this past summer I took the motor out of my car and cleaned it up really good and repainted it.my son (8 years old) help out some and had fun with the project.I figured since he had so much fun with it that I would get him a motor and put it on my engine cradle and let him dissasemble the ext parts on the motor,clean it up and he can repaint the parts any color he wants and then reassemble everything.all said it really doesn't matter what size motor it is as long as its a chevy small block since that is what my engine cradle is set up for.the more complete the better,dist,pulley,water pump,brackets for whatever etc.......I am sure someone would have a junk motor laying around that would be great for an 8 year old to tear into.lmk what ya have.the further south in Mn the better.please have a cherry picker or hoist handy so the motor can be lifted and bolted to the engine cradle.