All Small Six 82 3.3 terrible MPG, cheap header options for smog delete?

[Granada GLX]

New to the forum and hoping theres some active members that can chime in still..

I've got a very clean all original 1982 Granada GLX with the 200/c5 combo and since it's an 82 it has ALL the smog equipment and catalytic converters.

i noticed i'm using a quarter tank if not a bit more every day on my 40 mile round trip to work and back now as compared to when i first started driving it it was just sipping gas- the car was maintained well with yearly tuneups/replacements of anything in need up til 2015 when my great grandmother passed- I got the car running at the end of 2022 with just replacing the fuel pump but from sitting so long i suspect the valve seals are shot with how much it smokes. (i've already replaced the cork valve cover gasket with a rubber one and yes i know i should have done the seals while i had it off but i've never tackled a seal replacement yet)- not mentioned was i did the plugs, cap, rotor, ect..

with the oil its been burning on the daily due to the valve seals i suspect the main cat under the log manifold is probably toast, and the secondary under the middle of the car has a hole rotted in it so it's pretty much time to ditch that aswell.. along with the rest of the exhaust system as it's fairly rotten..

I'm not looking to put much into this six as i wasnt even intending to drive the car daily what so ever but due to circumstances have to.. Could anyone point me to a CHEAP header(since this is what you refer to as the BIG BELL i assumed i cant use a 60s mustang header) that i can just side pipe the car behind the pass front wheel for the time being(i dont care how loud it is) so i can get rid of the Cats and EGR/smog junk? the car runs great honestly but boy is it a slug and can barely hold 60mph on the highway with all rollercoaster roads we have here in northern MN..

i've been planning on 302/351 swapping this car for years since it was parked-no offense to you guys but i'd rather be putting my money towards the v8 swap because all i wanted is a choppy idled tire burner that i can take out on cruise nights like my fox mustangs, but with 4 doors.

 

[bmbm40]

vintageinlines.com does usually have headers for these motors. I would like to have your big bell 200 when you remove it just have to figure how best to get it from northern MN.

 

[bmbm40]

Nice Granada by the way.

 

[bubba22349]

Hi and welcome to the Ford Six Forum Granada GLX, the Speed Daddy Stainless Steel Shorty Headers should be able to fit your car but you already have a very good Flowing Exhaust manifold right now. The Cat is probably Clogged up you can take that off and knock out all the guts inside it and weld a 2 inch pipe onto it or even a pair of 1 3/4 to 2 inch pipes for a Duel system. Look at the below attachment for an idea of what can be made for that Manifold thanks to xctasy! If the EGR system is in place and still working than you will get better MPG using it, about all that you can do and not start having some tuning problems is to disconnect the A.I.R. Air Pump Exhaust system and remove the Cats since they are already clogged up and you will need to have at least simple Exhaust system long enough so that it's dumpling in front of the passenger side Tire. Like bmbm40 I also would like to not only have that 200 Six but also the C5 Auto Trans too. Good luck

 

[Granada GLX]

the chances of that converter coming off the factory manifold are slim to none i fear and the same goes for the studs/bolts holding the manifold onto the head if they'll even come out without snapping, but they MIGHT with how badly the valve cover gasket was leaking though honestly..

I figured the least amount of time/work would be to snag up one of ebay's $170 stainless header offerings with the downpipes, gasket, and hardware with free shipping as they look identical to the dual outlet one on vintageinlines that runs $210 other than minor differences in the downpipes after the header itself.. which i probably will add small cheap bullet glass pack mufflers and run it out under the passenger side rocker just so it doesnt drive me insane inside the car for the time being as i'd rather not throw hundreds at a full exhaust when the plan is to drop a 302/351 in eventually.

*Also are there any write ups on what vacuum lines are absolutely needed so i can de-smog the car properly aswell? it was an absolute nightmare doing the valve cover gasket with the amount of vacuum and air pump lines in the way and i'd like to get rid of all that before tackling the valve seals- as the 200 probably will be staying in it for a good while still with my work schedule as i rarely see days off and my winter driver SUV needing presumably expensive repairs.. i'll need this as a running backup vehicle until i can either fix the SUV or find another cheap reliable winter vehicle.

And in all honestly i'd probably keep the 200 6 in the car if i could make decent power out of it like on a budget like i can with a SBF with second hand parts cheaply available, but because of how obscure these smaller straight 6's are and limited availability of performance parts especially second hand i just dont see there being a budget friendly way to make cheap power out of this engine when i can get a running 5.0/5.8 for under $300 and be able to do highway speeds without stressing it like it does to this poor 3.3 even with only 80k miles on the car/engine- it does have a proper limited slip 8.8 rear axle and i thought about doing 3:73 gears in but id assume i'd get v8 gas mileage minus the v8 power with the 3 speed c5 so i've kept that on the backburner.

P.S. thank you bmbm40, i've been after this car for over a decade knowing it's quite rare and the highest trim level they offered along with my fascination with foxbody mustangs(mustangs in general since they shared many parts for so many years) and finding out the underpinnings of this are easily interchangeable due to utilizing the same fox platform. the only thing i'm not sure of is if i can utilize the c5 transmission with a v8 is all at the moment as i was hoping to keep this project on a minimal budget and the least fab work with my limited free time as i've got a few mustangs i'd rather be spending what little free time i have on.

 

[bmbm40]

Yes I see what you mean. As far as I know for the v8 swap you will have to cut off the six motor mounts and weld on v8 mounts, add larger radiator, probably need new trans, different length driveshaft and a stronger real axle at a minimum. I expect bubba is correct on clogged Cat diagnosis he just knows these things.

 

[bubba22349]

the chances of that converter coming off the factory manifold are slim to none i fear and the same goes for the studs/bolts holding the manifold onto the head if they'll even come out without snapping, but they MIGHT with how badly the valve cover gasket was leaking though honestly..

I figured the least amount of time/work would be to snag up one of ebay's $170 stainless header offerings with the downpipes, gasket, and hardware with free shipping as they look identical to the dual outlet one on vintageinlines that runs $210 other than minor differences in the downpipes after the header itself.. which i probably will add small cheap bullet glass pack mufflers and run it out under the passenger side rocker just so it doesnt drive me insane inside the car for the time being as i'd rather not throw hundreds at a full exhaust when the plan is to drop a 302/351 in eventually.

*Also are there any write ups on what vacuum lines are absolutely needed so i can de-smog the car properly aswell? it was an absolute nightmare doing the valve cover gasket with the amount of vacuum and air pump lines in the way and i'd like to get rid of all that before tackling the valve seals- as the 200 probably will be staying in it for a good while still with my work schedule as i rarely see days off and my winter driver SUV needing presumably expensive repairs.. i'll need this as a running backup vehicle until i can either fix the SUV or find another cheap reliable winter vehicle.

And in all honestly i'd probably keep the 200 6 in the car if i could make decent power out of it like on a budget like i can with a SBF with second hand parts cheaply available, but because of how obscure these smaller straight 6's are and limited availability of performance parts especially second hand i just dont see there being a budget friendly way to make cheap power out of this engine when i can get a running 5.0/5.8 for under $300 and be able to do highway speeds without stressing it like it does to this poor 3.3 even with only 80k miles on the car/engine- it does have a proper limited slip 8.8 rear axle and i thought about doing 3:73 gears in but id assume i'd get v8 gas mileage minus the v8 power with the 3 speed c5 so i've kept that on the backburner.

P.S. thank you bmbm40, i've been after this car for over a decade knowing it's quite rare and the highest trim level they offered along with my fascination with foxbody mustangs(mustangs in general since they shared many parts for so many years) and finding out the underpinnings of this are easily interchangeable due to utilizing the same fox platform. the only thing i'm not sure of is if i can utilize the c5 transmission with a v8 is all at the moment as i was hoping to keep this project on a minimal budget and the least fab work with my limited free time as i've got a few mustangs i'd rather be spending what little free time i have on.

Yes those would be about the best deal for a set of those headers I would start Soaking all those Exhaust Bolts with penetrating's oil now and keep doing them all for several days to a week ahead so nothing breaks there are some of them that work great, some might need a little heat too.

Replacing the Valve Stem seals is Cheap and easy with very few tools plus a valve spring compressor like this I have had a Lisle 16550 valve spring compressor since the 1960's it works great for these type jobs here is a low cost copy of it.

Universal Overhead Valve Spring Compressor Removal Repair Installation Tool Cars | eBay

BTSHUB Universal Overhead Valve Spring Compressor. The Overhead Engine Valve Spring Compressor Tool is designed to quickly and easily remove and replace worn and broken valve springs from your vehicle;.

www.ebay.com

I used that spring compressor to change the valve stem seals out countless times on many different engines with the head still on the Block its about a 1/2 day job, that should be one of the first things you should do. Hopefully your not also be over filling the engine with oil these 200's only need 4 & 1/2 quarts if your using the standard Oil Filter like a NAPA 1515, there are larger Oil Filters to so than you would use 5 quarts of Oil.

If you remove the Cats then there is no problem in also removing all the Air Pump Lines, the Air Pump, and other items of that system and then plugging off the Air injection ports in the exhaust ports of the Head, there usually is no ill effects in doing that. The real Truth though concerning all the rest of the emissions equipment is that after you do all the work of De-Smogging the engine and then re-tuning it (Carb might need to be re-Jetted) or it might need one of the earlier Carbs to accomplish, then about the most you will gain in power from all that work is 1/2 of a Horse Power. Have you done any tune up work or rebuilt the Carb yet?

When everything is right you should see 20 or more Miles per Gal. out of that 200 Six. There are lots of ways to get power out of these 200's some are lucky and find some of the Performance parts for a low cost Truth is you have about the best stock head now a 2V Carb can be fitted and along your cheap set of Headers then a Camshaft, swap in a set of the Australian version 200 / 250 Flat Top Pistons for a Zero Deck height and a nice bump up in the Compression Ratio, you have a great Auto trans so a lot of Plusses and there is also a Turbo install too.

Your C5 could be used on a 302 or 351 and the other SBF V8's the four bottom bolts are exactly the same Bolt Pattern as all of the SBF V8's with the 6 Bolt Bell's housings. If you can find a 1982 to 1986 302 V8 C5 Bell housing, Block Spacer Plate, Flex Plate and Torque Convertor then these will fit on the front of the C5 Case and then bolt up to the 302 or 351 and still retain the Lock Up Torque Convertor Function. There is also a slight possibility that you could even use the the Torque Convertor (T. C.) from the 200 Six I have not tried to do that, with a V8 block spacer Plate, V8 6 Bolt Bell and the V8 Flex Plate you may even be able to bolt up to the Six T.C. or if not you can drill the holes that it needs to be able to fit it. Short video showing a C5 like yours and the Case Fill and Pan Fill C4's all together has some good info in it.

Or you can also use a SBF C4 Bell housing Block Spacer Plate, Flex Plate, (from only the Pan Fill Transmissions), plus use the 1971 to 1981 C4 Input Shaft, and a Non Lock Up V8 type Torque Convertor these will fit on the front of the C5 Case and then bolt up to the 302 or 351. Good luck Edited with some more Info.

 

[Frank]

*Also are there any write ups on what vacuum lines are absolutely needed so i can de-smog the car properly aswell?

And in all honestly i'd probably keep the 200 6 in the car if i could make decent power out of it . . be able to do highway speeds without stressing it like it does to this poor 3.3 even with only 80k miles on the car/engine- it does have a proper limited slip 8.8 rear axle

Granada GLX, welcome! You've got a good car there. The exhaust backpressure and old factory emissions systems are what's making it a slug. No, the 200 is not a 302. But it's got plenty of power for acceptable highway driving and good economy if it can breathe. It's a great commuter car!

*All that is needed on the engine is distributor vacuum advance, the hot air valve on the filter housing snorkel, and PCV. *

The cats HAVE to go. But- I strongly recommend you find a way to get the cats off and keep the factory exhaust manifold. Without it you will loose the heat source for the intake manifold and carburetor inlet air. In MN this will have a big negative impact on drivability and economy. The stock engine will perform better in your climate with the stock exhaust manifold and a properly sized pipe passing through a decent muffler, than it will with headers. Without the added exhaust heat from the stock manifold being transferred to the intake manifold, the iron intake will warm up very slowly, and until it's 160*- which it may never reach in winter- the engine will be lean, with fuel falling out of suspension and ruining drivability. If you're a V8 guy remember that all stock carb V8 heads have exhaust gas passing from head to head under the carb, the intakes are heated regardless of exhaust manifolds or headers- not so with the 6. It needs the factory exhaust to properly heat the intake. . Your goal is to get this car performing well for what it is, and to be a dependable daily commuter. If the stock exhaust manifold is removed, the frustrations you have now will shift to another cause, they will not be eliminated.

Emissions Delete:

Remove the airpump and all associated plumbing. Plug what needs to be plugged.

Removing the EGR vacuum hose will make it inoperable, it does not have to be physically removed from the intake. Get all the vacuum plumbing removed between EGR valve and the carb, and plug that port at the carb.

I don't know if the carb has "feedback" systems that require looped vacuum signals to meter. Someone else will have to say. I don't think so. If not, remove ALL vacuum lines except 1) the transmission modulator line if so equipped, and 2) the distributor vacuum advance. Run a (preferably new) hose directly from the current distributor vacuum port on the carb to the distributor. Bypass any temp switches, etc. 3) Run a (new) vacuum line from manifold vacuum at the base of the carb to the air filter hot air controller in the filter housing. Verify that the vacuum lines are good from there to the air valve in the intake snorkel. If the flexible hose between the filter snorkel and the exhaust manifold is rotted out, replace it. You want this system intact on a winter morn when you've got to get to work. If you go to headers, you won't have the factory hot air stove on the exhaust manifold to heat the carb incoming air.

Leave the vent line from the gas tank to the charcoal canister, and leave the canister in place, but remove the lines going to the engine. The tank will vent fine, the canister is vented to atmosphere. (Ran all my late 70's cars this way, never a problem.)

Leave a piece of the carburetor bowl vent hose on the vent, don't plug it. Mine just hang there under the air filter, about 3-4" long. If the carb is functioning correctly, this vent will let vapors escape during hot-soak but it will close when throttle is applied. If it does not close when cruising, you may experience a too-rich condition, but that's TBD later. If it is rich on heavy throttle, plug that vent nipple on top of the carb fuel bowl.

Be sure the PCV valve is functioning. Clean it with carb cleaner or brake-clean with the engine running, if necessary. Replace the little filter in the inside of the filter housing. And the main filter while you're there.

Be sure every vacuum source is plugged except the three: transmission modulator, distributor vacuum advance, snorkel hot air valve. . . I was always told, "you can't run it that way!". But I did, and still do. All my inline-6 Chevy's thru the 70's and 80's had long service life, excellent fuel economy and good power. Now 2 Ford I6 are serving me well, PCV, hot air intake, and distributor vacuum only. Best car I ever owned, '77 Impala 4 door, 250 1 barrel I-6, auto 3 speed trans, 2.67 gears. Could not spin a tire, but got 25 highway mpg and gave 285,000 miles of flawless service. . . set up exactly as I have described above since the week it was purchased new. . . Don't give up on your little 6 till you've gotten her uncorked, and given a fair chance. . . You may come to love it!

 

[marquis83]

the chances of that converter coming off the factory manifold are slim to none i fear and the same goes for the studs/bolts holding the manifold onto the head if they'll even come out without snapping, but they MIGHT with how badly the valve cover gasket was leaking though honestly..

I figured the least amount of time/work would be to snag up one of ebay's $170 stainless header offerings with the downpipes, gasket, and hardware with free shipping as they look identical to the dual outlet one on vintageinlines that runs $210 other than minor differences in the downpipes after the header itself.. which i probably will add small cheap bullet glass pack mufflers and run it out under the passenger side rocker just so it doesnt drive me insane inside the car for the time being as i'd rather not throw hundreds at a full exhaust when the plan is to drop a 302/351 in eventually.

*Also are there any write ups on what vacuum lines are absolutely needed so i can de-smog the car properly aswell? it was an absolute nightmare doing the valve cover gasket with the amount of vacuum and air pump lines in the way and i'd like to get rid of all that before tackling the valve seals- as the 200 probably will be staying in it for a good while still with my work schedule as i rarely see days off and my winter driver SUV needing presumably expensive repairs.. i'll need this as a running backup vehicle until i can either fix the SUV or find another cheap reliable winter vehicle.

And in all honestly i'd probably keep the 200 6 in the car if i could make decent power out of it like on a budget like i can with a SBF with second hand parts cheaply available, but because of how obscure these smaller straight 6's are and limited availability of performance parts especially second hand i just dont see there being a budget friendly way to make cheap power out of this engine when i can get a running 5.0/5.8 for under $300 and be able to do highway speeds without stressing it like it does to this poor 3.3 even with only 80k miles on the car/engine- it does have a proper limited slip 8.8 rear axle and i thought about doing 3:73 gears in but id assume i'd get v8 gas mileage minus the v8 power with the 3 speed c5 so i've kept that on the backburner.

P.S. thank you bmbm40, i've been after this car for over a decade knowing it's quite rare and the highest trim level they offered along with my fascination with foxbody mustangs(mustangs in general since they shared many parts for so many years) and finding out the underpinnings of this are easily interchangeable due to utilizing the same fox platform. the only thing i'm not sure of is if i can utilize the c5 transmission with a v8 is all at the moment as i was hoping to keep this project on a minimal budget and the least fab work with my limited free time as i've got a few mustangs i'd rather be spending what little free time i have on.

Welcome to the forum!

Let me know where you can find a good 5.8 for $300. Most of the ones I see are at least $500
I had pretty much the same ideas as you when I got my 83 marquis, but the six refuses to die.
I already have an 89 mustang with a built 302, so I figure why not have some variety in the fleet.

I have no problem going 75 on the highway with my car, if you can't top 60 there's definitely a restriction somewhere.
I would suggest cutting the cat off as soon as possible, it really woke up my car when I did that.

It's only loud when I'm on the gas, if I left off it's dead quiet.
I've had old dudes come up to me and ask if it has a 390 in it... I don't think it sounds that good, but here's a clip.

My car gets 13 mpg on a good day so I'm definitely watching this thread.

 

[fast64ranchero]

I've looked for a header for the big bell blocks, no luck I had to modify a 6 into 1 Scott drake header to get it to fit in a Fox Body. don't waste your time of $ on the ebay header, it will Not work. remove the cat as others have said. Good luck!

 

[drag-200stang]

In Lavron's 250 thread, he made some 1'' spacers that spaced a 200 header to fit around a same style 250 bellhousing in a 64 comet. Something like that may work. Top of small six page post #345.

 

[Granada GLX]

just throwing this out there, but if anyone is located in MN or close and would like to trade something with good tires and heat(manual transmission preferred) valued around $1500-2000 i'd be happy to do so i'm open to pretty much anything at this point.. plus knowing this would be going to some one who actually knows about these cars would sit better with me.

i'll post an update in the off chance i finally get couple days off at once and am able to get the cats gutted, til then i'll be doing the speed of smell while getting similar mpg to an early 90s 5.0 powered f150 on 44in boggers.. but atleast the f150 could hold 70mph

 

[Granada GLX]

i figured for giggles i'd give the old 'steam clean' method a try by pouring some berrymans chemtool down the carb while the engine was hot and throttling it to keep it from suffocating along with running 91 octane- low and behold the car got up to speed noticeably quicker holding 60mph alot better than it was prior.

the MPG issue has been getting better based on me not trying to floor it everywhere- not being used to a car this sluggish(my carb and efi 1.3L ford festiva's were faster than this thing and those were SLOW) i was trying to push the accelerator pedal through the firewall where as it gets up to speed all the same with 1/2 throttle.- I now REALLY know what a truly SLOW car feels like, i've never had a car take this long(about 1 mile according to my gps/havent bothered to see with a stop watch yet) to hit 60mph

when i get time i'll still try to mess with the cats- it's too bad a cheap ebay header wont fit past the bellhousing though because i didnt want to deal with plugging all those ports on the leaking stock manifold(its spitting out soot all over the front of the head so i'm fairly certain the gasket is toast) and thats why i havent done the smog delete yet-which has also held me back from doing the valve seals because all that crap makes getting the valve cover off a nightmare.

 

[Frank]

Hang in there: the fact of spitting soot and blown manifold gaskets all but confirms a clogged exhaust system.

 

[Granada GLX]

Hang in there: the fact of spitting soot and blown manifold gaskets all but confirms a clogged exhaust system.

was just about to go out and soak the manifold converters studs/bolts in PB blaster again before i head to bed since i just got off a 12hr shift, then later on drive it to a relatives heated garage to see if im lucky enough to have a miracle happen and the hardware for the cat comes out without breaking, hollow it out.. and then figure out what size pipe i need to put in place of the secondary cat.

only other thing i thought of was possibly just using a cutting wheel and opening the side of the cat near the strut tower to use a punch or something to break everything up vacuum it out and weld it shut again instead of worrying about snapped hardware. - thinking this may be the safer route as i wont end up stuck with an open manifold with bolts/studs that are in an awkward place to get at as thats the last thing i want to have happen is having to drive with an open manifold with how much it smokes, the heater would just suck in everything through the cowl

just crossing my fingers this solves my mpg issues atleast til spring when i have something else to drive so i can put some proper time into working on it.

 

[Frank]

was just about to go out and soak the manifold converters studs/bolts in PB blaster again before i head to bed since i just got off a 12hr shift, then later on drive it to a relatives heated garage to see if im lucky enough to have a miracle happen and the hardware for the cat comes out without breaking, hollow it out.. and then figure out what size pipe i need to put in place of the secondary cat.

only other thing i thought of was possibly just using a cutting wheel and opening the side of the cat near the strut tower to use a punch or something to break everything up vacuum it out and weld it shut again instead of worrying about snapped hardware. - thinking this may be the safer route as i wont end up stuck with an open manifold with bolts/studs that are in an awkward place to get at as thats the last thing i want to have happen is having to drive with an open manifold with how much it smokes, the heater would just suck in everything through the cowl

just crossing my fingers this solves my mpg issues atleast til spring when i have something else to drive so i can put some proper time into working on it.

Granada, wear a dust mask when you do the cat gutting. (Recommended by this older guy who wishes he had done that more often.) Ear plugs and safety glasses too, it's a long-term investment that will be worth it when you're on the downslope of life's cam lobe.

 

[chad]

even the additives to blow/burn it out...

 

[Granada GLX]

Granada, wear a dust mask when you do the cat gutting. (Recommended by this older guy who wishes he had done that more often.) Ear plugs and safety glasses too, it's a long-term investment that will be worth it when you're on the downslope of life's cam lobe.

yeah regretting that one, been having some wild chest pains from mashing up the cat with a punch even though i had a shop vac running the whole time pulling the dust and chunks out.. was able to hit 70mph on the speedo finally though!

need to figure out what i'm going to do about exhaust routing when i remove the secondary cat, wanted to do a side exit but with the way the pipe is facing into the cat(its not a straight shot from inlet to outlet its offset) dont want the exhaust ran right under the fuel line on the drivers side..

thinking i'll cut the exhaust a bit farther up near the trans and do a side exit on the passenger side- only reason for this is because i dont think i'll be able to hook up the rest of the exhaust with the pre bent piping at the parts store and an exhaust shop would charge an arm and a leg compared to just getting 90 degree elbow and a straight section($30 max) and running it out the side. Really still wishing there was a cheap long tube header produced for a low mount big bell 200 and also cant find 200ci header flanges to use as a spacer to use an ebay/amazon $120 dual exit header since the manifold gasket is shot and i only want to remove the manifold if i was installing a header .. oh well i'll focus on using that money for the transmission parts for the v8 swap will most likely be throwing the big bell 200 up for sale on here in the summer when i have the time to do the swap.

 

[chad]

sorry 2 hear the 3.3 dump, not here to convince U different (no help w/the speed daddy/CI/VI/SS dual out?) I am lookin to do the thru-rocker pass side one-out in a '70 bronk. I have seen a few pre-made thimbles to adapt to the sheet metal. One a stang dual. Too big and 'oblong' in shape (but would get me well along in coming out the body). May B too pricy 4 me too. Got any plan here? I seek a stainless "Y" as well. Only about 3 feet long after that w/the above 'hook-ups'.

 

[Granada GLX]

sorry 2 hear the 3.3 dump, not here to convince U different (no help w/the speed daddy/CI/VI/SS dual out?) I am lookin to do the thru-rocker pass side one-out in a '70 bronk. I have seen a few pre-made thimbles to adapt to the sheet metal. One a stang dual. Too big and 'oblong' in shape (but would get me well along in coming out the body). May B too pricy 4 me too. Got any plan here? I seek a stainless "Y" as well. Only about 3 feet long after that w/the above 'hook-ups'.

Havent looked into any other header options due to the fact I can get the dual outlet on amazon for a whopping $117 with free shipping- and if I did I was just going to have a friend cut me some spacers like Lavron did for his 250 build.

But I'm past the point of wanting to throw money at the 3.3 as I'm fairly certain the piston rings are my excessive oil consumption and overall power loss issue. It smokes and uses so much oil at this point it cant be just leaking valve seals.. and if the engine has to come out its staying out.. just needs to last me til the end of this winter which cant come soon enough.

I see people say these 200 big bell engines are rare but most people on here value them at less than a easily obtainable 302- was hoping I could sell it complete carb to pan to help recoup some of the cost of buying a sbf to put in its place but it sounds like it is worth more in scrap since it'll need rings.