What's it worth?
 

A friend of mine has a 396 built by mti for sale. From what I've read about them, they were pretty popular back in the mid-late 90s, but seems like their engines were hit or miss. He said he had a little over $8k in the engine and he said it probably didn't have more than 1000 miles on it. Here's the bad: it's been sitting for 8 years, with the last 6 months bein outside under a tarp. Well, the exhaust manifolds weren't bolted up and the tarp didn't do a very good job of covering the engine, so a couple of cylinders have standing water in them, with surface rust on the others. I figured at worst it'd need a bore, new rings and pistons. So with that in mind, how much would you say this engine is worth? Sorry I don't have much details on the internals, other than forged bottom end and internally balanced. Oh, and 4-bolt splayed mains.

Are you positive it has splayed mains? They were extremely popular back in the 90's especially when Craig Gallant was porting their heads. Friend of mine bought a short block from them in the mid 90's, ran the dog shit out of it with a 100 shot on top of it. Long story short eventually he had it gone through and found out it was a Vette block with stock 4-bolt mains and all the caps except for the front and back were cracked in half.
Engine indeed has to come apart and at least cleaned up. Depends if there is any pitting on the cylinder walls as to whether or not it needs to be bored.

your friend should treat this engine like an abused dog and give it away to a nice home after what he put it thru!

Tell you what I'll take it I guess

I didn't verify the splayed mains myself...it's just from what he told me. So other than that, if someone told you to make an offer on what you truly thought it was still worth, how much would it be?

Depends how bad the cylinders are, at the very least it all needs to come apart and it will need a bore and hone. I had to sleeve and replace the intake valves on a motor that was outside for about the same time than that.

Proof that the motor was professionally built by MTI with a receipt of all parts, machine work, and labor?

He said he had it somewhere but wasn't sure. I trust this guy, I've picked up other performance parts from him that were legit...plus we barter quite a bit. I've never heard of sleeving the heads before but damn, this one is starting to add up..a couple of the intake ports were holding water as well. Then what would the engine be worth if you were just buying it for parts? Down the line I was planning on building an 800+ rwhp LT so I was going to need forged internals regardless.

Do yourself, your buddy and the engine a favor, get it inside and pull a complete teardown on it. See what is salvagable before you offer any cash. 8 years of sitting and 6 months of water in the heads that motor will be seized tighter than a nun's cunt.

The engine as a whole is worth it's weight in scrap. Break it apart and the heads can probably be saved, a good cleaning and some new valves, springs, etc. and tose can be used. The crank, rods and pistons can be saved as long as they're not seized in the block. The block is the worst part with standing water. It'll cost a pretty penny (around Chicagoland anyway) to refresh it. Probably going to need new pistons to match the bore. But you'll never know until you pull it apart and see how it sits inside.

Alright well since I can't seem to get a dollar figure out of anyone, he's asking just under a grand. I dont know what scrap metal goes for, but I'm assuming it's less than the asking price. So if somebody asked you if you wanted an mti 396 lt1 that needed a little work for just under a grand, would you say yay or nay?

Personally I think it's worth it, but I also don't have any experience in messing with a 396.

If you've got a good relationship with him ask if you can take the block and tear it apart and buy each salvageable piece separately.

^ I agree with that. But then again the heads are probably worth about $800 bare, so it all depends on where you want to be $$ wise.

Then go for it. Sounds like a great deal. Crank rods and head castings are worth a grand if they are usable.

That's what I think too.