t-boned, fixed it; electrical short, fixed it; engine knocking, cant fix...now what?

[ltdcrwnvic]

hey guys/gals, hows everyone doing....hope everyone is well, or at least better than i am.
didnt know where exactly to post this but i apologize if im in the wrong area....

well some of you guys know my, and my car's journey this last year when it got t-boned in May 2010...( http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre......&highlight= )

after your guys' encouragements, i got it fixed, took the shop several weeks to get 'er fixed. after about 2months i got her back but with an electrical short. took it to an electrician and he got her nice n well...( http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre......&highlight= )

after all this, i got the inspection sticker, and THEN got my new salvage title issued to me since the damn insurance reported it a total loss....AGAIN, so be it. i got the tittle, and new plates. got her up and running late last year and noticed the engine began to knock 30-45mins into driving...( http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre......&highlight= )
so after all this i decided to try and find out if it was a lifter or a rod and sure enough you guys were right, again, the bottom end, main bearings probably.

during all this time that i was working on my g-ride, i was driving my 78 monte carlo, that sucker went ahead and took a crap on me at a traffic light, the engine seized on me and wouldnt crank....so i had no car. i decided to get the monte carlos engine rebuilt, decided to go with a 350 instead and now that beast is growling...

here's my situation...i so desperately want to get the CV back on the street but here are the issues....
-engine has to be rebuilt or new/freshened up engine has to be dropped in
-frame is still tweaked, now i dont know if its all in my head or not but to me, its not the same
-the electrical short is back again

the good things, if any:
-new paint
-new vinyl top
-new headliner/interior
-in the process of trying to find out why the engine was knocking, i dropped in new roller lifters, and replaced the upper intake with the H.O. upper along with the orig. bored out EGR spacer to match a 62mm throttle body i had laying around.

what do you guys think i should do? i know for a fact you guys are "anti-crush" and "anti-scrap" em kinda guys, so whats my best solution.
-sell it as is
-sell it for parts
-rebuild, rebuild, rebuilid

[86VickyLX]

What is the car doing with the electrical short? Like what's not working?

[ltdcrwnvic]

well i cant leave the battery connected overnight...or even during the day for that matter....battery gets drained in a matter of hours, dont know where the short might be. thought it might be my dome light again, but thats not it, my radio suddenly turned off a while back so might be something along those lines, maybe a speaker wire or something, i hope. if not then it all refers back to the wreck....

[86VickyLX]

Did you pull the glove box light? Trunk light? Hood light?

[ltdcrwnvic]

glove box works when it wants to, so for that reason i just took off the bulb, hood light never worked and trunk light never worked either.

[86VickyLX]

Does the dome light work?

[ltdcrwnvic]

sure does, it used to stay on when one of the door jam buttons wouldnt get pushed all the way in but i replaced it so all of them work properly and dome light turns off when doors are closed

[86VickyLX]

Start pulling fuses then

[ltdcrwnvic]

damn lolol

[91waggin]

You can put a multimeter on the Amps setting and put it in series with one of the battery cables. If you see it pulling more than 100 mA, then start pulling fuses and see which one makes the number go down. Once you know what fuse disconnects the drain, you know what circuits to look at.

[86VickyLX]

You can put a multimeter on the Amps setting and put it in series with one of the battery cables. If you see it pulling more than 100 mA, then start pulling fuses and see which one makes the number go down. Once you know what fuse disconnects the drain, you know what circuits to look at.

Yeah but doing anything along the lines of opening the door will blow the fuse in the meter. I've heard of using voltage drops across fuses (yes across fuses) can be used to find amperage draws. It makes sense, the byproduct of current is heat, with more heat, there's more resistance, with more resistance, there's more of a voltage drop.

[79lincolnlover]

-rebuild, rebuild, rebuild (if you have the time, money and patience)

[91waggin]

Yeah but doing anything along the lines of opening the door will blow the fuse in the meter. I've heard of using voltage drops across fuses (yes across fuses) can be used to find amperage draws. It makes sense, the byproduct of current is heat, with more heat, there's more resistance, with more resistance, there's more of a voltage drop.

I just did this, though, and the problem on the Aerostar I was working on was that the dome light in the footwell was stuck on. That drew 1.5 amps. My multimeter says 10A max on it. I could see drawing 10A if you opened the door, and you had a wagon with 2 dome lights and the footwell lights, maybe. But those lamps aren't exactly high wattage.

And even if you do blow the fuse in the meter, you can just replace it. The one in mine is a standard auto glass fuse.

[ltdcrwnvic]

well after a bit of saving up, ive got enough $$$ to try n rebuild the beast. found a couple of blocks/engines for next to nothing. need ur thoughts and opinions on what ive found:
-302 block bored .40 over for $150
-302 mustang block with bored out upper intake to match bigger throttle body with heat phenolic manifold spacer for $300
-302 block with heads $400

what do you guys think?

[86VickyLX]

well after a bit of saving up, ive got enough $$$ to try n rebuild the beast. found a couple of blocks/engines for next to nothing. need ur thoughts and opinions on what ive found:
-302 block bored .40 over for $150
-302 mustang block with bored out upper intake to match bigger throttle body with heat phenolic manifold spacer for $300
-302 block with heads $400

what do you guys think?

For the block bored .40 over, is it just the block or the rotatating assembly as well?