So, some of you may recall I had planned to sell the wagon, but a combination of wrong time of year (winter in CO isn't prime-time to sell a RWD wagon) and my wife's indecision ("sell it"... "keep it") means that I missed my window of opportunity; that is to say, I've now got both a mystery coolant leak and need to put a half-quart of oil in it about once a month (yes, my driveway is a stained mess).
Thought about just replacing the oil pan, as I know part of the leak is attributed to a stripped plug (already oversized) from the previous owner -- that and seal. However, just looked in the Chilton's manual and realized that isn't a simple job -- fuel lines, wiper motor(?), engine mounts, etc.
So, thinking if I'm gonna go thru all that hassle, maybe a refresh is in order. This motor still runs great (however underpowered) -- just flipped to 120K miles. I suppose my ideal would be to just rebuild this one and maybe stroke it while I'm at it, but since we're a two-car family, I'd rather keep the downtime to a minimum -- find a donor to rebuild on a stand and then swap.
I realize there are a bunch of threads here: HO, Explorer, Mustang, Mark VII, etc. but it seems each has its own "special needs". I'm looking to make this as simple as possible. One (annoying) caveat -- in Colorado you cannot use a "truck" motor in a "car" which rules out the Explorer option and I think all of the 351 swaps (unless there was an EFI 5.8 offered in a car that I'm not aware of?).
Any advice? This would be my first engine swap, but I'm not afraid of tackling something new... just want to keep it as easy and cheap as possible to get a few more good years out of this old wagon.
Thought about just replacing the oil pan, as I know part of the leak is attributed to a stripped plug (already oversized) from the previous owner -- that and seal. However, just looked in the Chilton's manual and realized that isn't a simple job -- fuel lines, wiper motor(?), engine mounts, etc.
So, thinking if I'm gonna go thru all that hassle, maybe a refresh is in order. This motor still runs great (however underpowered) -- just flipped to 120K miles. I suppose my ideal would be to just rebuild this one and maybe stroke it while I'm at it, but since we're a two-car family, I'd rather keep the downtime to a minimum -- find a donor to rebuild on a stand and then swap.
I realize there are a bunch of threads here: HO, Explorer, Mustang, Mark VII, etc. but it seems each has its own "special needs". I'm looking to make this as simple as possible. One (annoying) caveat -- in Colorado you cannot use a "truck" motor in a "car" which rules out the Explorer option and I think all of the 351 swaps (unless there was an EFI 5.8 offered in a car that I'm not aware of?).
Any advice? This would be my first engine swap, but I'm not afraid of tackling something new... just want to keep it as easy and cheap as possible to get a few more good years out of this old wagon.
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