🚀 go-pugleaf

> Hello again.  I thought I would throw this one out.
> 
> How sucessful are engine rebuilds (assume they are done as well as
> possible)?
> 
>   I've heard that a proper engine rebuild can restore an engine
> to new or better performance.  I've also heard that you can never restore
> an engine 100% with a rebuild - things have stressed, warped, etc. (after
> 100k miles) and that you cannot expect to get the same amount of mileage
> out of a rebuilt engine as you got from it when it was new.
> 
> The car?  Volvo 145.  Engine? B20B  Miles?  120,000
> -- 
>     Gregory R. Travis

*
Although I didn't do any of the work myself, perhaps my experience will
assist you in your decision.

The car:  1974 Mustang II    Mileage:  ~125,000    Date:  1983
Purchased in June, 1980 at ~99,800 miles

This was when the block was rebuilt.  The head had been rebuilt about a
year before, due to several warped valves.  They promised me this would
cure the carb backfire problem and give me more power (I couldn't understand
at the time why FORD had put a 4 banger in when it obviously couldn't handle it)
but it didn't.

I was working at a FORD dealer, and personally knew the mechanic who did it.
My car was the talk of the service department, stories of rings coming out
broken, 3/8" of gunk on top of the pistons (which I kept as a momento).

To make a long story short, promptly after the rebuild, my tiny car would
have camaros and an occational porshe 911 for lunch.  Once in third I was
hard to beat.  Now, at 170,000 miles the car is ready to retire, but more
from being moved from Sunny Southern California to Colorado than the engine.
Now it misses when cold (like below freezing) and the steering rack is loose
(worn bushings).