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Question on inexprnsive engine rebuild.

G

Gene J

New Member
My daughter's 96 Mustang has developed a rod knock in her 3.8. The used engines I have found are much higher mileage than what is in there now. A rebuilt long block is about 1800 and about 3600 with labor. I was hoping that the worst case would be a crank kit. It has about 130,000 miles on it now. The mechanic would obviously rather put in a new engine.

I can't imagine what else could be bad on the engine. Compression is great, roller cams really do not wear much. I think I would be willing to take a chance on this.

Any thoughts?
 
car-part.com shows a 70k mile engine for $750 plus shipping or so. Sometimes, it's cheaper to have one shipped in, and some junkyards do so often. That might be one option, otherwise, a rebuilt longblock doesn't sound too bad.

That said, I had a friend who had a ~98k miles 98 V6 in nice condition and sold the car for $4000 or so...I wonder if a new car would be an idea?
 
For that money you could (as mentioned) buy another one and do a swap or just drive it. Then you have one for parts. $3600 is a lot on that vehicle considering what you can pick up a whole used car for.
 
Well part of it is she is sentimental. She got the car just before her 16th birthday and drove it all through high school and college. She has taken really good care of it and last year won a few trophies with it. Until now the only non scheduled maintenance was one heater hose and a gas tank gasket. Getting rid of it is not an option.

So for over ten years it has been fairly inexpensive. It may be worth it for her.
 
I would just tear down what you have and fix it. 3.8's seem to have a problem with this, I've repaired a couple that wiped a rod bearing. A crank kit should get you back up and running no problem, but you could also opt to grind the rod journals .010 instead. I would tear it all the way down though as long as you are in there with the motor out. Clean everything good as it has now sent metal throughout the rest of the engine. Also pay really close attention to checking the pistons for cracks, and put it back together with good head gaskets and a new timing set.

That's what I would do, but I have a engine shop. The other option (probably less time and money) would be to find a low milage engine from a wrecking yard. 3.8's are everywhere and inexpensive. You should be able to find a good low-mile engine locally for $500-700. Run away from parts store rebuilds, you would be amazed at how poorly some of these are built. I've fond different sized bores, crank journals etc inside of cheap "remanufactured" engines. How about 3 bores that are .020, one .010 and the rest std, and one .020 rod with the rest .010 (of course with corresponding parts). Will it run? sure. Is it right? Heck no. I'd way rather bolt in a 70K used motor.
 
Ditto! Is it a nice relatively rust free 96, then besides sentimental value she has a solid car that'll last a long time.
 
Being old and lazy, I'd likely do what Hal suggested, that be buying a low-mileage complete engine and bolting it in. Since the old engine has to be disassembled/removed for rebuilding anyway, just remove it, part it out or recycle it and bolt the 'new' one in. Painless.
 
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