When I began the restoration of my ’70 Mustang I knew that I wanted to replace the 250 straight six, with 175k miles on it, soon. I had several option, buy a new engine, buying rebuild or buying used. I chose to buy a re-manufactured long block and add my own components.
The option of buying a used engine and rebuilding myself wasn’t an option (average guy, average space and average tools) but I would have enjoyed it.
If you are going to purchase a used engine, dragging out of a junk can save you even more. But you’ve got to check it out before getting it home.
Here are a few tips that you can follow help prevent getting something home that the only real use it can server is to fill a corner the garage.
Now you aren’t going to be able to tear the engine down right there and look over all the parts but you could do the following checks.
1. If the engine still has the spark plugs, pull them a look them over. If they appear to have oil on them you might be looking at ring or value job being necessary (you might want to do that anyway). Likewise if they have water on them you may be looking at a head gasket problems or worse.
Fouled plugs
2. Most likely you are going to be able to pull the heads but you can remove the value covers. Look at for large mounts of sludge build up. That indicates other issues as well.
Sludge Build up
3. If you can drop the oil pan, check the contents for water or coolant contamination. You can also inspect the oil pump. Issues there indicate that there may be damage to pistons and crankshaft.
Oil Pan Gunk
Currently I’m looking for a used manual 4 speed for my ’70 Mustang. Now I don’t have any tips for that yet but I’ll let you know.
Thanks for reading
Tim
