Best Place to Buy 258 Rebuild kit.

Hello everone.

I found a junk 258 that I plan to rebuild and one day swap into my cj when it needs it. I have been looking for rebuild kits and wanted to find out if anyone has good or bad experiences?

I know Napa will only sell individual parts. I'm kind of looking for a complete kit since I assume it cheaper and will involve less return trips for things I forgot. (Might be wrong about that but we'll see)

So Pepboys can order one but knows nothing about the parts inside, so can autozone. A few kits were found on Ebay, but not real excited about them.

I have an account with Advanced, but my local shop is small and really they do not know what they need or where to get it from.

My block and crank are good, but the engine was slightly seized and I will need to have the block bored .030 and honed. The pistons and rods are round and straight but I'd rather replace them if the cost is with in reason. The crank and cam are fine.

I'm looking for the basic "master rebuild kit" Preferably one with Felpro professional rubber gaskets and not cheap cork ones.

Anyone have any experience with stores or kits?

Thanks
-Mike

 

If you have picked a machine shop to do the work, ask them if they can get you a good price on what you need.

You have to replace the pistons if you bore oversize. The pistons are the most expensive single item of a rebuild. You probably want a crank kit too. That's pretty standard if you do a complete rebuild.

258s are cheap and widely available, so don't get heroic with this engine if you find something bad. I would certainly prefer to start with a running engine than not, even if it's only been 'a little bit' siezed. What do you mean by siezed? Usually that involves bad, bad overheating, or oil starvation - both can be excessively expensive to fix. If this engine turns over, and can be freed, and was stuck from sitting for a while, that's not so bad. Still, a running engine is better.

 

There's a guy on e Bay selling long blocks for around $1700, IIRC. 3 yr. warranty with free delivery and core pick up if core is available for pick up within 30 days of LB delivery. May be worth investigating.

 

I got my 304 parts at northern auto parts. 258cui complete kit $362.42 Cam upgrade (bigger lift and dur) is $75. Been using them for years no problems yet.They have F and L 134 Kits. Used one when i redid my 66 134. . Click AMC kits on web site. .