hi guys. I need your help. I have a 95 ford mustang 3.8 v6. recently i got a little crazy by taking the whole engine out to replace the oil pan gasket. well, in the process i decided to go a little further. the case is i ended up taking the heads off and the intake as well leaving it down to just the block. I noticed that it has a lot of carbon build up inside the combustion chamber. my question to you guys is what do you suggest? rebuild or get another engine?
I was able to locate an engine for $400 by my area. 51k miles, from a 98 mustang, and with a 101 days warranty. im skepticle (sp) about it. what if it comes defective? the other path is to rebuild the one I already have. I dnt want go with anything performance since I want to get rid of it as soon as it is running. the engine has about 130k and I felt it did not have the power it should have when running properly. its not the original engine either. it was replace a coulpe of thousand miles ago. did not turn out a good engine.
I dnt want to replace anything as far as piston rings, bearings, valves, etc... I just want to replace the gaskets and get it running again. should I do a total rebuild? is it worthed?
I got the car for $2500 and im sure im probably will be getting the same when sold even with a rebuilt engine.
Stock '00
2200 cavy
sedan!!!!
i'd be swapping in a 4.6 dohc
LE61T PTE6262 Powered 
I would replace the rings and bearings.... thats the only way its going to run any better than it did in the first place. And @!#$, you already have it apart....
well, if it WAS running fine you shouldn'tof pulled it apart
you can do the oil pan just by raising the motor 1 foot out of the bay. mabey less I would have to see. I am used to dealing with v8's in those.
carbon biuldup in motors is normal. if it WAS running and not burning oil and had compression you REALLY should of just left it alone. spending money(which this will eventually cost you) to fix what is not broke is never the awnser
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
Those so naive, so hard headed, so narcissistic, that think that buy their own efforts can single handedly change the world, are always the ones that do.
If I was pulling a V-6 out of a car, only reason would be.. I'm putting a V-8 back in it.
Throw in a 4.6 with a 5 speed and you will fall in love with the car all over again.
1983 Camaro Z28
wow! great ideas there. like NUTCASE says i should have left it alone but its too late to regret it. Im gona go to the yards soon to see if I can find a 5.0. if I can get it cheap then that is going in. 5.0s were still around in 95 so its ALMOST a drop in. theres a lot of things that need to be changed when swaping a 5.0. I would need a new cluster, exhaust, wiring harness, maybe a new rear end. i would love to swap a 5.0 in there. right now I have $600 in my pocket for this car plus maybe another $400 coming in sometime within the next two weeks.
Agrrrrrrrr! what to do!!! Im gonna have to do some homework around mustang forums. Thanks for your replies guys, I will keep you updated!
Stock '00
2200 cavy
sedan!!!!
get on www.buckeyestangs.com contact sorscode. He is a good friend of mine, and has a 95 mustang v6 car. It now has a 5.0 with a pair of afr heads and a big cam in it. its not slow
He did the swap and can help with a lot of it, maybe even get you a lot of the parts too
Because you have take the motor appart it's going to be hard to diagnois what, if anything was holding the engine back. The large amount of carbon build up is more then likely a result of the famous Ford EGR system. If you do reassemble this emgine and it had low compression or cylinder wash then you will only have to replace it agian. My vote is, depending on your automotive knowlege, is a total rebuild or remanufactured engine.
ASE Certified Techician
DaimlerChrysler Certified Techician
Va Safety Inspector
Member Option D Racing
