200 IL 6 purchase advice

I received a response from a man selling his 200 engine. He said he would consider selling it in the $1700 range which is what it would cost me to rebuild one if I could find a good core plus the cost of the core. If you were me would you consider this a good engine to put in my 61 Econo for a cross country trip and should I have any concerns to look for. Gas mileage? Overheating Etc. I don't know how close to stock this was built. Any advice would be appreciated.  Will try to post pics. Here is the message he sent me.                                                                 (I have one rebuilt by danny willever in emmaus pa. $3000 rebuild. Compression 175 per cylinder comp 252 cam and stronger valve springs. Hardened valve seats new valves. Beautiful paint job. I asked him for 10-1 compression. New pistons, bored 30 or 40 not sure.1000 miles on rebuild.)

I'm Sorry pics won't come up?
Vanny said he would help post pics. Thank you Vanny !!!

Done and You're Welcome! Looks Great!--Vanny

You don't want 10:1 compression on one of these engines, trust me. It will ping even on 93 octane unless the advance is dialed waaay back, and maybe even then, esp. with a street cam like that 252. Only the builder knows for sure where the compression is, and that's if he measured everything. He says "I asked for 10:1, not it is 10:1. 9:1 is what you're after. You could go slightly higher, like 9.2-3:1 but that's pushing it with a smallish cam. And you really don't want a much bigger cam in a street car. You can run a 260 or 262 duration cam if the lobe seperation is 112. But a 256/256-112 is about perfect imo. That's too bad. It could be fixed but you'd need a new head to bring the compression down. Also, that is an early 'small log' head. The D7 and later heads are prefered b/c of the larger log, better carb selection, larger intake valves and hardened exhaust seats . A C9 and on large log head can be used, but you will likely want to have hardened exhaust seats installed, and larger intake and exhaust valves while you're at it. Ideally the engine you want will come out of a 77-80 car like a fairmount. It would also come with the right carb and an electronic ignition. But anything from 69 up is good. You could get the name & # of the builder and give him a ring and see if he knows what the compression really is. 10:1 is no good for an iron headed straight six.

Good luck.

Well, that's just a little bit higher than the one I have with 34k on it lol. I paid $180 for it and that's what I'd sell it for. All it needs is a starter and alternator. If you want to keep it cooler, Vic says to use the 6 blade 240 fan blade on it. If you have a
Fastenal store near you, you can ship from Fastenal store to Fastenal store for probably less than $200. Mine came out of a 70 Falcon.

Sounds like a really great deal to me for a known engine and it's a large log, dual advance type. The 250 I put in my van is a '70 out of a Mustang. That's good to know about fastenal, I used greyhound to ship a front door from s CA up here to WA and it was relatively cheap, I don't remember what it cost but I want to say it wasn't more than $80. But I'm sure they couldn't do an engine.

Greyhound is great for shipping some larger pieces. And, affordable. The nice thing about Greyhound is that some of their routes are what I call the "milk run", meaning they stop in about any small town on the way to their destination. But one thing I will not do is ride in one myself. Thought I'd save a few bucks on a last minute run to pick up my 35 Ford Pickup to drive back home; about 535 miles. I think about every odd ball must take Greyhound. Interesting ride, but I never felt that mentally tired in a number of years when it was over. Got there at 10am, left at noon, made it a little more than half way, found a decent hotel, went straight to bed and slept the best I have in years. lol