you can find low mileage for even less than that. you can buy a dek for little bit less than that.and its basically a direct drop in.

 

i still want to know what it takes to replace a head gasket... if its a problem tell me ill ask my car friends when i get back home

 

With the ammoung of work and money that is required, you might as well just buy a used motor and drop it in.

 

apparently it requires taking the engine apart..i dont know EXACTLY either but i do know nobody wants to do it because its alot of work..at least thats juts people around here who work on cars..i wish i knew how to do it myself but i wasnt blessed with that skill

 

I'll probably be crapped on by one of the experts here who has done the job, I haven't stripped a Max engine yet, but... in general... if it is the front one it should be much easier to work on, at least.
I think you would need to start by removing the timing cover on the LHS of the motor (looking into the engine bay from the front). You'd have to follow procedure for marking the timing position and then remove the timing chain tensioner and chain.
Having disconnected the chain from the cams, you'd remove the plastic cover from the top of the motor, then remove the coil packs and plugs.
Remove the bolts from the inlet and exhaust manifolds.
I'm not sure if you could leave the cams and valve/spring assemblies in place. I'm guessing probably yes. Whatever it takes, remove the head retaining bolts. Then split the head off the block, remove the head gasket.
Take the head to a machine shop with a surface table and have it checked for warping. If it is warped it will have to be milled flat. Hopefully it will be OK.
Then clean all carbon deposits from the combustion chambers.
Fit new exhaust and inlet manifold gaskets, new cylinder head gasket, change the remaining seals too - there will be a complete 'top end' gasket kit available.
Torque the head down using the correct lb/ft figure and obeying the correct criss-cross tightening pattern. You'll need to repeat that in about 1500 miles as it settles in. Then use a feeler gauge to check the valve clearances. Add/remove shims as required to get the correct clearance.
Finally, replace the timing chain and tensioner, replace the cover, replace plugs and coil packs, replace plastic cover, reconnect harness.
- Probably I have missed something. Please don't flame me I have done my best!

 

ok.. i see that its deff easier to drop another engine in there...

but if you were to replace a HG... it would be wise to beasically re-build the engine ya?

 

I agree with some of the others- get a new engine--I blew the HG in my corolla a few years back. It had 163k miles on it, and I ended up blowing the rods in the engine... so I bought an engine at a junkyard with 65k miles on it and my dad and I swaped the old one out. It cost us $500, and the car ran great up until I traded it in. If you part out your car or sell as-is you will most likely loose a lot of money. Good luck either way.

 

I had to rebuild the top end of my B16 when I had one

trust me when I say I spent more than the worth of the car, and it wasn't worth it.

Finding a 3.0 to drop in won't take more than a weekend and is probably your most economical route if you wish to fix the car.

DON'T SELL THE CAR AS IS <- you'll end up like that guy

If you need help parting out the car, I'd be happy to take a weekend a trip, I helped my friend part out his stock 96 Passat and we made over $300 so far and we havn't even touch any of the engine or mechanical componets yet.

BTW, dibbs on the Tokicos set up :cashinhand:

 

oh, and to post up pics, you can upload them either onto cardomain, like you did above.
or upload them onto www.photobucket.com (also free)

you right click the picture and choose "copy image location" then come to the forum and type "[img]" right click -> paste image location, then type "[/img]

so it'll look like this -> [img]url of the picture location[/img]

 

alright ill play around with that..thanks alot for your help..

 

oh okay ill definilty keep you in mind. thanks alot..what if i was to drop the new engine in there (3.0) what would i possibly be able to ask for it given there is 140,000 miles on the current engine..mind you everything else is brand new..i.e. exhaust, suspension, o2 and knock sensors, and a bunch other things

 

From my past experiences I've found that aftermarket parts don't up the value of a car much. Sometimes they even hurt the value if the parts or the work done is crappy or not what most people would want on their cars. This is why its better to part out your aftermarket stuff and try to return the car to stock.

If you dropped in a lower milage 3.0 engine it would def raise the value up to, if not surpass, its normal value (ie. KBB quoted value)

Your car with 140k in good condition would fetch about $3,500 according to KBB. Your car with a newer (rebuilt) lower milage engine would get at least $4,000 if not more.

Now as stated in some of the above responses someone offered you $100 for the car as is, thats at least $3,400 less than what you could get for it if it ran. Also mentioned above, you can get a lower milage 3.0 dropped in for under a grand, so you'd profit at least $2.5 - 3 grand from the transaction.

Hell if you get a lower milage 3.0 dropped in and you still like the car why not keep it? . . . unless you want a 5spd, in which case I'd understand

 

and the other issue is finding someone to do the engine swap around here for a decent price, i can probably find the engine..but finding a person local to do it is another issue, i dont want to travle far to if at all to have it done..and i dont want to spend alot of money fixing it..i dont know im just full of issues haha

 

maybe breaking down the current issue will help you get to a resolution fast.

*Do you want to keep the car yes or no?
*If yes, post in regional section if anyone can come to your place and help with the swap, also while calling local shops getting quotes.
*Check car-part.com for a decent priced DE.
*Find a place with a cherry picker for cheap, or where you can rent one for a day.
*If No to keeping the car. . . post for sale thread and see who bites, as well and posting it on autotrader or even ebay.