possible engine rebuild, what do you think?
 

ok, so here's the deal, my buddy brady gave me this engine that he had lying around his backyard (he blew the head on it). i have never done an engine rebuild before, so i thought this might be a good place to learn and maybe build a engine to spec for ST class in autox (since my engine is closing in on 140K miles, so this engine will get SOHC pistons and 240/248 cams, dirt cheap frankenstein rebuild ;)). this engine has a lot of rust, so the question is do you think it is worth a rebuild?

questions 2: he said it was a "high compression" engine, which i assume means it has SOHC pistons, although he couldn't tell me for sure, so when i pull the pistons out how can i tell if they are from a SOHC or DOHC engine?

p.s. since this is my first rebuild any little tips or pieces of advice you guys have to give are greatly appreciated.

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Holy **** no bro.. that thing is weather beaten X100

Im all about keeping it simple, but you can stumble over another KA in better shape than that bro.

sand blast it you will be fine.

meh im well aware of sand blasting..but it looks like that thing just sat in the rain un covered for a while.

haha, actually ya it did, i wish he would have taken better care of it, but he didn't. anyway any idea on how much it would cost to blast/clean enough for it to be usable again?

dismantle it... and take it to a machine shop... they will tell you ... rates are different all over the nation

so has anyone ever done the SOHC piston swap? just wondering if it is worth a whole engine build, or should i just put some 240/248 cams in my existing motor can be done with it.

I've done the swap a few times. You will want to use the 1990 SOHC pistons. Its easier to keep th eengine on 89 and 91 octanes. CR is roughly 10.3:1 if you don't mill the head and use an OEM gasket.

well i thought i could use the SOHC pistons in my SCCA autox class (ST) but it turns out i can't, so it looks like just the 240/248 cam swap for me.

one questions about the 240/248 swap though. will it need a re-tune to run like the n60 maf? or is it a direct "plug and play"?

This is exactly why I hate SCCA, to many rules.

What the scca should do is regulate engines by injector cc , engine class (4,6 or 8 cylinders), chassis weight, and whether or not it is SOHC or DOHC like they do in brazil.

yea scca does have some crazy rules..

OP just go to EM class. It is not many people there and you can do what you want for the most part.

yes i agree NASAX is better than SCCA autox, but unfortunately we don't have NASAX here in AZ :( so i'll take what i can get.

haha, while that would be fun, i would NEVER be competitive in that class. also personally i like most of the rules in ST class, it makes the playing field even for us "poor car engineers", so it keeps me from spending more money than i should on my car ;)