Thread: Should I Rebuild or Buy???

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I just bought a 1979 F250 that is mint. Only rust is a tiny bit on the cab corners, runs great, interior is mint. It's supposed to be a tow vehicle. It's got 132000 kms on it. It was sitting for a few years before I bought it.

I take it in for an oil change when I get it, they say it runs great, engine is great, good deal blah blah.

Starts to run a little rough, then really bad, about 250km after oil change. No oil around engine block, none underneath, doesn't burn any, no smoke nothing. Check the dipstick and it's bone dry. This is <300 km after oil change. I'm pissed, think they forgot to put oil in at the shop. Engine now has a tick that it didn't before. Take it in to shop to say WTF and they say they filled it, it's blow by. Sure enough you rev the engine and raw oil sprays out the tail pipe (which they didnt' notice when they inspected it).

They say only recourse is a rebuild.
So, what do I do? Is it really time for a rebuild?

A) pay some guy to rebuild my current engine for 3-4K???
B) Buy a rebuilt engine (just saw one online for 1400 USD)
C) Rebuild it myself with help (I'm a girl but I'm pretty smart and my dad has a shop I can work in). How long would it take??

I fefel like a sucker, but it ran so good and was so much better than all the other trucks I looked at. It was the only one not leaking like crazy (so I thought)