Hi, I'm new here.

I recently purchased an '85 300D with a tired engine. I hoped that that it would get me by for a while. It didn't. Not being the sort of person to learn my lesson and cut my loses, I elected to double down. Now I have another '85 that was hit it the front end for parts.

The parts car supposedly has 200,000 miles on it. The radiator was busted and some parts already removed so I have not heard it run. I did a compression test with the following results.

#1 230 psi
#2 260
#3 310
#4 240
#5 270

I understand that these numbers are low and there is a large difference between the highest and lowest. This test was obviously done cold. The engine may not have been run in a couple years if that makes any difference.

The "good" car has zero rust (southern car), decent paint, fair but presentable interior and 240,000 miles on it. Everything works except the cruise control and power antenna, oh yeah... and that engine thingy.

I would like your opinions on the wisdom of doing and engine swap with this getting tired engine. Obviously there are no guarantees but how much life would you guess is left in it? If I thought it would last a couple years I would probably go that route rather than taking my chances on an $800 junk yard engine that may not be any better.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.