Back on to this...

When drilling out the bad studs, the drill walked, and took out some threads...so I had to tow the god forsaken beast to a shop, to have the holes drilled out, and have heli-coil kits installed. After slipping once, I didn't want to risk further damage...

Cost : $550...

For the drilling labor, and the cost of the heli-coil kits ONLY...

I'm still reassembling the car when it's all said and done...

 

Welp, was called this weekend by the shop...they are going to have to pull the engine, or the head, to get the busted studs out...minimum cost, $750 for LABOR ONLY...Either method begs for the t-belt to be done, as it's about 1200 miles over due...along with a ton of hoses, the CHTS, the water pump, etc...

After initial quote, looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of $1400 for the entire package...

I could get another, lower milage engine for that...actually, if I pull the engine, I could have it rebuilt for LESS than that...

We just simply do not have the cash for this issue right now, and we need a drivable car...looks like it may be time for the wagon to say goodbye...

I have a lot of money tied upo in it, also, that I will not be getting back - New rack and pinion, rebuild P/S pump, new tires - less than 800 miles on them, transmission, etc...

This just makes me sick...if I end up junking it, and if my wife will let me, I MAY beable to partially part the thing out...we'll have to see what the future holds...

 

If I can show my wife it's worth doing, I may be able to get her to let me pull the engine, and take care of it myself...

If so, for those who have pulled the engine out, do I have to drop it from the bottom, or can I pull it out the top? Do i have to pull the tranny out with it?

Any advice is welcome...I need to get this car running or replaced ASAP...

 

Easier to drop from the bottom if your gonna do it with the tranny attached.

S

 

Right, but can it be done from above, with the trans still in the car?

 

Well, although the decision may still come from a higher source, my wife has decided that I am to fix what I have...so here I go, getting to pull the engine out...

Luckily, they called before doing any work, so there was no expense there...now it's just a matter of getting everything together...

While the engine is out, going to replace all the seals and gaskets that I can, the t-belt, h2o pump, CHTS, belts and hoses. Tempted to go ahead and pull the heads, and such, and do a basic ring and valve job on...

 

That is how is starts... then something will break, and then you fix that and something else will break. In my experience anyway, but I wish you better than I.

 

That post was too negative, im sorry. I really do hope you fare better than me. I think my car has a curse on it lol.

 

Mine does...In the past 2 years, it has been drivable for about 9 months.

It sat on jackstands, while I fought with finding some parts for the front end, for almost a year, replacing the rack & pinion, rebuilding the PS pump, replacing all the steering hoses, new tie-rod ends, and new ball-joints.

I then get it reassembled, and dropped back to all 4 wheels, and the car decided it didn't want to run right, and idled at about 2k...

Got that worked out, and put $300 + worth of new tires, and a 4-wheel alignment on it...

Drove it for 2 weeks, and my wife hit a water-main access pipe that was left above the road surface, tearing a huge chunk of my tranny away.

Again, sat in the driveway for 4 months, while I fought with the city to pay for the repairs.

Got a replacement tranny, but the original one was bad - so it took several weeks to find a "good" tranny. Got it back, and drove it for a month...then the "new" tranny went out, dying a shuddering death - back to the yard where the city bought the tranny from...and sat there for another month, waiting to find another replacement tranny...

Get it back this time, and it's running great, but now has a bad exhaust leak. Sounded like it was under the car...drove like this for a few months, until I could get the time to trace it down. During a state safety inspection, they told me the leak was under the car - WRONG...was the !&*%^*(&@% exhaust manifold - one stud was broken off clean, and the manifold was severly warped there...

While taking off the manifold, 4 others FELL out of the head, as soon as the wrench touched them...ONLY ONE stud held the manifold on the head...and it was so severly galled and corroded that removing the nut tore the threads apart...

BEFORE all of this, I replaced all four struts, and rebuilt all four brake calipers...

With the way things are going, I'm going to try and talk my wife into letting me rebuild the engine, if she wants to keep it so bad, to keep THAT from grenading after doing all the other work to the engine! ARGH!

So, after tallying everything up, the cheapest I'll get out of this grand adventure is looking to be ABOUT $750 - $800...

If I opt to overhaul the engine, whilst it's sitting on a stand, it'll add another $550 to $800 to the investment - and that's IF I do 90% of the work...farming out ONLY the head work, and machine work...

Joy of Joy's...a friend of mine said he thinks the car is trying to tell me that it's ready to retire after 245k miles, and to leave it alone...buy a new car...

 

It can be done from the top, but believe me...it'll be a pita. As for the T-belt, don't forget a t-stat on top of that. Also for the CHTS, besure you get a new harness that runs from the main harness to the sensor.

S

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW

There you go man, heads with 4k on them. There are alot of good deals to be had on ebay. When I bought my heads the guy who rebuilt them upgraded to the 10mm exhaust studs. SO I had to drill the holes for the studs larger and I may have overdone it on one or two of the holes. I can see it already, brand new manifold but it is going to have to be replaced due to a little mistake again... Its all a learning process for me though. I am 21 and I can already do more than most of the people that I know. Always learning. I have the extra cash to make the mistakes now, so later on if im ever tight for money and a repair comes up, I can do it.

 

I think the low mileage motor would be the best bet. So many things to go wrong, just get one with a warranty. Replace the timing and all of the hard to get things while its out. If it doesnt work right, take the parts off and send it back.

 

Again ebay has alot of good deals, there is a place in my old city called japan engine supply that I looked at for getting a vg30et from. They said 800 for it including shipping, which is definatly reasonable and it came with a 1 month warranty. If you do get one though I strongly recommend checking the manifolds, our manifolds have a reputation for cracking under stress. The way to prolong the life of the manifold is to torque the exhaust studs in the proper order to the exact same torque.

 

well, after everything has been weighed out, and the fact that this car is a daily driver, I can no longer afford to maintain it...it will be sold to the highest local bidder, as I have no account on eBay to sell, and cannot afford anything right now, anyway...

I hate to see the old beast go, but maybe it's time to say goodbye...she's served me well for almost 5 years...and she racked up almost 250k miles on her...she still runs good, and would be a steal for someone who has the time and equipment to pull the engine, and do it right...that someone just isn't me anymore...funds are too tight, and so forth...

 

Sucks to hear that my friend. Good luck with the sale.

S