Not recommended as you have no idea the actual condition of your bottom end. Unless there is absolutely no wear, you would at least need to hone the cylinders. In most cases it would be best to either rebuild the engine yourself with the machine shop refinishing parts as needed or buy a complete short block assembly and have your heads rebuilt.
You'd have to tear it all down and measure everything in order to know if you need machine work. I have taken apart some older engines that only needed standard bearings, a cylinder hone, and piston rings. I've built a whole lot of engines and only a hand full didn't need machine work. There are too may variables for stuff being out of spec. I've had blocks magnafluxed that looked perfect until that powder found issues. The heads also may need resurfacing work done.
Some machine work can be done by yourself but it takes a lot of skill. I've planed heads and blocks myself...but nothing like a machine shop doing it. I've never bored a cylinder or tried to line bore a crank bore. For that you need the machine shop 100% You can't even turn a crank correctly if it needs it. Plenty of brand new crankshafts need machine work to be correct.
Some machine work can be done by yourself but it takes a lot of skill. I've planed heads and blocks myself...but nothing like a machine shop doing it. I've never bored a cylinder or tried to line bore a crank bore. For that you need the machine shop 100% You can't even turn a crank correctly if it needs it. Plenty of brand new crankshafts need machine work to be correct.
Machine shop I used ( I took my Explorer motor apart also) mic'd my parts and told me I could re ring and rebearing it ( after honing the cylinders and polishing the crank) and run it.. NO ridge on the block ( machine shop claimed that this is due to Fuel Injection vs carburetor).. Surprised me as this wrecking yard engine had a fair amount of exterior rust on the block and heads so I wasnt sure where it had sat or for how long.. Internally it was very clean...
I did not have the heart to put those 22 year old cast pistons back in this engine even though it is going to be a driver/grocery getter.... Machine shop said if I was to use NEW pistons then I would need to Bore it......
I did not have the heart to put those 22 year old cast pistons back in this engine even though it is going to be a driver/grocery getter.... Machine shop said if I was to use NEW pistons then I would need to Bore it......
Last edited:
Also no info on what pistons used... I hate these fairly expensive motors that do not come with forged pistons......
Last edited:
So I looked it up. The heads are "Blueprint",which are probably Chinesium castings. Forged pistons,etc. Looks like a pretty good build. IMO,depends on how quick one would need it. I'm sure you could build it cheaper with better heads.
So,there's a co. called Creb engineering on ebay. 306 shortblock for around 3k shipped. Add some AFR enforcers on top of that with an Edelbrock rpm air gap and a 650 Holley dp you'll be rocking.