Rod or main bearing (or more than one) is shot, is my bet.

If pump gear stripped, you would lose all oil pressure immediately and would not get it back. However, trying a new oilpump is cheaper/easier than motor swap.

I would find a core motor to rebuild, or find a runner, while other engine is still in there, so you can move the car around easily before the swap. Engine swap is not that hard. Easier than tuning a carb or setting points in concept, although a longer process.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

i hate bad new but you have some good news , the rod is not hanging out the side of the block!your engine should be fixable with a fresh cut crank.for what ever reason you lost oil pressure or even if the clearance on that journal was pushed to much just with normal wear, the bearing has spun and that will give you a some what quite sound at idle. i wouldn`t run it to much more or the big end of the rod will be beaten egg shape. pull the engine, any thing that can be damaged like carb,dist cap,wires,rad,lines. i like to remove both engine mounts while lifting out and lower in engine in the car, it helps with lining up the trans, there is lots of play in the trans mount to raise the engine to put the mounts on after you bolt the motor and trans together.

Whatever the cause of your knock, you're not going to fix it without tearing the engine down. [It's rebuild time!!]Usually it's caused by wear & damage to rod bearings. If you find that is the case, then you need to replace the affected connecting rod(s) -or have it "resized", in addtion to new bearings & likely have the crank cut. Knocking can really distort the big end & cause the new bearing to fail- possibly on the first road test.

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63 Valiant Wagon
225 - 4 bbl

What does an engine rebuild cost, doing as much of the grunt work yourself as possible? By grunt work, I mean stripping the engine, removing it from the car, removing all exterior parts, and dismantling it as much as possible yourself. Then finding a machinist to do all the machining on parts I need new. Not done this before, but definitely up for the challenge.

Vs. paying someone to do a rebuild?

What's a reasonable price for a runner engine to get the car around in the meantime? Out here in CA, I'm seeing prices for SS's in the $500-$650 range - seems steep for the quality of engine I think I'd be getting. I think $200-$300 is more reasonable. Debating whether I actually need a runner engine since the car is parked, and I don't need it as daily transportation.

if it`s not a daily driver now, take your time and disassemble the engine and see whats damaged.when you pull the head check for a ridge around the top of the bores, you will need a reaming tool to remove the ridge so you can remove the pistons without hurting the rings.having the crank machined, rods checked, cylinder honed,with fresh rings bearings and gaskets might get you on the road.