If I was to rebuild an engine......

[Matt]

What direction should I go? I'm open to anything. I have a 289 and I want to learn how to do a rebuild. I've been reading up and watching a lot of build ups and I'm ready to do it. I'm looking for new heads, intake and maybe a water pump since the ones now are all pitted and rusted. I'll need to do a new radiator and fans set up sometime, but right now just a over haul. Please give me any advice, direction and help for this!

[Redneck sami]

first thing I'd say is to do a tare-down and inspection of what you have. Is the old motor damaged or just worn out? then it's a mater of how much you want to spend. get the block inspected/machined and that will tell you if you need to oversize anything (i.e. pistons, main bearings, rod bearings, etc). at that point the wallet is the limit. order your parts and start putting things together. the other thing i would say is replace the water pump and oil pump. the are inexpensive and a good insurance that you fresh motor does not die.

[yotarunner]

  Pull it apart, see what needs to be replaced order your parts & put it back together. Definitely put a new water & oil pump. If everything looks good you can stay on the cheap side by just honing it and replacing the rings & bearing. Or order a rebuilt kit, have it bored out and put new pistons in it. The rebuilt kit for my 22re was $1200 and I spent $800 at the machine shop (torque plate bored & honed, decked, magnafluxed, heads milled, ported and bigger valves & valve springs installed, painted with new freeze plugs). That was 8 years ago and still running strong.