Hi all, I need some help deciding if a 96 F250 4X4 super duty extended cab with long box is worth fixing.

The story is, a friend of my wifes owned the truck. My son saw it parked and asked my wife to ask the friend. The friend advised the truck had overheated and does not run. He believed the 460 motor had been rebuilt and board 20 over. He was driving it home one day and it overheated, he turned it off and towed it back to town. Long story short, he gave the truck to my son as is.

Ok fast forward to today, a friend of mine helped me out and took the truck to his shop. He pulled the motor and transmission. After pulling the heads off he found the valve seat had come loss, cracking the valve and creating all kinds of hell. All the cylinders had water in them and are now rusted, the motor is seized and to top it off the transmission appears to be seized also.

I found a 460 motor out of a 92 Ford van that according to the owner only had 52K on the motor. The transmission in the van is not a 4X4 so it sounds like its a no go to pull that trans. The motor runs well and sounds good.

Overall the 96 has a crap paint job on it (good from far, far from good), it has a few bondo spots, a dint on the hood and tailgate. The inside has cigaret burns in the carpet and drivers seat, normal wear from use again not great but usable. The odometer reads 150+K but unk if that is correct.

So from this small amount of info is it worth putting the money into this truck. The friend said he believed to do it correctly would cost around 5K.

 

I have a hard time believing that the transmission seized up at the same time as the engine did, unless there was damage done by the engine.

It sounds like quite a project. Bored 20 over might be the deciding factor. There isn't as much metal left as there would otherwise be if it needs to be bored due to the water and rust. That also could lead to more overheating issues if not done properly. Also, keep in mind that it must have had a hard life to need to be torn down, overbored, put back together, then overheated again. What has the rest of the driveline and chassis been through at the same time? The loose valve seat speaks to possibly bad machine work done, and that head is probably toast. I'd be amazed if the piston hasn't been damaged as well.

If you can get a good 460 that will bolt in place and run well, I think that's your best bet. Up to you and your friend to get any differences sorted out between the van engine and the pickup wiring/hoses/PCM/etc. We can help out to a degree, but can only do so much from our keyboards on the other side of the Internet. Like I was saying above, it would be really strange to seize a transmission, so maybe the one you have is still good.

Overall, is it worth it? Some would say yes. Some would say no. Some would say yes first then say no after they get into it. This is a bit of a judgement call. If it were me and if I were looking for a cool project to spend $15,000.00+ on, this might be cool, especially with 4WD and a big block. Will your son prefer to wait a year while all of these things (including the things you don't know about) are sorted out? . . . or would he be just as happy with a well-loved late-`90s or early `00s F-150 for a similar price that actually runs today and doesn't need all of this (plus unknowns) work? . . . for similar money or less?

 

Young guys usually do well with a Vehicle like front wheel drive and 40 MPG. Just a thought for wise choice and a the young man. Store the truck for later?
A lot of a wise decision comes with the age of the kid. The younger the less he is going to do well with a 4x4 truck. If married - early 20's with a child forget about it.