A Little Depressed Bout My Project.

[ThatBear]

So i bought my 89 gt and knew there were problems, but i wsnted to fix them. I took it to my mechanic to see exactly what the deal was. He told me i had a burnt valve and 3 weak ones on the way out. I told him i could get some gt40ps machined and a valve job and slap em on. He told me with 200k miles on the bottom end, it wouldnt be wise to spend money on heads. (He is a close family friend so he isnt going to lie). Well after hearing this i decided that my 98 explorer longblock would be a perfect replacement. I am going to have it rebuilt and MAAAYBE bored out if the cost isnt to much. I have people telling me left and right that i am wasting my time, and "look what happened to the last one you had" (long story). How do you guys deal with this stuff!? Im feeling very overwhelmed.

 

[RangerJoe]

Well, what happened to the last one? There are alot of threads referencing the explorer engine swap. It can be a very cost effective one. Find a lower mileage one, put a new oil pump on it, cam and valve springs and drive it. There was a discussion on here a few weeks ago regarding what to look for when picking one up. I guess the biggest question is: How much do you want to spend?

Joe

 

[ThatBear]

The last project ended up just sitting for over a year before i sold it for parts. Anyways i had the explorer motor, trickflow stage 1 cam and intake manifold just there because i was going to use them on my 94. I already have valve springs, 1.6 RRs 70mm throttle body and MAF, 24lh injectors, gunna let the machine shop decided pushrod lenght. All i really want is a car i dont have to be terrified about ending up in a ditch, but that i can still have fun. Basically ~300hp ish.

 

[ThatBear]

Might also add that i already have bbk shorties and offroad h pipe that i swapped straight up for my 94 full exhaust of the same setup

 

[rd]

Doesn't sound like a big problem at all. If you are pressed for money, go ahead and simply rebuild the heads and reinstall. That theory of not doing heads on a high mileage engine has been around since 1920 or so. Yes, there is some truth to it, but so what. If you have an otherwise usable short block, there is no problem fixing head problems. A brand new engine rebuild I had in 1987 used a quart of oil every 800 miles from the get go. Just kept pouring it in the top. That shortblock went 95k street miles and is still the 82 Mustang and running in the 12's while being occasionally sprayed. Its had three sets of newly rebuilt heads installed over the years, the last being some GT40's. These 302 Fords are pretty tough and well built engines. If you want to determine the exact condition of the engine, you could do compression and leakdown tests before and after. That would allow determining how much wear on the rings is affecting engine sealing.

You can mail order 5.0 shortblocks for under a grand too.

Otherwise just get another engine and swap.

 

[ThatBear]

I pretty much said screw those people. Talked with friends and my dad (who hated my forst project but really loves this fox) and got some encouragement. I took it to a shop a friend at work uses and he gave me a rough estimate of 850 to bore out the engine and rebuild it. The price includes pistons and a valve job on the heads. Im putting in extra hours at work so i can make some extra cash this week, and on top of what i have saved up i should be able to affprd to get the engine dropped in by next week or the week after. Thanks for the help guys

 

[RangerJoe]

Take some pics and let us know how it goes.

Joe