Worth Rebuilding high mile 3.8???

[97 30th RS]

I knew this would happen one day. I got a 97 RS with 103,000 miles and I am at the point of either rebuilding it or throwing in a new motor. I don't want to spend a whole lot rebuilding a 3.8 liter but I am not going to re-do the entire car for a V-8 {computer, shocks, cooling etc}. What do you guys think?. Any opinions would be appreciated.

[Die Ford V8]

103,000 miles is nothing on our engines. if you wanted to redo an engine I would buy one from a junkyard and build it up. then when your ready or your engine blows(whichever comes first) you wont have to wait to change the engine then rebuild it, then run into problems, then bla bla bla. just change it over a weekend with some buddies or however long it takes. much simpler and then later you can sell your old parts and get your junkyard money back.

by the way your engine has several thousand miles left. 137,000 is what I have and I run a 15.3 1/4 and get 32+ mpg on the highway, i want to do what I said above though with forged internals and p&p everything then install it and wait for tiagos turbo. by then tiago might have found things cheaper or have perfected things more than before.

[snatch]

The way I see it you may be able to get a used, fairly low mileage motor but you wont know how well its been taken care of until you install it.
If your willing to spend $227.18 for forged GTP rods, pistons are up to you, you could go the budget route and get some GTP ones from partszoneonline.com or some more expensive ones from intense, I may know someone who might be able to get you some forged coated weisco's for around $700, you could keep your cam, heads and intakes stock and buy all new gaskets and bearings and pay for machine work and installation, and have a ready to go forced induction, reliable motor for a fairly cheap price.
We really need a ball park price that your willing to spend to set up a better plan, but thats just a thought!
Shane

[Coriya71]

I bought my 2000 3.8l w/ 24k and put it in my '95 for $430. Can't beat that.

[97 30th RS]

I would like to find a complete GTP long block and throw that in. T/A performance makes a 4.5 liter stroker crank that fits the block with little notching. I saw that in Popular Hot Rodding. I think it is around 400 bux. The funny thing is the motor still feels like it would take more speed parts thrown at it, especially after I tuned it up with new plugs, msd wires, fuel fliter, and some fuel system cleaner.

[Timbo1969]

Just rebuild the current block using L-32 rods and forged pistons. Have everything cryo treated, line polished and shot peened. At that point your bottom end would be able to handle a lot of horsepower, probably more than the V6 is capable of producing at this juncture.