So I decided to just rebuild my engine, where do I start?

[Firebird Phoenix]

Ok I'm beyond fed up of just watching my Firebird collect dust day after day in my garage up on jack stands. On New Year's Eve the engine blew/stop working due to exact unknown reason. Up to that point it was running like ****, and when I tried to start it that day it made several LOUD back-fire/extreme engine noise and stopped working. I had the idea that since I was getting another car that I would do my dream of eventually swapping a V8 in so over the next couple months I slowly ripped off misc **** on the engine/front, but that's about it. Well as I said I'm sick of letting it sit around, and the cheapest option it looks like to me is to just go ahead and rebuild the engine.

So where do I start? It's a 1995 Firebird 3.4 5-speed. Most of the engine is intact. What tools will I need? I'm ready to take on this project, even though my mechanically level is low (brakes/oil changes/etc etc minor stuff), but want to start it so yeah *shrug* Thanks for reading all of this.

[97rs4life]

Re: So I decided to just rebuild my engine, where do I start?

well is it a stock rebuild or are you building it up for some more power?

[Firebird Phoenix]

Re: So I decided to just rebuild my engine, where do I start?

well is it a stock rebuild or are you building it up for some more power?

Well if I can upgrade it while I'm at it for not that much then why not, but obviously I need to tear into it to see what was the demise of the engine I described above so more towards stock I guess just to get it running.

[T-Mill]

Re: So I decided to just rebuild my engine, where do I start?

If you're looking for the cheap(er) route, I would look to see if you can find a replacement engine from a junkyard... especially since you don't know what you're going to run into once you start tearing into it. You might be surprised and find a descent low(er) mileage engine somewhere

[cam98aro]

Re: So I decided to just rebuild my engine, where do I start?

rebuilding an engine requires a lot of tools.. if you arent experienced, you probably dont have near the amount of tools required. you need to be 100% sure you want to get into it.. because believe me, if you budget your engine rebuild at $500 you are going to spend at least $2000

[Bird_Of_Prey]

Re: So I decided to just rebuild my engine, where do I start?

Another vote for a junkyard engine. Honestly, a 95 3.4 car isn't really worth it. I'd toss it on craigslist and let someone else deal with the headache. You can probably get at least a grand or so for it. Running/driving 3.4 firebirds go for under $2k all day. That would be the smart move from a financial standpoint.