Hi,
I've seen the same thing in motors that have been "refreshed". Scores on
the crank, cam lobed wiped, tappets all knackered, broken rings, etc. I
took apart a "rebuilt" short block a few months ago... there were broken
rings, rod cap bolts were not torqued (but they had gobs of loctite "red"
on them!)
Bottom line - refreshing the motor is not bad in and of itself. However, a
poor refresh is a waste of time/money. If I were you, I'd avoid the shop
that did the $3200 worth of work in '88 (or whatever). Chances are that
they are out of business anyway.
As far as not having rebored the motor, there is no need to rebore unless
the bores are tapered or out of round. If they put in new rings and did
not at least do a hone to "break the glaze", then the new rings probably
never "set" and the piston damage that you see is a result. And I'll bet
the motor either blew smoke or at the very least used a lot of oil.
Taken a bit further, the damage to the crank and rods sounds as if there
was an oiling problem. It amazes me that someone will spend $1000 for
parts and machine work and then overlook the oil pressure relief valve
(literally $14 worth of parts) which _will fail_. Go figure. I had this
happen on a race motor, fortunately for me, I saw the oil pressure gauge
"dive" and I killed the motor forthwith. Damage was limited to one rod
bearing. The moral of this exercise was - check _everything_ and don't
assume that the PO (or the PO's designate) know what they are doing.
My rule of thumb on a rebuilt motor: if it was done by a shop and it came
with a warranty, then it has value. If it was done by the owner of the car
and the owner is not a professional mechanic, then the rebuild has _no
value_ in determining the value of the car at resale. I think of most
refreshed motors out there as little more than cores for rebuilds. That's
just my experience. But that's also what I get for being a "bottom
feeder" (always looking for the cheapest car, not the best).
I don't always stick to this philosophy (it's hard to do when your eyes
glaze over looking at your "dream car"), but when I don't stick to it - I
_always_ get burned in the deal.
Oh well. At least the rod caps stayed on and you didn't "ventilate" the
motor!
rml
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