I am attempting (well doing) my 1st rebuild. A couple of weeks ago I found that my oil no longer looked like oil but a chocolate milkshake. I looked for a new 3.0 v6 to no success for anything affordable. After much deliberation I came to the conclusion that it was time for me to MAN-UP and rebuild a motor. I have the engine out and beginning to tearing it down. No major issues at the point but I am deeper than I ever have been into an engine. Should be educational!! Any pointers or suggestion would be greatly appreciated!

 

good luck man!!!

 

Does anyone have an opinion about using the same head bolts or should I get new ones?

 

New ones are what most recommend. ARP? I am doing the same to mine when I hit land.

 

hell i have a 3.0 out of an 88 that i just sold

 

Found the problem: Blown head gasket!!

 

Disassembly is complete. Will be cleaning, getting the heads resurfaced, and the radiator rebuilt this week. I need to get a rebuild kit. Does anyone out there have a suggestion on where to get a rebuild kit? I found one a BAP Imports for $535 but that seems a little high. The kit has a full gasket sets, head bolts, cylinders, rings and oil pump. I was planning on using the original cylinders and just replacing the rings. Piece mealing everthing is still going to cost me close to $400. Any thoughts, suggestions, or recommendations are welcomed.

 

I have had a lot of people reccomend enginebuilder.com, or rock auto. I am going to strip one, maybe both) of my 3.0 engines and take the heads, block, rods and pistons into a local machine shop to have them cleaned, and checked, and the heads rebuilt. enginebuilder said to let him know how much bore is required on the block, to size pistons and rings, and how much grind is required on the crank, and he will put together a complete rebuild kit for around 600 buckeroos. I will let the machine shop handle removing/re-installing the pistons from the rods, and they will check the rods. So far my estimate is running like this:
Block and head cleaning $60, block bore $80, crank grind $80, Piston removal/ reinstall $60, heads rebuilt with O/S exhaust valves $300
So, so far on paper, I am looking at around $1200, and I still have to put everything together! Long block is looking real good at this point.

 

Interesting!! I was beginning to search for a short block. I am thinking that may be my best option at the this point. I will have weigh my options after talking to a machine shop.