did you ever get a smokin deal on....

[PKRWUD]

As Mr 5.0 said, if it was done honestly, than it's all good. Things aren't always as they appear, though.

I had a customer once for whom I built a fast 350 Chevy. He had a junk Muncie 4 speed, and wanted a Rock Crusher. I found one that was complete and rebuilt for $250 down in L.A., and went and bought it. It sounded too good to be true, and it was. He wanted my old Muncie, and $250. I checked his over, and it looked good. There was no shifter attached, so I couldn't run it through the gears, but with the side cover removed, it all looked good. I got it home and went through it, and it was in killer shape. I installed the shifter, and couldn't run through the gears. I couldn't figure it out, and it drove me crazy. I finally discovered that it had a Saginaw shift levers and springs on the inside of the side cover, and they weren't quite long enough. The fix was to get another side cover my customer happened to have in his box of parts, and swap in the correct parts. End result was a great tranny, but getting there took some work. I don't think the guy I bought it from knew what was wrong, but I know he was unable to use it. His rebuilder probably installed the wrong cover, and this guy, not knowing that, just decided to unload it.

You've already done the first logical step, which is having it inspected by a good machine shop. I am suspicious of any engine with 200k miles on it that doesn't need to be bored out, though. The engine would have to be completely dismantled to come to that conclusion, and if they just removed the heads, don't buy what they're telling you. The block needs to be hot tanked and magnafluxed before you drop a single penny into it, and you would be wise to bore it over to fully true up the cylinders (especially if you plan to build a powerhouse).

Take care,
-Chris