altumdreams

I have a 1970 Mustang convertible with a 302 that blew a rod. It bangs against the oil pan when the engine runs. I would like to make this a nice car that i can drive in the summer and enjoy. Sure I want decent horsepower though I'm 40 and punching it doesn't matter as much to me as having a reliable car I can drive with the family and get decent gas milage. I'm not a mechanic and have never done engine work. I will not be rebuilding this myself. Am I better off buying an engine to install? Should I have this engine rebuilt? This engine probably has 80k on it and has sat for the last7 years of so. I would like to know what I am better off doing in the long run? Should I try to have this converted to fuel injection or have other things done that would be better off than just dropping a 1970 era 302 in here. If you recommend buying an engine who are some reliable companies? Any recommendations about places within a couple hours of Chicago to do the work? Your help is really appreciated.

boogerschnot

Well, I would think that the best thing to do would be to pull the motor out and take it apart to see where your problem actually is. I'm not a mechanic either, but with a basic set of tools, a couple of rentals from the parts store, and an engine stand, I pulled mine pretty easily.. If you feel like learning than this is the way to go..
3 basic questions:
What is your budget?
How much are you willing to do yourself?
How soon do you want it back together?

If you can afford it and dont really feel like messing with the engine, then buy a crate motor..

If you can afford it, pull it yourself, put it on a stand and dissasemble it. You may be able to use the block and just send it off of to the shop for a longblock build.. They woud bore the block, clean everything up, and assemble everything but put the balancer, intake/carb, distributor/plugs, and valve covers... Which really is not hard to do.. Especially with this forum at your finger tips..

You just need to figure out what you want to do with it.. The cheapest route is usually a basic rebuild. Crate motors are pretty expensive, but if you can find a good donor car with a good motor somewhere then go for that. But I would still pull out the motor and see how bad off that block is first.

urban_cowboy

If you threw a rod, you are probably SOL on the block and rotating assembly and maybe the heads. I would have someone pull it apart and do an assessment. You may can do a budget build if it is not all trashed. As far as crate motors, they can be a good way to get a decent motor for not much money. You are not going to get the best of everything, but they are easy. I just saw that yearone is having a sale on their crate motors. I think they advertise like 400hp 351W for $4300. Looks like a pretty good deal to me if you want a budget motor as do not have plans for blowers, nitrous, turbos, etc.

Starfury

Yeah, a broken rod usually means serious engine damage and a paperweight for a block. I'd probably start to look at crate motors to see what can fit into your budget.