QuestionMy son just got his license and we are trying to get an 89 Cressida with a blown headgasket running for him. The car has been sitting in a garage for at least 5 years. It's been a fun project thus far. We removed the head. It turns out that it was badly warped and had a crack which rendered it completely useless. The local machine shop happened to have a used 7MGE replacement head in good shape that we are having them prep (milling, valve job, seals, etc).
While the engine is apart, however, I'm debating about what to do about the bottom end. The engine didn't make any alarming noises when it was parked a number of years ago. However, I don't have a feel for how long the antifreeze was mixing with the oil and what subsequent damage may have occured to the bearings. The engine had 133K miles on it prior to being parked, which means that it is probably more than a little tired. A couple of the cylinder walls have some minor horizontal scoring, but all in all it looks pretty good. In fact, you can still see the original crosshatching.
I don't want to spend a lot of money on such an old car. However, considering the head work that we are doing and if this were your project, would you pull the block and have the rings and bearings done at the same time? Bearing in mind that we're trying to do this on the cheap, what else would you replace? The front and rear main seals? Oil pump? We intend to change the water pump, timing belt, tensioner and fuel filter while it's readily accessible with the head off. The fuel injectors are also original. Would you replace them as well?
AnswerI would reinstall the cylinder head and replace the water pump etc., and go from there, clean out all the water in the oil, this may take changing the oil twice, these engines are known to last way over 200,000 miles with proper maintenance, I would not change the rear main seal unless it started to leak.
