Question on engine swap

[Jaguar5822]

I had thought about just getting the head gasket fixed, but a couple different mechanic friends of mine (back in CA sadly) told me that would probably end up costing close to $1k anyway.

James

[ellik]

i blew a head gasket in a 4 cyl. tempo that i had during college and the shop price was around $350 to get it fixed.... that included diagnosis and them first telling me i needed a whole new engine. (this was at a Pep Boys ick! in Philly, not at Toms)
Tom is the owner of the shop, so its not like he will really "do it on the side"
i remember him saying a while back that he deals with a place where he sends engines to be completely rebuilt... i think he was saying 1-2 g's depending on what engine and what parts go into it. i emailed you his number, give him a call and he can help you decide which route to go.
if you shop enough, you should find a 3.8 with almost half those miles for roughly the same money, but install might take more time as little things changed between the years. a rebuild probably would be the wisest road, but if you are going to sell it anyway, maybe all you want to do is replace the head gasket.

[ October 28, 2003: Message edited by: ellik ]</p>

[bobrules]

I guess your not willing to do the work yourself...because that way it's like 100$ in gaskets. 1000$ for a head gasket is crazy...I'll admit that taking off the induction/wiring and putting it back on is a PITA. But 1000$, no way, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to do it, just tools and time. You should be able to find a place to do it for under 500$, if the 3.8 was running fine before the gasket blew no reason to rebuild it. My next door neighbor has a 98 V6 with 180,000 miles on it. Thing still runs strong...

[ October 28, 2003: Message edited by: bobrules ]</p>

[Jaguar5822]

Yea, I wish I could do the work myself. I've always done everything on the car myself, but now I'm at going to school at RIT, I have nowhere to work on the car, and no good tools here. Even if I just had the right tools I could do it in the parking lot. It used to be a lot easier because I would work on the car at my friend's house, his dad is an airplane mechanic, so he has pretty much any tool imaginable. If you know of any board members here in Rochester that has the tools and knows how to do the repair, I would gladly pay them to help me do the head gaskets.

James