Well I took my car to the original owner who happens to be a mechanic and he told me my head gaskets were blown because my car was overheating extremely fast. So he told me he was going to take 3/4 of the engine out and replace everything with new and salvaged parts. The car itself has about 190k+ miles on it. Should I just invest into buying a brand new engine?

Because I want to eventually tune it up and put some serious mods into it, but I figure it's not worth it since the mileage is pretty high.

My friend told me since he's already taking out 3/4 of the engine, I might as well have him install the mods i need or what while he's doing that.

Any suggestions?

 

I definitely agree that modding a 190k mile car is a waste of time.

However, I also think buying a 'brand new' engine is a waste of money on a car that probably isn't worth much more than $2500 at best.

I definitely would suggest having a low mileage engine installed in place of the old stuff (and trans too while you're at it)- but I'd be careful if he's not a friend. The engine and trans together shouldn't run over $1k for a setup under 100k miles.

I'd be careful having him replace stuff on a car that's been overheated- the block and heads both need to be resurfaced and checked, or replaced.

As for the mods, it depends what you want done. The only things I could think of that would be easier with the engine out would be an L67 top swap, heads, or a cam. Basic bolt ons can be done with the engine in the car.

 

Hmm... I will have to ask him about that then, it sounds great to me. As for the L67 swap, what do I ask him when I tell him about it?

Oh and one more thing, how the heck do I get my monte to sound like yours? That sound is beautiful! I love it!

 

I guess you would just need to ask him if he's willing to put a slightly different engine in. It literally bolts in, and is 99% plug and play- minus the one axle and the two wires.

Thanks- its gonna cost some money though. The big thing that makes the sound difference is the cam (which by itself is only like $350 plus gaskets and such)- however, the heads can't handle the lift in stock form, and really need to be ported to use the cam- plus to make it sound almost identical, you'd also need 1.7 rockers to make the cam a little bigger, and headers.

Buying all that brand new its like $350 for the cam, $1800 for the heads, $300 for the rockers, and $350 for headers. That would get you virtually an identical sound (oh and leave the factory idle rpm table in the pcm ).

 

Oh heck yea well finally I understand what you guys are talking about for the most part. I had a friend break everything down to me so I could understand these parts and concepts you guys are talking about.

Well, what I am going to do for now is;
1. Do the L67 Swap
2. Paint the car (don't know which color yet, I have no ideas)
3. Eventually save up for the Blower Cam, not sure how much that will cost in San Antonio, Texas.

and after that... I'm not sure...