Rebuild my 250?

[deelowe]

Hey guys,

My truck came with the original L6 250. Despite what others have said on this board about keeping it all original, my plans are to lower the truck, change the wheels, and recover the bench seat, but other than that, I'm going to keep it stock. I don't plan to a power brakes, power steering, disk brakes or anything like that. (Here's a link to original post when I bought the truck).

The engine is the original motor that came with the truck. It smokes blackish grey smoke and I'm pretty sure it's oil (no water or antifreeze in the oil thankfully), it leaks oil around the oil pan, and the tranny needs a new clutch, but other than that the motor/tranny is pretty strong. I don't really have the money for a 350 right and I'm considering leaving the L6 in the truck since it's the original motor and everything else is staying stock. Given that I'm going to need to replace the clutch, I'm considering just pulling the engine at the same time and doing a rebuild.

What do you guys think? Given that I'm not planning on deviating too far from the stock setup, should I rebuild the engine or just drive it as-is and use the money I'd spend on rebuilding it to invest in a 350? Should a noob like myself even bother with such a project?

Thanks!