Engine Rebuild or New Crate Engine?

March 8, 2007 – 7:34 pm

I am thinking about doing some engine work to my 1967 mustang. Like I mentioned, it has the original 289, but it could use some spicing up. It is a matching numbers engine, with 93k original miles on it now.

I am torn; should I yank out that engine and drop in a fresh 302, or rebuild that engine with newer mods, like manifold, carb, rockers ect. What is your opinion? Stick with the matching numbers engine, or drop in something fresh? Note: this car isnt a race car, but a weekend/summer driver.

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3 Responses to “Engine Rebuild or New Crate Engine?”
The best course of action would be to keep the stock engine stock. If all your numbers match, the value of the car is going to increase; you probably know that. What you should do is pull the stock engine and store it. Drop in a crate engine to tinker with. If you ever decide to sell it, put the old engine back in.

By Iain on Mar 16, 2007
Hello! Let me first say I’m a fan of your site. The pictures are fantastic, lots of work put into this site. I say go with the new engine. Do you really want to prolong the chance of more problems down the road? I recently wrestled with the same question for my 1963 Impala. I went with a complete 385 fast burn engine build with all new performance parts. I took things a step further and had everything done in chrome. The only thing I kept was the core wich was machined and repainted orange. I should pick it up this Friday. I had a hard time deciding which rims to put on it, but after frequent visits to your sites galleries I decided on the Torq-thrust 2’s. Your pictures sold me on those lol. Thanks again for the great site, I’ll be back.

By superflywebpimp on Mar 21, 2007
I decided to go ahead and do a fresh rebuild on the original 289, but rebuilding it with a new carb, manifold, cam, roller rockers and maybe bore it out a little.

Other than these changes, what are some other things that I could do to make this engine a better daily driver with a little more power? Ideas?

By Evan on Mar 21, 2007