Lugging at speed/No power at WOT

I'm in southern Indiana. No exactly "close", but depending on what part of GA we're talking, might not be too bad.

IIRC it was Douglasville just out side Atlanta
He is on the other site and will get a link to the guy.
Here is the link started by the guy that has the motor
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1608865-4-speed-trans-sale-value.html
You will need to be a member there but cant PM anyone till you have I think it is over 10 posts so after you reach him may have to do emails as prices cant be talked about for selling.
Good luck
Dave ----

He has a transmission but no motor for sale? That's how I read that.

Bummer :(

I would like to be wrong on the price.  And perhaps I said it incorrectly.  But I don't think you can have the machine work done and buy the parts for less than $2K.  So, if you can find a long-block for that or less you are much better off going that way.  

Just over 1100 for the long block + $300 core at rockauto.

$1900 or so at Summit. Yikes!

Neither had short blocks listed. I haven't looked elsewhere yet.

My thought was that in terms of machine work, I'd mainly be looking at getting cylinders bored/honed since I doubt that my only issue is the rings themselves (unless it's something silly like ring gaps lining up). My oil pressure is good, so my suspicion/hope is that the crank & cam fine for reuse, in terms of the bearing journals being good. I'll need to get a proper micrometer set and the like (telescoping gauges, etc.) to confirm such. I've done machining work before and rebuilt things... If this were a "need it fixed now" situation, fine. It's not. Based on things I've seen, getting the block bored/honed should be <$500. Or if all I need to do is re-hone the cylinders, I got a drill, and hones are cheap. Heck, maybe I get it hot tanked too (coolant passages are full of rust!). Depending on how much needs to be taken off, if any, I could reuse the pistons, just replacing the rings and rod/crank bearings (re-ring kit, RA has for $60-$200 depending on how fancy I wanted to get). All the gaskets are toast, so add a gasket kit ($30-$50). At this point we're not far off a long block if I need machining work done and such is at the high end (or above) my estimate.

I don't want to get caught into the budget killing disease known as "while I'm at it". I am on a somewhat tight budget, and I honestly don't see the truck being worth a $2000 crate motor. If it had an immaculate body or if I was hot rodding it, then things would be different. I'm not though, so I don't see the point in spending the money.

If that's the case then I would go find a junkyard motor for $300 and be done with it.

I agree with Angelo.

A) You're never going to get machine work done, and rebuild it yourself for less than the cost of a longblock.

B) Cut corners now and you WILL be pulling that engine long before it's due.

Have you scoped #1 cylinder?
What was your % on it?

If the bore is clean and the piston not melted or broken out at the grooves I'd be tempted to keep feeding it MMO or something and drive hard to get the rings unstuck.

Nothing to lose at this point.
Sign up for AAA so you get the tow home if it does go.

Already have AAA, but I don't like to admit that.

No %, I just modified another cheap compression tester to be able to feed compressed air into the cylinder at TDC. Too many bad reviews of cheap units, and I didn't feel like shelling out big $$$ on a "name brand" tester. Last check I did, about 125PSI or so on cylinder 1 compression wise...

I don't have a scope, so obviously I haven't scoped it. Will look into obtaining one...

You can get a cellphone endoscope on Amazon for well under $20.

% leak down is kinda the whole point of the test.
Otherwise it's not giving you any meaningful data.

I agree w/Angelo and Jim - either rebuild it completely or put a used engine in.  It isn't a good idea to rebuild part of it.

But, it will be less expensive to get a long block, and the odds of success are much higher.

If it was top end, there's a good case for putting a fresh head on it.

But if it's a cylinder...

I thought the main point was to figure out where the leakage is leaking at? If you failed a compression test, leakage is a given... the % is nice, but at the end of the day compression is what the system needs to function.

I'll look into such endoscopes... I remember them being $100+ tools. Times have changes, obviously. Edit- Found a USB one for $10... winner. Will pair nicely with one of my windows tablets.

The percent leakage helps you decide what to do.  Something like 20% leakage is poor, but not the end of the world.  Big Blue's 460 had ~50% leakage on two cylinders, and all of the others were 20% and above.  And all were leaking past the rings, into the sump.  Toast.  The engine is badly worn.

In your case, with one cylinder leaking, maybe there's something with that one cylinder that can be changed.  Jim is suggesting that the rings may be stuck and if you run the right additive and work the engine hard they might free up.

I get that.

Cylinder #1 is the worst, but cylinder 4's compression wasn't much better (but isn't giving me black sooty plugs). Once I have the scope, I'll be able to see what's going on (scored cylinders, etc.). If it looks clean (no scoring or other signs of damage) I might try the "cylinder soak in B-12" routine. Hopefully I didn't mess it up by driving it like that so much. If I did, well, that's on me.

My reservation with a JY motor is I might be trading crap for crap. If I had a thrown rod or something condemning my current engine, OK. Since I don't, I feel like I'm not gaining anything for my effort. Why replace a tired engine with another likely tired engine? In that case I probably would be looking a short block (if I can find one) or a long block; I'm not going to go to the effort to swap if I don't know what I'm putting in is any better than what I have.

ratdude74 wrote

...Why replace a tired engine with another likely tired engine? In that case I probably would be looking a short block (if I can find one) or a long block;

Because, if the engine had done something like thrown a rod, you could be driving for years for $300.
Yeah, unless you know the yard you're taking chances, but most places will offer replacement if it doesn't work.

Ask Gary. He bought his D60 front end from a guy that does nothing but part out running trucks.
If the vehicle was hit & totaled, it was driving when it died.

Of all the engines, a Ford I-6 is the last one I'd try to swap an old head into.
They're known for warping, and getting fire grooves.

My point was more "If I'm going to pull the motor, I'd be better off saving up for a long block and driving it as is until then"... Unless I knew the used motor was in good shape, I don't stand much to gain here. Replacment policies are nice, except I still have to horse around with pulling and re-installing the engine... and return shipping/driving out. The nearest JY has good selection, but I haven't been there in years and my experiences there were not great (I was a noob back then though). My two favorites (Pull-a-part in Louisville and the ISA yard next door) don't have a lot of bullnoses usually... last time I was there, the only period correct 300's I saw were parted out. Not to say they don't have one now. But since they pull the batteries and slash the tanks, no way to easily test for good compression or runability.

Noted on the short block situation. Might explain why I'm mostly only finding long blocks (did find somebody selling short blocks, but it nickle and dimes to the cost of a long block )

Finally got the scope and the time to play with it.

pictures not 100% clear, but I do see scoring?





Thoughts?

I'm not entirely sure of what I'm looking at.

If I see a ridge and no scoring I'd load it with high detergent diesel oil or ATF and drive it like I stole it, trying to get the rings to free up.

But that's just me...

I agree with Jim.  I don't know that I see any scoring.  Yes, there's a ridge, but nothing serious that I see.  So I'd do as he suggested - beat on it with a heavy duty detergent and probably a quart of ATF.  What do you have to lose?

Not much to lose.

Put in a quart of MMO...cheaper than ATF and made for this purpose. Was considering B12, but that's probably too aggressive/volatile.

Here goes nothing.