for those that don't know, I got an engine for the bird. It had low compression on 4 cylinders, the middle two on each side. I planned to pull it apart and take it to the machine shop to have it done... they told me 350 minimum.
Well after my wife and I tore it apart today, I'm wondering if I should bother bringing it in to have it done. Its SUPER clean. NO sludge, barely any carbon on the piston tops and combustion chambers, all the oil passages are perfectly clear, all the water passages are clean, theres barely any ridge at the top of the cylinders (we took the pistons out without a ridge reamer and had NO difficulty at all), the gaskets all looked new. the bearings were still decent looking (even though I'm still going to replace them) there was a visible mark in the bottom of the lifter from contact with the cam, but not deep enough to be able to feel it yet. and there are still cross hatch marks in the bottom of the cylinders.
So I'm wondering, should I bother bringing it in? or should I just make sure the deck is flat, and run a hone down the bores?

 

What was the problem? Sounds like to blown head gaskets. If so it was ran hot. Have the heads worked. Have the block cleaned, decks milled, and new can bearings installed at the least.

 

theres no problem.... I was just wondering if its important to have the machine shop clean the engine or if i could save some money doing it myself. If it were a typical pull out loaded up with gunk and carbon, I'd have it tanked, but I was wondering if I actually needed to do that

 

Every time I've tried to save a few bucks rebuilding an engine it's come back to bite me. It's a lot of work and a lot of time. At least have a shop check it out (heads too).

 

thanks guys :]

 

I took everyones advice and had the engine professionally checked out. The damage : the crank needs to be turned, the heads are not worth saving, and the only thing they are going to do to the block is change the cam bearings :] I can deal with that :]
They also pointed out something I didn't notice... the pistons are .60 over :P

 

Money well spent, right?

 

It's always best to spend a little now, to save a big headache later. Sounds like you are off to a good start.

 

it WOULD have been money well spent if I didn't know the guys personally :] There was no charge for checking it out :]

 

If you can't afford to do it right the first time, you sure can't afford to do it a second time. Have it power-honed.