Newbie ? of value re engines

[1just4don]

You guys have me all pumped up for trestoring and fixing my grandpa's brand new 50 Dodge as a daily driver. I am NOT doing it for resale,BUT dont want to shoot myself in the foot for the future values either(my kids dont want this 'stuff').

I have a different motor(possible donor block) instead of boring and sleeving the old one where the piston wrist pin damaged same( Bad news-5 miles on new overhaul) (Good news,,,it was the previous owners prob). Does using one block over the other make this car more or less valuable to any future owner??

I will go out right now and find the block number on the donor. The car and its original motor block is too far from home for same info.

AND how did you guys get such good looking paint on those rides?? What kind of dollar figure would one expect to pay(for the paint part) ,,,not the body work IF needed. I am sure it has the faded surface rusty parts common for hood and trunk etc. Its been in a garage for the last 20 years but sat outsioide previously(previous owner) TIA --d--

[Don Coatney]

Don;

Engines in these cars were frequently swapped out when they were over 50,000 miles. If you are building a show car and looking for maximum points there may be a point deduction for something other than the original engine. Your car came from the factory with a 230 CI engine with an 8 bolt flange on the rear end of the crankshaft. If you install a replacement engine it must have the 8 bolt flange in order to use the original fluid drive. A Plymouth engine with a 4 bolt flange will not work. A Crashler or Desoto big block flathead six will work but the instillation is not a direct bolt in.

If you buy a replacement engine how do you know what condition it is in. You mention low miles on an "overhaul" (I never really understood the term overhaul) but what exactly was done on this "overhaul"? You might be best to spend the bucks to rebuild your original engine. Then you will know exactly what was done to it.

[1just4don]

I am sorry I spoke wrong. The overhauled motor is the 'original' motor for this car. Relative had it done on the cheap as a 'tech' school project for some kid and the wrist pin wasnt installed correctly(lasted 5 miles).

I do have a parts car parked here I thought I could get a decent block out of ,,,as long as its the same) and use that one on a complete rebuild. So the question remains,,,is this car worth MORE with the original motor bored and sleeved(and about what might that cost???) OR this other block completely rebuilt as the original one was!!??

Either way looking at a complete rebuild from bottom up to be SURE of what I might be able to drive. Do you guys have professional engine rebuilders do this OR do yall do it yourself??

[greg g]

If the internals are good in the engine in the car, and the engine out of the parts car is the same brand Dodge Vs Dodge swapping the bolcks will have no effect on value. Numbers matching is not a term usually associated with these old mopars. I have a 56 plymouth engine in my 46. Yes I get a deduction if and whenit is judged by the plymouth club folks cause it isn't factory. But if I had another p15 series engine it would be fine. Far as I am concerned, it is just fine the way it is. So if it a D24 block it will have no effect. Ultimately it is your car, build it theway you want it within the constraints you can afford. Many of the folks have done their own engine assembly, other have had the machine shop do it. I had my machine work done, then the machine shop built it to short block status. He went a little futher than I had asked for, I wanted the pistons crank, oil pump, and cam installed, he being a fan of old mopars did everthing but the head water pump, and excessories. He apoligized for forgetting my instructions, but as he said he was having fun screwing it back together and got carried away. So above and beyond the machining and parts fees, was the cost of a case of adult beverage.

[Guest Nile Limbaugh]

How badly is the bore scored? I had the same problem with my engine but the machine shop came up with a solution. By overboring about .040, which the engine needed anyway, and shifting the boring bar slightly off center the bore cleaned up just fine. It's now in my car and running like it should.

[Young Ed]

I'd want to check out that original engine a lot more. If it was already bored 30 over with new pistons etc then I would think you'd be much better off to spend the 100 on a sleeve for that one cylinder and continue using all the other new parts. It depends a lot on what was done to that first engine for the overhaul.

[Merle Coggins]

Ed's got a point. It'll probably run you around $100 to sleeve one cylinder, and you may need a new piston for that one too. It all depends on how severe the damage is. You'll have to completely disassemble it for the machining work, so you'd need a gasket kit. But if all the other parts are new, you could probably reassemble it and have it running again for only a few hundred bucks. It could be more than that for your other engine, depending on it's condition.

Merle

[martybose]

I was under the impression that back in the day pistons were available up to .080" over for our motors. When I disassembled the 230 that is now in my car, it turned out to be a worn out .060" overbore already. I couldn't find any .080" over pistons, so we found a metric ring set from a Toyota and had a set of pistons made to use them; I wound up about a .072" over. We bored and honed the block with a honing plate that we made, and all seems well.

Marty

[james curl]

Jim Terrell at Terrell Machine in De Leon, Tx told me that he had .090" pistons in stock. Whin I rebuilt my engine I wanted to use .060" pistons but he was out and his supplier was not going to be making anymore for a while so I used .040" pistons. He told my that most old MoPars could be bored .090 without any problems. I read somewhere that they could be bored .125" without going into the water jacket.

[bob westphal]

As far as machine work costs; I had my local machine shop do the machine work on athe '47 DeSoto. Boil block, bore to .060 over, install new cam bearings, grind crank, check & size rods, grind valves. Cost was $477. It cost another $150 to have the parts balanced.

Bob

[Guest jjmorrse]

I know that these old mopars dont bring a lot of money compared to some other makes. One of the reasons I like them. For an investment, it may be better to get a more popular make. Of course you couldn't give away station wagons in the 1980's and now they are becoming valuable. It may work well to mothball the original block for safekeeping and put miles on a sacrificial engine? Just a thought.