Bought a used 99 TA last october. The current engine has 162k miles on it. Now before I wanted to do my mods on it I wanted to make sure the engine would last me. The current engine sounds good no ticking or piston slap.

My situation comes from do I rebuild the current enngine or buy a short/long block. I dont want a crate engine as many of the items coming on it will be changed.

I havent found a local engine shop to get a cost to rebuild it or anybody local shop that sells short/longblocks. I checked the ebay dealers and after paying freight and worries if something goes wrong having hassles getting warranty work done yadda yadda yadda internet sales.

If anybody know of a local shop with in 25-30 miles of oaklawn that either rebuilds them so i can get a cost figure on it. I just want my engine rebuilt or a new engine.

 

well if i were you id start modding other areas of the car that can be reused, full exhaust, suspension, built trans, stall if its an auto, short stick if its a manual, etc. you get the point...this is what i am currently doing, i only have a 122k but im not going internal until if pops or i decide to pull it...

on the other hand if you want to pull it and go cheap as possible, i would find a low mile lq4 or lq9 shortblock and reuse what you need to off your current engine(covers, pan, etc) and buy the other parts you want(heads, cam, intake) nice cheap setup.

or go all out and just buy a 408, 416, 427 shortblock etc

 

That is allready planed out. I have about $7-$8K to spend total on engine, suspension, exhaust, headers,torque convert, tune next february/march.

Much of the labor I am doing so I am saving on that. I just figured is I spent around $2k on a new engine or rebuild existing what is best and cheapest way to go.

My last TA I didnt have to worry about that it only have 40k miles until I sold it.

 

IMO for a cheap build, I would get a low mileage 6.0 shortblock out of a truck slap some 243s on top with a good sized cam spec'd out by Predator Z or someone else on here with an ls6. Use the covers, pan and accessories from your old engine and sell the ls1 longblock. Should be able to do that easily with your 2k budget and you doing all the work.

 

If its a automatic plan on rebuilding the transmisison as well which done right will cost you around $2000.

 

i would just drive it like it is, save your money until you have enough to do all the mods you want, pull, rebuild and upgrade, drop back in.. that would be the easiest.

 

That would be 1 idea if I was the one who put on the 161k miles. Since I didnt I have no real clue who and how it was driven before me. Its a roll of the dice for me I think.

if it dies it dies....we can rebuild it type of attitude I will have to roll with.

The trans will be yanked for a new one that is on a separate budget since I gave my brother my blazer. He is going to pay for my new trans when he gets his tax refund.

 

I see a lot of good deals for 98-02 shortblocks, so you could buy one and run that or use one as a core and have that gone thru ie new rings and bearings. You could then turn around and sell your engine as a core for someone else.

 

Im in burbank and if I were you I would call these guys they can help you rebuild a good quality short or long block, ask for Randy. I went to their shop and they were working on quite a few Lsx motors including a badazz 455!

http://www.per-race-engines.com/index.html

Goodluck and let me know how it goes.

 

thanks for the info.