My series 3 (96 Villager, the minivan Max) motor sounded pretty bad - knocking, especially on the overrun. However, the crank was still in such good shape it wasn't necessary to regrind it, only change the main bearings and con rods.
It's back together and running great. The engine had done 160,000 before the big-ends failed, pretty good really. I had to recon the tranny as well, (my other note, today) but now I feel as if the van will go on for ever.

 

a VG engine to only last 160k on the bottom end is actually rather pathetic. Greeny is running 310k+ on his stock VE which isn't any more or less reliable than the VG all things considered. The previous owners must have never changed the oil for it to knock at just 160K. My 240k motor runs great, same with my 165k motor. I mean, we're not talking about a Hyundai here (friend's 01 Elantra got rod knock at 89K and the engine failed totally about 15 miles later)

 

Yeah, I have to agree. I have two Gen 4's both with over 180K on them and they are still completely quiet. When I bought it I changed the oil and it was pretty terrible. (Made a mental note not to buy a Hyundai ...

 

how hard was it to do?
and another vg member here drive his car hard.
has some miles on his car and still runs quiet.

so apparantly the vg is a tough cookie...