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Motor Woes...
Posted by
davecarama
,
12-29-2011
·
1,275 views
Well, I sure have been quiet! This poor car. The previous owners were all boneheads. This thing is... less than par. Every time I do anything to the car, I find more effed up crap that I need to re-do...
So I finally had time to pull the motor and tear it down. Took me about a day to get it to the point I could bring it to a machine shop to clean up and start measuring things to give me recommendations of what to buy. I dropped the motor bits off today. Heres what I was told.
Head - Needs total rebuild. "Get something else", it would cost too much to use my race shop to re-do it for me (very disappointing)
Block - Looks good.
- Cylinder bore looked good, no lip or groves (a good hone and I am good to go).
- Main bearings look good
- Rod bearings did NOT look good (looked like smears on the surface, but it was smooth). Crank showed wear (grooves) and the shop said they would measure it and see if they could get away with just polishing it.
Pistons and rings - Look good
My diagnosis?
The head was bad. Valves needed to be redone, and that was what was causing me to lose oil and smoke. At some point in it's life it must have been run low on oil and did some damage.
What do I do now?
Good question... here are what I think are my options
#1. Spend in the ballpark of $1300
#2. Same as #1 but buy a remanufactured crank at Advanced Auto (complete with matching bearings) for $225
#3. Buy a junkyard motor for $800
#4. Buy a crate motor for $X,XXX-$3,500
I might just bite the bullet and buy a crate motor that I won't need to think about for a few years... except for when the credit card statement comes in and I have to pay it off that is
PLEASE respond with what the best option is for me to do.
So I finally had time to pull the motor and tear it down. Took me about a day to get it to the point I could bring it to a machine shop to clean up and start measuring things to give me recommendations of what to buy. I dropped the motor bits off today. Heres what I was told.
Head - Needs total rebuild. "Get something else", it would cost too much to use my race shop to re-do it for me (very disappointing)
Block - Looks good.
- Cylinder bore looked good, no lip or groves (a good hone and I am good to go).
- Main bearings look good
- Rod bearings did NOT look good (looked like smears on the surface, but it was smooth). Crank showed wear (grooves) and the shop said they would measure it and see if they could get away with just polishing it.
Pistons and rings - Look good
My diagnosis?
The head was bad. Valves needed to be redone, and that was what was causing me to lose oil and smoke. At some point in it's life it must have been run low on oil and did some damage.
What do I do now?
Good question... here are what I think are my options
#1. Spend in the ballpark of $1300
- $500 to have a shop clean the block and crank, $300 on a rebuild kit, and $500 on a head from Advanced Auto (remanufactured)
#2. Same as #1 but buy a remanufactured crank at Advanced Auto (complete with matching bearings) for $225
#3. Buy a junkyard motor for $800
- prolly in the 70-80K mile range motor. Unknown reliability
#4. Buy a crate motor for $X,XXX-$3,500
- have a brand new motor that is WAY better than the motor I had, but nowhere CLOSE to the winning car's motors (Option 1 and 2 wouldn't be close to the winning motors either, but less expensive. This option is actually closest to option #1 once complete).
I might just bite the bullet and buy a crate motor that I won't need to think about for a few years... except for when the credit card statement comes in and I have to pay it off that is
PLEASE respond with what the best option is for me to do.
