have an 88 XLT 4x4 - 5.0 - 302 with only 81K that is in great shape, well the motor seized up a couple days ago. Any one out there been in this predicament ? Wondering what would be the best options to explore to get it back on the road. I am open to all suggestions, thanks!

 

Find out what caused it to seize and rebuild it if possible? That's what I'd do.

 

Crate motor might be cheaper than a rebuild. A good shop might be a higher quality rebuild.
Might be possible to find a good used one for a few hundred.
Then you could have yours torn down and think about rebuilding it, depending how bad things are inside.

 

i thought at first to try and repair my motor even with the broken timing chain with a chunk of camshaft attached to it. then yesterday i looked further inside the engine through the hole in the block where the front cam bearing is and could see a rod with the entire cap end sheared off. i figure she is toast and would cost a ton of money to remedy. does a guy have to put another engine with all the mgt. systems back in to work or can you go old school without all that stuff. i saw an older small block complete with low mile rebuild for sale, had headers, 4 barrel w/ high rise, etc ready to install for 900.00. ?????????

 

If it's a 302, it will fit. Simpler to put your intake, exhaust, cam and engine management system on it than modify your truck to run a carb engine.
You could probably sell the hi rise etc. and recoup some of your costs.
Probably still going to be into 1500 - 2000 $$ by the time you're done either way you go.

 

I'd do a rebuild because you can do a cheap rebuild And make great power compared to stock.

 

You asked what I would do. I had a similar situation 10 years ago. I bought an f150 '87 with no motor in it except the one in the bed of the truck. I got them to my garage and took off the valve cover and it was full of oily mud and leaves. That 302 had been run without an oil cap on for many years.

I am a fan of inline 6 so I took out the motor brackets and bought a 300 i6 off craigs list. I sent the head to a machine shop and they ground the valves, etc. I put in new rings, bearings and seals, painted it blue and drove that pickup for many years. Until my kid wrecked it on the way to school.

I would do that again. A better question is "What are my options?".

Do you want your pickup "as good as new" or "as good as it was before"?

As I understand your problem, you could get a junk yard short block, put new seals in it and be as good as it was before. That would be the cheapest way to do it.

 

A 347 stroker build could be pretty bad ***. You would have to compare the cost of a crate engine vs building the old one though.