Refurb, rebuild, or used?

[pacstud]

So I've given up on truck shopping. Absolutely criminal, the market right now (I know it was worse a few years ago). So I'm going to, at some point, need a new engine as my little 2.5 lima won't last forever. Well, probably not.

So I want to start shopping and preparing, and I wanted your opinion. What's the better option? A full overhaul/rebuild with a machine shop getting after it, a low mileage used engine, a refurb (if so, who?).

I'm not eager to spend money for no reason, but no matter how much I spend it'll be cheaper that buying a truck that's going to need work anyway. And, well I want to keep this one. A lot of emotional value to it.

As always, any help appreciated.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I would get a low mile replacement if you can find one reasonably priced. Rebuilt engines are a gamble, some places take shortcuts that you don't know about until it's way too late (like the engine that was in my boat, oversized valve stems that weren't even stainless...). Having one rebuilt at a machine shop would be more expensive than a rebuilt replacement...

Swapping a like for like engine in that should be a pretty simple weekend job.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I’ve had my share of junkyard engines. Some last, some don’t. I’ve wanted to rebuild some motors so I can have a known good motor but I don’t have a space to do the work at the moment nor the money so it’s been a back-burner thing. If you can rebuild it yourself or find a known good engine builder, rebuilt may be the way to go.

 

[19Walt93]

That engine's been out of production for so long I wouldn't trust a low mileage used one- short trip driving wears things out, seals dry out if it hasn't been run, and maintenance history is likely not available. If you have a good machine shop that would be the route I'd take. A reman or used engine that fails is likely to end up costing you more than one good rebuild.

 

[pacstud]

Might end up just rebuilding a used block that's in better shape than mine. Find a 2.5 lima somewhere with a solid block and rebuild it. The local machine shop (pretty good reputation) gave a loose estimate of 2-3k for a complete rebuild with full machining. For that money around here you can't find a pos with 225k miles that's rusted out and needs a ton of work. So I figure it's a good investment.

I figure that would give me two engines, so I'd have a fair amount of spare parts lol.

 

[scotts90ranger]

That sounds fair enough although depending on the shape of the engine I might be tempted to just hone and rering the bottom end with new bearings and have a machine shop go through the head but that really depends on budget, expectations and what the cylinder walls looked like taper wise...

 

[bba952]

Full rebuild! its worth it

 

[pacstud]

That sounds fair enough although depending on the shape of the engine I might be tempted to just hone and rering the bottom end with new bearings and have a machine shop go through the head but that really depends on budget, expectations and what the cylinder walls looked like taper wise...

My goal is to get to a place where I can understand this.

 

[mikkelstuff]

I'm for a full rebuild BUT need to really know the builder.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

You could probably find a donor truck with a good running engine cheaper than what it would take to get one thru a machine shop and rebuilt.

Drive it for a month until you have to get tags, then gut it and sell/scrap what you don't want.

 

[pacstud]

Found a used one online, see if I can get it for $1k. Has 130k miles but it's in San Diego (my hometown), so that's gotta be good, right?

The local machine shop is supposed to be solid. A trusted friend had them rebuild an engine for an old Camaro he's building and he said they did very good work. That's as good as I'm going to get, at some point it's a roll of the dice.

If they can get it rebuilt and put in and it's under 4k for everything, I've avoided buying a new rusty car with an old engine that still probably needs work for 4k if I'm lucky.

Kind of excited if I can pull it off. Get her a new engine, keep cleaning and replacing...screw it, let's just go another 20 years!

 

[scotts90ranger]

Yeah, I've been dealing with engines for a lot of years, some is intimidating and sometimes I just want to try to see what I can get away with shortcut wise... for the most part as long as you don't have a big sharp step at the top of the cylinder wall I've gotten away with ball honing the cylinders, new rings and bearings and just going for it... For the most part valve seats are the only thing I can't deal with other than boring cylinders...

I like your attitude, this older simpler stuff is nice, new rigs have way too much junk I don't want or need, I'm afraid of almost nothing on my '97...

 

[pacstud]

Yeah, I've been dealing with engines for a lot of years, some is intimidating and sometimes I just want to try to see what I can get away with shortcut wise... for the most part as long as you don't have a big sharp step at the top of the cylinder wall I've gotten away with ball honing the cylinders, new rings and bearings and just going for it... For the most part valve seats are the only thing I can't deal with other than boring cylinders...

I like your attitude, this older simpler stuff is nice, new rigs have way too much junk I don't want or need, I'm afraid of almost nothing on my '97...

I can't really explain it to most, but when people say "why don't you just buy a new car?", it's because I don't want it. I want this one.

As always, you guys are awesome. Your willingness to share hard earned knowledge and genuinely try to help people is very comforting. Thank you!

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

New stuff is typically crazy difficult to work on (why the eff do you have to remove the front clip just to change a headlight bulb??) and the hundreds of miles of wire, most of it run through a CanBus system that doesn’t even tolerate wire splices half the time is compounded by the fact that a lot of places refuse to mess with electrical.

Yup, nope, I’ll stick to my old junk that I can fix.

 

[sgtsandman]

Found a used one online, see if I can get it for $1k. Has 130k miles but it's in San Diego (my hometown), so that's gotta be good, right?

The local machine shop is supposed to be solid. A trusted friend had them rebuild an engine for an old Camaro he's building and he said they did very good work. That's as good as I'm going to get, at some point it's a roll of the dice.

If they can get it rebuilt and put in and it's under 4k for everything, I've avoided buying a new rusty car with an old engine that still probably needs work for 4k if I'm lucky.

Kind of excited if I can pull it off. Get her a new engine, keep cleaning and replacing...screw it, let's just go another 20 years!

The 2.5 Lima is a pretty robust and simple engine. If you can get the replacement refurbished and built, you should be good for a long time. There is a reason that engine got used in a lot of commercial equipment.

$1,000 seems steep but it has been more than 14 years since I replaced the engine in the 1998 that I had for $300 at about the same number of miles. So, prices are going to go up, whether I/we like it or not.