[cajunfj40]

Hello oil_pan_4 and ksa8907,

oil_pan_4 - that's one of the anecdote flavors I keep seeing. I see "I hand-sanded it, and it did OK/blew up!", "I didn't touch the bores, and it did OK/blew up!", "I ran a dingle-ball hone through it, and it did OK/blew up!" and "I had it professionally rebuilt, and it did OK/blew up!".

No idea how much taper or wear I'll find. This is all study in advance. If the bores are bad, it's moot anyway as I need to get a different donor engine to start with.

As for glazing, the article agrees on that point - glazing occurs when there's something to bake onto the surface getting glazed. Most cylinder walls don't get glazed, though. How would a glaze stay put with piston rings scraping back and forth across it? Unless, of course, the engine in question had a serious oil consumption/blow-by problem.

ksa8907 - Not exactly the answer I'm looking for, no, but it is a worthwhile comment.

Up here in the land of truck-eating road salt, it's hard to say how long this vehicle will last. Rust has a foothold in the rears of the rocker panels, the rears of the front fenderwells, and the upper arches of the rear wheelwells, plus the bottoms of the rear doors and hatch. It can be cosmetically treated and probably won't be a major issue for 2-5 years. If the off-roading I want to do happens, more than likely there'll be big dents in it anyway!

My goal is an engine that runs decently - as well or better than current - doesn't leak everywhere (like both do now), doesn't use coolant (like current engine does), and doesn't burn any more oil than the current one does now. Basically, I want this "weekend warrior trail rig" to be a reliable daily driver, but it is *not* worth putting an $1800 re-manufactured long block in it. It also should run well enough that if, by the time I get it back together and drive it a while, I absolutely *hate* it, I can sell it on for a reasonable price and not feel like I'm screwing someone over.

Once I have the engine stripped down to a bare short-block, it's only $30 more in parts to re-ring it vs. just putting it back together with new gaskets and any required replacement parts. If I send the block out for machining, I'd pretty much be committed to a full rebuild, with new oversize pistons, etc. Pretty quickly the price is close to a reman long block.

So, assuming the bores don't look terrible, I have these options, in ascending complexity/difficulty:

1.) Leave the pistons and rings in the bores.
2.) Pull the pistons and rings, clean everything, and re-install the used rings/pistons where they used to be.
3.) Pull the pistons and rings, clean everything, install new rings. What 2 turns into if I break, bend or lose a ring. Plus, if the research is good, this may be the best for engine oil usage and
4.) Pull the pistons and rings, hone the bores with a "flex hone", clean everything, install new rings.
5.) Find bad bores, start over with different used engine.

I'm really interested in finding those SAE papers for option 3. Realistically, I'm more likely to do 1 on the theory that it if it ain't broke, don't mess with it, but if I do get it all the way apart, I'd like to pick the "best" inexpensive option.

This is mostly research - I found a shiny, and I want to see if it is valuable or just neat.