a mechanic told me i have a worn cam lobe among other things. he suggested if i'm going to pull the cam i shuld rebuild the entire engine while i'm at it. the engine was installed in "97" as a remanned 302. it's been slowly deterierating over the years. any advice wuld b great.

 

Depending on what is wrong with it other than the worn cam, you don't necessarily have to do an engine rebuild. What else is wrong with it?

 

other than the cam it could use a valve job and new lifters. after all, it was a remanned engined that was installed way back. it also needs tranny work, differential work, and a disk brake conversion. i took my car to atlas transmission a couple of years ago for a leeky transmission. they replaced the vacuum modulator and a couple of loose screws on the pan along with the pan gasket. it kept keeking so i took it back. they replaced the gasket again and sent me on my way. it still leeked. i took it back a third time and they recommended a shift linkage gasket. they didn't have time so i left and never went back. other than that the body and interior are decent.

 

Sounds like you have some work to do. One thing you may consider on a car with a lot of engine work is getting a crate engine for it. Of coarse, if the tranny needs work you would need to address that as well.

It sounds like a fun project car!