Rebuild or move on?

[mmathews]

I am trying to get some opinions on what to do about my current situation. I have an 89 RRC with approx. 200k on the clock. I am the second owner and I have owned it for about 3 or 4 years. The vehicle is rust free, but has several parking lot dings and the rain gutters and roof got bent a little when I drove under our carport with my bike on top. The seats are rough. I put a transmission and Lt230 in it when I bought it and they probably have around 100k on them. It has a new battery, radiator and heater core.

The problem is that it needs a head gasket. I can smell coolant on start up from the exhaust. It will sometimes misfire for a minute then it clears up. The intake gasket is leaking, which I fixed for 6 mo. by tightening the bolts. It also uses a quart of oil every 1000 miles. I have a set of rebuilt heads with about 10 k on them and I have a 4.0 block and heads with supposedly less than 100k on them. The 4.0 does not appear to have steam cleaned pistons, but there is a fair amount of oil sludge in the valley and heads.

What should I do? Part it out, sell it or rebuild it? I am sure that some of you have been in this situation before. I like driving RRC's and I have been driving one for the last ten or so years.

Thanks Mark

 

[singingcamel]

All depends on how much you like it.

 

[landrovered]

Give it to me!

 

[mmathews]

The three options that I am looking at are
1. Get rid of it and clean out all the parts that I have.
2. Put my rebuilt heads on my 200k bottom end.
2. Go through the 4.0 block and drop in a refreshed engine.

 

[landrovered]

Refreshed engine. I just did a valve job on my 206K mile block and it is good but at some point I am going to have to do the bottom end. If you already have the bottom end then there is no reason not to do it now.

 

[mmathews]

Thanks.

I need to get the cost for parts together. I am assuming I will do rings, bearings, timing chain and cam.

 

[az_max]

Sell it to Chad, he's looking for a clean 89.

 

[mmathews]

It looks like I will have around $800.00 in parts. The 4.0 bottom end that I had in my collection does not have a ridge at the top of the cylinders, but on several of them there are vertical score marks on the outer portion of the cylinder. Nothing real bad, but I can feel them with my finger nail. My next step is to take it to a machine shop and get their opinion. I am not willing to spend the money on new pistons. Are these score marks common?

 

[Gordo]

Are you sure it isnt just the valley pan gasket that went bad? If it ran good prior to the coolant problem, I'd consider just putting a gasket kit and the the new heads on it. 200k is alot but if its beat up, I wouldnt want to sink 1k into it, you can buy another RRC for that in similar condition and save yourself some grief. Gordo

 

[jeffro0502]

1k is nothing if you'll have a good rig you know when you get finished...if you drive it another 3 years or so that 1k was well worth it. It will probably last longer than 3 years with the rebuild.

 

[mmathews]

Update

So I have parked the 89 and I will probably just part it out and scrap the rest. Got another 30k miles out of it.

I bought a 95RRC and a 91RRC over the winter and I am trying to get them up and reliable.

 

[rover4x4]

haha shoulda just kept the 89 alive

 

[gl4x4]

GM 6.0L V8, GM tranny.

new seats

back in business. better power and fuel economy.atriot:

 

[jymmiejamz]

I'd fix it if it is truly rust free.

 

[mmathews]

The interior is shot and the roof has some dents. The doors have multiple door dings. It would make a solid starting point as a trail rig for someone. My two new to me trucks are requiring some work because they had been sitting a while. The 95 only has 45k on it. The 91 is around 120k.