MAKING THE DECISIONS - WHAT TO REPLACE?

by Pete Snidal, self-appointed wrenching guru (C) 2000

Planning on taking your motor apart? Got it apart already?

Once that happens, you soon discover the major trick to monkeywrenching: deciding what to replace and what to keep. Your standards will vary, of course, depending on your criteria for longevity and intended use - building a racing engine to last the Daytona 500, and for which you'll be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars just to enter, will demand higher thresholds than throwing together a grocery-getter which you hope will last you another 6 months until the kid's braces are paid off. But here are the general considerations:

These are the basic considerations to use in deciding what to replace when you have your motor apart. This is only a guideline; you should of course have a copy of the service manual before you attempt to do any kind of rebuild on any kind of engine, and read this carefully before embarking on your maiden voyage into wrenchland. Happy monkeywrenching!