if you read the whole thread you would see that im doing a h/c/i swap and i also cant use the front accessories in the motor im trading..so the motor im trading for is running as much as the one im trading .....for my purposes

if i'm reading this right and you can trade your 92 motor straight up for this 306, and if it was built from a respectable machine shop like you say, i'd trade. while its out you can do a check on everything to make sure it's good to go and have a basically free 0mile motor.

yes that was my thought but what i was wondering is ... should i just keep it as a spare or is it worth swapping before i really need to?

Portmaster shows MASSIVE wisdom in this thread. Doing a deal like this with a friend is a very good way to lead to dissolving of the friendship.

what exactly are you suggesting ....that i wont be happy or he wont be happy?

When I told you about losing a friend over a deal like this I'll give you an examlpe that I've seen over years of watching horse trading among my customers. We'll call the first guy Joe and his friend Frank.

Frank has a engine that he has rebuilt. Frank is on a very limited budget so he tells the machine shop "I've only got 700 dollars to spend" but I need my car to get back and forth to work. the machine shop not wanting to lose the business says OK we can clean the block,do a .30 over bore(no deck plates used) new cam bearings and freeze plugs, turn the crank and resize the rods and put you in some arp rod bolts. The machine shop buys 65 dollar piston and ring set and a set of decent bearings and throws it together assuming it's not going to be pushed over 5000 rpm. It wasn't line honed to save on cost, the assembly wasn't balance because it's just an overhaul. Nothing wrong with a crank that has been turned .010 under so your set to go. It was done by a reputable machine shop and thrown in a pick up, van, crown vic or even a softly driven mustang chance are it's going to live a long and happy life. It might be able to withstand having the wee out of it if you are lucky. Now Frank knows he went the cheap route but is still pretty confident that the engine will hold up but is a little uneasy because he knows he has big performace plans for the engine because he wasn't real up front with the machine shop owner about how this engine was really going to be used so even Frank gets a little worried about it. Frank knows Joe has a good running 302 that has been holding up and is proven. Has some miles on it but proven. Frank also knows Joes 302 has forged pistons as well. Franks looking for a peice of mind to make sure his car will hold up. So Frank knows that Joe is looking for an upgrade so Frank decides that he will sell his 306 to Joe, recoup some of his money and end up with a proven engine for his car. He isn't looking to stick it to Joe but just has worries of his own. They talk about it a deal is struck and both guys are happy. Maybe but then comes the glitch.

Frank has already installed Joes engine in his car and is happy as a clam he isn't having to drive his sisters civic and is back to street duty in his Mustang and he got out for a few hunded bucks and a little elbow grease.
Joe just got his big honking cam in off the UPS truck along with the rest of his Hi-Po stuff and is all excited over his upcoming street burner. Joe throws it all together and him and his best friend Frank have some beers, cook some burgers and throw Joes car back together. Joes tickled to death over his new thumping 306 and spends a week or so cruising around breaking in his new street burner. All seems good in the kingdom.

Joe and Frank decide to line em up and see what it will do. What Frank doesn't know is that Joe so confident in his new engine that he threw a 125 sot of Nitrous on that Budget build. The light turns green Joe hits the juice and his engine just went to 5.0 heaven. Joe gets mad at Frank for selling him a peice of crap that wouldnt take one small hit of Nitrous, Frank tells Joe he didn't build the engine and it's the machine shops fault, the machine shop isn't going to stand beside it because they have already heard from all of Frank and Joes friends what really happened, Frank is still up and running and Joe is having to bum a ride, is out 1500 dollars total and they never speak to one another again. A great friendship lost over this. Both of them in the wrong but neither was really trying to screw the other.

I've seen this senario played out over and over in slightly differant story lines with differant players and differant degrees of anger. Even when both parties knew the risk it ended badly. It doesn't always end like this but it happens often enough that I would steer away if I cared anything about my friend.

I have a lifetime friend that I've known since I was 16. We did a deal something similar back when I was 17. We didn't talk for 3 years. He got in trouble one night when his car broke down and I happened across him walking down the road. I stopped and picked him up because I would have felt bad about leaving him out in the road in the middle of the night. I let my disgust for him down for a few seconds to do the right thing. We talked about what happened and just decided to let that ship sail and try to remain friends. He is today my best friend and has been since that night I picked him up. We help each other out when the other needs a hand. The one thing we havn't done is done any car swaps, engine swaps or anything like it. We have come real close to doing a car deal a few times but we both slept on it and decided our friendship was more valueable than any vehicle. I think about how close we came to losing out on a true friendship (who not only introduced me to my wife but also risked his own to save mine several years ago) that I think about what we lose or miss over silly arguements. If you don't bring the fuel there will be no fire.

that was deep ...appreciate your time and insight portmaster

I guess Portmaster just made my case. There's some wisdom and experience there that is worth listening to.

I will only add this. I am not insinuating that you or your friend are doing anything dishonest with each other. It might very well be totally true that you are both shooting totally straight with each other. The problem is that you are talking about a situation where any number of things could go wrong that would be outside the control of either of you, leading to hard feelings.

If you're close friends, and value your friendship, staying away from this deal is a very good way to preserve the friendship.

In all likelihood, I've lived a number of years more than you. In those many years I have learned that good friends are priceless and not very easy to find. Friendship is something worth preserving at most any cost.