Used engines. When to put them to use and when to pass?
 

I've got a 22re with 150k miles. It sat for 3 or so years without being started. It has been sitting on an engine stand. We have just looked inside each piston's combustion chamber with a scope camera and you can see a little bit of rusty spots on a few cylinder walls. It's not dreadful but it doesn't look spectacular either. We poured oil into each cylinder through the spark plug holes, let it sit and then turned the engine over by hand. It didn't want to easily turn over at first but once I jolted all my weight on a breaker bar it freed up and then we could very smoothly and easily turn it over by hand. When you look in through the spark plug holes you can see orange rusty oil on the cylinder walls. How terrible is this? I am in need of an inexpensive motor. This is all about budget for me. I would love to use this motor if it would run. Do you think it would be reasonable to install this motor into a truck? I agree with you that a rebuild would be fantastic, but that is not an option for me because of circumstance - time and money. This is not a question of rebuilding or digging into the motor. It's a question of whether to pass on or put to use a used motor Should I give this motor a go or should I pass on it and find another?

I think it would be OK to use it just as long as the cylinder walls did not get heavily pitted, Since it's on an engine stand, I would at least pull the cylinder head, and inspect the cylinders. Good time to clean the tops of pistons, and clean up the iron oxides/rust on the cylinder walls. A head gasket kit is not that expensive for these engines.

Yes it's really not a bad idea. Could I lightly hone the cylinder walls with the pistons down as far as they'll go? Or would I be risking getting too much debri down into the rings? When you say head gasket kit do you mean just a head gasket and 8 new head bolts? I am actually going to slap a new timing chain on it as well.

No don't hone it like that.

Head gasket kit includes head gasket, lower and upper intake, exhaust, EGR, and etc. gaskets. It will include the secondary air injection gaskets too. Has new valve seals too if you want to do that.

If you are on a budget, just clean the bolts up real good, and clean the head bolt holes in the block. That way you get a good clamp.

Dont forget to chase the head bolts to make sure they are oil free. Ask me how I know. :pop: :pop: :pissed: