Ok i have a 1989 f250 that has a bad 351w. the motor that was in the truck was a reman from who knows where (and basically not useable). So i was wondering if it would be better to get another reman or purchase the 351 sportsman (the $1295 version) block from fordperformance and have a custom engine builder put one together from that? I'm not looking to do any stroker kits, gain huge amount of power, etc. I just want a good quality engine so that i can use this truck for a daily driver and weekend tow vechicle.

Thanks for your help

LR

 

If you're looking for more of a stock motor, I'd go with a good quality rebuild or maybe a crate motor. I think it would be a waste of money to spring for a Sportsman block and then do a stock build on it.

Why is the motor you have now not useable? A good machine shop should be able to rework the block, unless it's used up. Not worth sleeving, but 351W blocks aren't that hard to find if yours is junk.

 

this motor was a rebuild that went south after about 30,000 miles. Had a machine shop check it and its been done .060 over already.

I honestly hadn't thought about sleeving it. and it's never came up in conversation with the shop i had check the motor. right now i'm thinking a good quality rebuild maybe in order.

 

Well, if it's .060 over, then I agree. It's all used up. And as I said, there isn't really any justification for sleeving it. If it was a rare block or had a ton of expensive modifications done to it, then yes. But in your case, you could just find another stock block easily.

I'm wondering, what caused the motor to take a run for the border? What are the symptoms? Smoking, using oil? Excessive piston/cylinder wear? Or did it just lunch something all at once?

If you have a good machine shop in your area they could do a rebuild for you if you didn't want to tackle it yourself. I'd take everything to them and have them go through it all. Heads, crank, rods, should all be usable. Might want to upgrade the heads unless you've already got something decent like E7s. Cam and lifters could probably still be used if they were new when the motor was built, but if it's a stock cam this would be a good opportunity to upgrade that as well. You have Speed Density, so you have to stay with an SD friendly cam but you don't want to go wild anyway, so that shouldn't be a problem. You could look for a '90s 351W roller block and go roller while you're at it.

Timing set and oil pump are cheap, I'd go brand new on those and upgrade to a good true roller timing set and HV oil pump.

Anyway, there are a few things to think about. Later today I'm sure some the other guys here will chime in with some good ideas. There are lots of people who hang out in here who really know their stuff, I'll bet they could put together a good shopping list for you.

 

Well the motor had some help in going bad, from both me and my friend (a mechanic). He was trying to diagnose a knocking sound and when he tore the motor down he found out the cylinders were oversized and said a rebuild wasn't possible. Never did find out what caused the knocking sound though.

thanks for the help. this truck has been sitting for about a year. I'm still trying to talk myself into fixing it (or sinking that much money into it), because its going to be pretty expensive. there's more to it than the motor; brakes, fuel tanks, rusty frame, etc.

Thanks LR