Rebuilding motor, need suggestions

[evotuner]

yeah you can spend 8k on motor and head pretty quick.

[goodhart]

Is that for installation labor and all of that? Or just for parts? Christ, if I was gonna spend that much I'd send it to Buschur or AMS or English Racing, etc

[goodhart]

Where does 6k come from anyways? Looking at MAP's site quick, I came up with ~$3900 with a stage I 2.3, stage I head w/ new valve guides and seals, H11's, and an OEM head gasket.

The extra ~$2k has got to be labor. Why not pull it and re-install it yourself?

[4seasons69]

I would definitely say have map do the block but go else where for the head. I paid $1500 for my head parts and labor with porting and polishing (I reused my cams and valve springs). It would have been at least $2500 from map. Don't get me wrong they do great work but can be pricey

[tmosser]

Nope the extra 2k comes from assembly of block, i am taking it out and putting it back in. Comes from assembly oem master basket set timing belt kit head studs etc. Bunch of little shit that you might as well replace.

Yes this is chuckees old car i know i read on evom that he had problems thats what made me do the compression test.

After sleeping on it, i think i will save a buck if it is just valves i will just do a new head valve springs retainers seals head gasket and studs.

[scheides]

Wow, page 4 and all this drama......and you don't have a leakdown test results yet? :) Sorry man but you are literally spinning yourself in circles (I've done it too) until you do a leakdown and know for sure.

This was years ago so I hope nobody gets upset of I spill the beans here but let me tell you about what happened to the engine in that car years and years ago. (note, this is from memory, so do NOT take it as fact please!) It was low on compression in one cylinder. A leakdown test was performed and a few cylinders were a little low and one was really low, but it was purely leaking down from the valves. So, the head came off, it got disassembled, machined, and reassembled. Leakdown tests were the same! The same! So off came the head again and in a moment of what I can only imagine is a mix of frustration and dedicated troubleshooting, the oil pan comes off.

Oil pan off, one of the cylinders is removed for inspection. Maybe all of them? I don't know. Everything looks peachy keen super nice, no issues. I do not recall if fresh bearings & rings were used but the bottom end was then re-assembled. The head as it was was then re-installed, but as it was being torqued down they did leakdown test to try to find the problem. Leakdown was *perfect* until the final torque sequence....somewhere somehow the head had basically been warped. Even though it had been cleaned prior to this (again to what extent, idk) it still leaked on final assembly. SO they yanked the head again, had the machine shop go through it with a fine toothed lathe (lol) and re-assembled with fresh gaskets and everything--voila, a healhy 'stock' motor.

So, do a leakdown test, it really will tell you everything, as long as you are careful and do it right.

As far as the $6k goes, if you plan on doing the bottom end and even touch the head you will break $5k pretty quick. Don't skimp on anything, do it right and do it once. If your crank is in good shape, there's nothing wrong with a good 2.0! That being said, you can sell your good crank to help offset the cost of a different one.

[Halon]

On another note, I can't believe stage 1 long blocks are going for $6k these days, I thought I was crazy for spending $3k on a really nice 2.3 like 5 years ago, ported head, radius valve job, line honed, the works.

On your DSM right? I think this guy has to pay Evo tax.

[Kracka]

$3k get will get you a nice stage 2 shortblock in your choice of displacement (2.0-2.4). All this guy really needs is a stage 1 so he can do either a 2.0 or 2.3 for under $2,500. Like Scheides mentioned above though, this car has always had recurring head issues so I'm sure that's where it lies; which he can do anywhere from $500 to $2k.

[evotuner]

good luck buddy, hope its an easier fix than tearing the whole damn motor down. lmk if you need any help. I'm home quite a bit during these winter months

[Goat Blower]

Yeah, I probably spent $6k myself for that Evo 2.4 build I did, Evo's are quite a bit more expensive for everything compared to a DSM engine build. I had MAP do all the machine work and I bought a lot of the parts from them, but I did all the engine assembly. Glad to be back to my cheap DSM. :D