97 maxima thinking about putting a engine in it. I like the car and I beleave it would be worth it to fix it up. But just want other opinions everything else is good on it except radio and driver seat rips all suspension body and exaust are it good shape for a 24 year old car and I plan on keeping the car so I don't care about resale crap

 

Good luck. Take care.

 

ok here we go...
- edited title with a little more details
- removed the not so nice comments.
- no one getting banned this time.

to the OP - people like to see a little more details in the title. as to what you should do, you already talked yourself into it. you don't need us to validate your decision. if it makes you happy to fix it and drive it around, go for it. your money, your time. like you said, you don't care about resale.

let's all try and get along here...ok?
thanks!
Dan

 

Chances are you could get a more reliable radio (I hear similar era Pathfinder Bose works well), and a replacement seat or seat cover from a junk yard for under $100, so basically your car is in great condition if that is all that was wrong.

But why are you wanting to replace the engine? Is the engine shot? or are you looking to upgrade it to a 3.5l ?
And can you do the work yourself or would you be paying someone?

 

I will be doing the work myself and the engine is shot. I bought it in 2014 and sold it to a friend and I just bought it back and he didn't have antifreeze in it. The car just had water in it and it cracked the block in 3 places I see for sure. I always used 50% antifreeze 50% water already mixed. I should have asked the question differently. I will be putting a used 3.0L engine in it

 

Honestly sounds like a fun summer project that shouldn't cost too much.

 

If your goal was to fix up the car to sell for a profit, then it will never be worth it. BUT since your goal is to make it a reliable car for yourself with no car payment, then it absolutely is! I have owned my '96 for 13 years. It's never been my only car, but it's the only one that has remained while I have bought and sold many others. My engine still runs great, but it leaks from many places and other small parts have been failing around it. In the process of putting a new engine in yours you can fix other issues you might have soon encountered anyway. Leaking seals, clogged EGR valve, cracked / brittle / broken vacuum lines, etc. Parts are still fairly cheap and attainable and this board is an excellent resource for fixing anything along the way.

 

This would be a lot of work if you only want to frivr the car for a year.

Yet it would make a lot of sense if you own it for 5 years or more.

I reccommend doing preventative maintainace service on the engine before you install it.

The best time to do this is when all sides of he engine are easy to get at. Mounting it on an engine stand would be ideal.

I advise replacing the water pump, removing the upper intake manifold so you can replace the valve covers, clean out the egr system, check or replace the knock sensor. Have the injectors rebuilt. Replace the spark plugs of course. Clean out the iacv and the throttle body.

if your car has manual transmission, replace the clutch and the rear main seal.

Sure, doing all that work will seem like a pita.

The results will be a reliable engine which will need little to no service for quite a while.