Should I ? part 2

The engine in my 79 is anemic ? Big shocker right..

It's got close to 100K on it, burns a bit of oil..not much but mostly when the AC is on or hard driving.

 Am I wasting my time and money if I took the engine in and had it reworked before something breaks?

Are you trying to keep your car original numbers matching?

If not, rather than have your old engine rebuilt why not get a new crate engine. And get one with a few more horses in it.

At 100k, it wouldn't hurt to "freshen" it up. You could also throw in some better pistons, and a good cam, to wake it up, without going overboard on the $$$.
A crate eng. is a good option, also. Then you could have the orig. redone as the finances allow, while still driving the car. Always a good idea to keep the orig. engine, whether it's in the car, or in a corner!

Giving it a good "freshing up" is the perfect time to give it a bit of a build up.  Granted a crate motor is nice, but you can get a lot out of a rebuild without as much cash, and you get to do a lot of the work.  Gives you a bit of pride in your ride.  AND you still have the matching numbers.

Either way is good.  As Joel says, keep the original engine, even if it's in the corner.

 

 But the block is 27 years old.. Isn't there a "risk" with an older block? That I can do all this work on that block and then have it blow up anyway? I'm not sure what I'm gonna do yet.  If I don't go with the build up and go with a crate, what engines will bolt right in the place of the L48?  The writeups on the websites confuse me especially since they say "not for street use" or "Use in vehicles built after XXXX"

 

The block will be fine.  The years won't hurt it a bit.  If it's machined and assembled correctly, you won't have any problem.   Keep in mind, that's what I'm doing to mine. kstyer38650.8993865741