machine or not to machine

[Scout II]

My atomic 4 overheated, the impeller broke. I left the boat for a couple of months and I could never get it started again. So now I took it out to see if I could see what was wrong. I had a really hard time getting the head off and I noticed there was a crack in the exhaust manifold. I took it all apart and it looked pretty good, bearings, pistons, etc. I took it to two machine shops and one said it looked in good shape and the other said it probably didn't need to be taken apart. The one machine shop was very hesitant to do any work on it because it was a marine engine.
I'm wondering if I should just put it back together or have the machine shop do the basic Rings, bearings, hone.

Anyone take an engine apart and just put it back together?

Money is an issue.

[Al Schober]

I had one engine I did a minimal job on (rings and aft shaft seal). Last I heard, it was going strong 15 years later.

[Scout II]

Did you take anything apart? is there an issue if you take things apart an put them back together? It seems to me that as long as things are clean and you put them back in the same place you should good but I'm no engine builder.

[Al Schober]

I took it all apart and looked at everything. Installed studs for the water jacket cover plate. Biggest issue I had was deciding whether the piston to bore clearance was OK or too big. I decided it was a bit over spec for new, but OK for rebuild. My goal was not trying to make a new engine, just one that wouldn't have problems for a while. I think I did OK.
IF you don't trust your own judgment, you'll have to use someone else.