engine rebuild vs good used engine

tinyf350 · Dec 10, 2012

have a 97 with the 7.3 found out yesterday when I pulled the driver side head that #8 intake valve busted off and hammered into the head but no damage to cylinder walls. with the high cost of powerstroke parts I am wondering on which route to take here. have found 7.3 complete motors but not really willing to pay 2k for a used engine. rebuild or swap it for another??

Cr500 · Dec 10, 2012

I'd assume the piston is bad also? If your piston is bad but cylinder wall is ok technically you can just replace the piston, sort your head problem out and go down the road. There is nothing wrong just repairing what is broken.
In a perfect world you would just do what you already mentioned, overhaul the whole thing.
Over time I have seen plenty of piston issue that were result of valve hitting or damage like yours, but the guy couldn't simply afford to overhaul the whole thing. If the bore wasn't worn out, it got honed and re assembled with new parts for the cylinder. Just make sure whatever you do about heads, take to machine shop and have them gone thru right. At least buy new intake valves, the stock ones are like melted down Chinese spoons.