'70 L24 : Rebuild or replace?

[erikgiles]

I own a 70z (6/70 manufacture date) in very good shape, except the engine uses alot of oil. High miles, but the odometer is not actual.

I am weighing the pros and cons of rebuilding this engine, or replacing it with a Jasper remanufactured engine.

I'm interested in all your opinions! I lean towards the Jasper option because of the 36 month, 72 K mile warranty.

Thanks,

Erik:confused:

[2ManyZs]

I guess there are points for and against a re-build.

Are you concerned about keeping the car original? Is the engine the original numbers matching engine?? If the answer is no to either question the next logical thing to do is find out what is wrong with the one you have now before making any plans.

Oil consumption is most likely worn rings. However, there could be other problems associated with it such as cylinder bore wear and/or scratches.

Perhaps the best thing I could say is do a compression check and/or leakdown test to determine how bad the engine really is. It could be you could get away with nothing more than a cylinder honing, new rings and bearings and a gasket set. In this case you might only pay half of the price for the reman (or less). Or it could also mean the engine is so far gone a reman engine is the best alternative.

If it is not the original engine then the points I made are moot, if they will give you a decent core price for what you have, get the reman with the warranty and get back on the road.

[jcdozier]

High miles. Burns oil. Sorry, but IMHO that isn't much to go on for a vote, much less a recommendation for spending big bucks. I agree with 2ManyZs and suggest you do a little "investigative" work before you decide where to spend your money.

The questions about originality and about engine numbers are important to a lot of folks, including potential buyers down the road. Personally, I don't care about restoring my 240 to original condition - I'd rather make the occasional "improvement". However, I've stayed with the original engine only because it's an original numbers match (convoluted logic perhaps, but then I don't usually care what any one else thinks about what I do or why I do it).

High milage suggests 2ManyZs analysis is correct and you'll need to do some piston/rings/cylinder work. There is an outside chance the oil consumption is mostly due to worn valve seals - a thorough compression test (dry and wet) can give you an indication. Put some oil in the cylinders, and if the "wet" test is better than the dry test, you may be able to save some bucks by just doing the head work. (If I'm wrong here, I'm sure several other members will weigh in with corrections.)

JIM DOZIER