|
You've made some excellent points, and I used a pretty broad "buyer beware" brush with my opinion based on the limited amount of information on hand, so I'll try to expand a bit.
If the head was being rebuilt for a specific purpose - burnt/bent valve, loose seat, broken spring, warped, etc. - but the rest of the engine was fine, then no, I wouldn't automatically dive into the bottom end. Early water-cooled VWs, for example, were notorious for wearing out valve guides and burning valves, yet the block was in perfect condition, so it generally made sense just to punch in new guides and replace the valves. Vegas ate up the cylinders and needed pistons and rings.
I would need more history on the engine - mileage, service history - and would certainly need to do an initial inspection of the cylinders, etc. - before jumping to any conclusions. If the engine is high mileage and the owner intended on keeping the vehicle for a good long time, then sure, the investment in rebuilding the entire engine is probably warranted. If the head had a specific problem, that could be fixed on its own.
The impression I got from the original post is that they both had to be done at the same time, which is certainly not always the case; you can certainly do a ring job separately from a valve job (and vice versa). Perhaps I just took the posting too literally.
And even if the engine was starting to show signs of ring blowby, rebuilding the head now would not worsen that condition, something else the original posting would lead you to believe. The block could be rebuilt a year to two down the road, at the owner's discretion, without negating the earlier rebuild of the head. (There are certain limitations of course, like a weak oil pump starving the camshaft, etc.)
Anyway, I agree with you, if the engine is old, tired and plain just worn out - and as you mentioned the engine in question here wears evenly top to bottom - it is always best to rebuild everything all at once rather than piecemeal. But if there is a specific fault then in most cases that can be repaired on its own.
|
