This is my first post going along with owning my first ford. I recently bought a 94 f150 flareside with hopes of bringing it to great running condition and make it my own. we have started taking it apart and have eliminated problems with coil buckets, replacing them and taking surface rust off the frame. it has come to my attention that the engine may be losing compression due to rings. my brother the mechanic thinks we should just replace the engine with either a swap or rebuilt engine. My thought is that we could just replace the rings and maybe a few other things inside and she will be fine. the engine has 188k original miles. it has all new wiring and intake. the engine was surprisingly clean for the truck just sitting around. can anybody tell me what could be the best way to go. and any good engine rebuilders in nj?

Thank you

 

Which engine is it?

 

it has the 302 but wouldn't mind putting in the 351