Buying used engine, what to check?

[DejanM31]

I'm from Europe and my friend is going to California to buy things for cars, one of those will be a Ford 289 engine for me.

We have already located the engine from a guy, that friend buys a lot, so usualy what he says is true.
The engine is complete and already out of the car. It was rebuild 5000 miles ago, then pulled out to replace it with newer engine with injection system.

It's a classic Ford 289 from Mustang 66 (it will go into my Mustang 65). What can my friend check to make sure that the engine is in great shape? He will check the commpression and overall for cracks or anything but what else?

I have already bought 351w engine some time ago that looked good but when we installed it and run it, it turned out the block was cracked inside and oil and water mixed. The other engine was shaking too much and we couldn't find the problem (crankshaft problem)...so i really want to be sure, that this one is good.

[mustang656man]

a complete engine can be started sitting on the ground by removing top from carb and filling with gas and a battery hooked up and a hot to coil ect. junkyards would do this all the time to demo an engine. wes

[KarlJay]

If you will be shipping to Europe, I'd tear the engine apart! That's gotta cost a BUNCH to ship an engine to Europe.

A leak down test will give MUCH better info that a compression test ever will. You can buy the tester for $40 at Harbor Freight tools.

If you can, run the engine, you can setup a rad, battery and a simple stand to hold everything.

[Aquarius]

Depending on how much you want to disassemble it, pull the heads and take a peak in the cylinders. You don't want to end up like I did!

Pulled my heads off today...this can't be good

[JeffTepper]

The suggestion of leak down test is probably the best way to test the engine's general health short of a complete tear down. Note that even then, it is still a used engine and things can still go wrong just on the basis of how much life is left in it.

Given the cost of shipping across the pond, you might buy more peace of mind going with a new roller cam crate motor. Note however, that with two way shipping costs, the real value of any warranty is probably negligible for someone in your location.