of both worlds. Who makes a quality long block. Not sure how I feel about putting speed parts on an O'Reilly reman block.
You might want to check out Tuff Dawg engines in Phoenix,they have been around over 40 years I have bought from them and they are good people,if you visit the website they now have videos to hear the engines running,you may even qualify for free shipping with your purchase.One thing they offer which I think is a real winner is they offer the motors turn key so they are already broke in and ready to run as soon as you install it.
So I take it that the "Putting" sound you were hearing was serious? You can get a 300 HP/380 Tq crate 347 from Summit for $3299.00 I have one in my 29 RPU and it is very healthy, hard to beat, especially with a warranty
Ha! Not necessarily. I'm only just beginning with this project, so one way or another, the engine's getting rebuilt, or used as a core deposit.
I would stay away from parts store reman long blocks. Not saying you can't get a decent one but I've seen plenty that weren't. I used to do some warranty work for a big company that built them and sold them through parts stores. They looked like they were put together by illegal aliens with the cheapest m*** produced parts they could find. I would find stuff like one crank throw turned more than the others, seven .030 pistons and one .040, stuff like that. Company rep told me they figured a 10% failure rate was acceptable.
Did Target go out of business? They were a big deal in the eighties. I have not heard about them for a long time. I remember going to Montgomery Wards with my dad. They had all kinds of rebuilt engines on display right in the store. I think Sears did too.
Good question... IMHO if time is not a problem, I would go with the rebuild. That way you know exactly what you are getting, have a say in what goes in as to performance parts, etc, and when you go to put it back in there are no surprises on fitting, as it ws already in there once....
5.0's are very durable. I'd tear it down and see what you have, most of the time the cylinder wear is minimal, crank is in good shape. Talking with Mustang guys over the years they can freshen a short block with a hone job and crank polish even on high mileage engines, blocks are supposed to be high nickel content and dont wear as much. Spend your $ on heads and valvetrain.
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