Originally Posted by
garrycol
Ok - my points - no I do not have an engine but to do a rebuild properly without all the right gear and tools but can be a bit tedious and frustrating with certain specialist bits having to be contracted out. Rebuilding an engine can be a bit masochistic - tedious and frustrating but immensly satisfying in the end.
I appreciate you want an engine to practice on - that also implies making mistakes and possibly wrecking the engine in a worst case scenario or creating a masterpiece at the other end - and all in between.
Many dead 3.9s will be dead because of slipped liners - you need to learn all about this before you start. There are three remedies - refit standard liners (not good), use top hat liners to stop them moving in the future (can be expensive) or using a pin to hold the liner in place - most engineering places are not keen on this but some will do it - less expensive. Even if the engine does not have slipped liner you need to consider what you will do with the liners.
Most 3.9s have the lower compression ratio - do you want to stay with this or go higher with improved performance. What about pistons etc.
My original post in a round about way simply raised a couple of issues that you will have to decide on before you start the rebuild or about the time the heads are off - you obviously did not know about these.
Good luck with it.
Garry