So tonight I was talking to my cousin about getting my engine rebuilt and he says I dont need a rebuild. He thinks I should just get a new carb/intake and exhaust and get new rear end gears and stuff, and save my money. He either thinks that or that I should just swap in an engine/transmission from a newer mustang. What do you guys think? how do I know if I need a rebuild?

At the moment, the engine runs, but is really hard to start. I have to continue giving it gas for a few min till it warms up, and even then, it doesnt run very well. It has like 120000 miles and has never been rebuilt. Should I just have it rebuilt now so I dont run in to problems down the road?

 

My engine was rebuilt at around 113,000 miles. Only reason the owner did was because the engine blew. I would do what your cousin said.

 

Well, eventually I would like to have 1/4 mile times in the 13's so I dont want to waste money on stuff for more power and then have it turn out that I can only get down to like 15 or something after changing the gears and everything and then having to re-do the whole engine.

 

Well the engine rebuildand borethey did on my engine costed the owner 2500. This is an I6. So i really dont know how much a V8 rebuild would be. May be around the same price or may be higher.

 

Run a compression test, see how well the rings are sealing. If it has good compression and no knocking, I'd work with what you've got. With gears, suspension,exhaust, cam, heads, and intake, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to put it down the quarter in less than 14 seconds. Eventually you'd still need to rebuild it, but you can transfer most of the add-ons to the new engine when you do.

 

I do need to do a compression test. There is a tick, and I dont know what it is from. Not sure if that is a big deal or not tho... I would prolly get 3.73 or so gears, have my C4 rebuilt with a shift kit, flowmaster exhaust with hooker headers, and a decent edelbrock carb and intake. If I were to do that and then have my heads ported and polished and then matched with a cam, what kind of HP would I be getting, and what kind of 1/4 mile times?

Would I have to worry about reliability since the engine has so many miles and I am upgrading it?

 

is the engine you have now smokey or rattly? Have you tested compression?
if it is original it will certainly be getting tired, but not necesarily worn out yet.

how is your budget and what state is the rest of the car (suspension, brakes, steering)??

if you want to build a fast car, the engine should be the last thing after all the other stuff is finished. doesnt always happen that way of course

So, if it were me, i'd check the health of the existing engine. If ok, do as your cousin suggests and put lower gearing in the rear with a second hand manifold and 4bbl carb. PlanB with the later model engine is a good one too if the current engine is very tired. Save your original engine for later (rebuild or keep for originality).

 

I have about 3 grand. I will be sure that my brakes and everything are up to par before driving it. I think that when I do the engine I can convince my parents to pay for front discs and some other safety stuff. My mom is pretty concerned about safety so she said she would pay for that stuff if I couldnt afford it. So basically, I just need to do the engine. How can I know the "health of my engine" besides compression testing it?

 

does it burn or leak oil? if its not using oil and the compression is ok, just put a decent carb/intake on there, better exhaust, do the petronix ignition upgrade, and maybe even a mild cam that will work with your stock springs (would cure that ticking lifter)

 

It does leak oil, but it doesnt seem like its something to be concerned with. It is only a few drops every once and a while. There is a coolant leak somewhere because I keep finding green liquid under the car and in crevasses by the water pump, not sure if that is something to be concerned about, but again, it is not a big leak.

Maybe ill just have my cousin test the compression (what should the compression be?) and see if he can get it running a little better (he is really good with cars) and if that works out, ill just throw parts at it and drive it till i have lots of money or something goes wrong...

Is there anyone that thinks that is a bad idea?