Crate Engines or rebuilt locally?

In my opinion stay away from AutoZoo motors. I don't trust any of the mass production rebuilders for engines. I would either find a good garage in your area, if they have their own machine shop all the better. Or look at a GM crate motor. I would estimate that you could get a 2.2 liter for around 2k. If some one rebuilds the motor entirely, including boring the cylinders new crank etc. you'll probably have about that in it.

Of course there is always looking for a low mileage motor at a salvage yard. Most good salvage yards pull the motors when a wrecked vehicle comes in and tags it and places them indoors. They can usually tell you the mileage, where the vehicle was wreck, i.e.: front or rear crash.

nospam

IF , and that is capital IF, you know the people at the junkyard, then they can be a good deal. But most junkyards want more than AZ does for a rebuilt motor. U pull it's are cheap, but it's 110% buyer beware there, and I am too old and have better things to do than do the job more than once. AZ and Advance both use Recon, BTW. They make two grades. The lower grade allows a tolerance of something like 9 grams on the pistons. They are cheap. I got the better grade one from Advance when my brother worked there as a manager. 4.3 for something like 499. Couldn't pass it up. It's at 72k now and going like day 1. My experience is better than most, though. I've put two 300's in an F150 for a good friend of mine, both covered in full under warranty after they broke pistons at less than a year old each. That was the Advance cheaper grade. My personal choices, in order, are crate if you can afford it, then local junkyard from someone you know, local rebuilder that line bores, then AZ. The crate motor is an absolutely safe bet. The rest are just crap shoots.

IMHO, start with a J-yard motor. Rebuild depending upon the application. For example, if your putting it into a vehicle with a book value less than $3K then don't bother. If it's a $30,000 vehcile, then either have it rebuilt locally or do it yourself - carefully.

Look carefully at the AZ/reman motors on display. You'll see they appear to have rebuilt every single block they got regardless of bad problems. There are differing sized pistons, and valves that are discolored. The ones I observed I wondered why someone would bother rebuiding on in that condition. For example, if you get a deascent J-yard motor you won't need to bore cylinders - though new rings and sanding off the varnish from the boors is good.

Cost objectives can drive your path through the replacements vs reconditioning, and professional/home machining. If you're going into something fairly new with something like a connecting rod failed, you could avoid head machining by using the heads from the original engine too. Of if its a cheep application you could do it yourself there too (see old thread "Machining you own heads").

Many J-yards write on the cars in their own 'code' to indicate which vehicles had good engines and trannys. Some you-pull-it yards have a yard man who will know which cars have good motors and which ones interchange. He's worth it. You can have him do a whole one or get it ready for a few cuts. At Gary's last saturday when I was riding with the yard man for a dust cover pull, the man quoted to someone $50 for a tranny pull. Probably would be $100 for an engine. Rebuild yourself will probably cost about 200 (rings, gaskets) + whatever you do with the heads. If you are far from the yard, and if you can get the yard man's name and phone number you can probably send him a money order so he can do the work in advance and thus you only go there once to pick up the parts.

Elliott

John Alt wrote:

Lot's of good info. I do appreciate all of you responding. I began the search today for a crate motor and guess what. GM does not offer one for the

2.2L 4 cylinder. Furthermore, the only remanufactured engine I could find was nearly twice the cost of a 350ci V8. What's up with that? I am still looking. I have talked to a couple of shops around town but they all just want to tear it down and replace the bad parts and put it back together sounds like about the same thing I would get from AutoZone except without the nationwide warranty.

Any suggestions are welcome while I continue the search. I am in the North Atlanta GA Metro Area.

1994 Chevy S10 Pickup 2.2L Blown head gasket. at 222,000miles

The previous owner said it had been loosing water for some time but it finally let loose and started bellowing smoke out the tailpipe. I can anly assume that there is a significant amount of water related wear and damage internally due to the length of time it ran with a slow leak. I would guess that the head gasket could be replaced but given the mileage and the fact that I want to drive this car (reliably) for at least another 100,000 miles, I would feel better rebuilding or replacing. Still weighing my options though. I have lots of time since this is not my daily driver (yet).

Here is a link to a rebuilt motor for your truck, price isn't bad at $1162.00 exchange with a 7 year 70k warranty. I don't know of this company at all but at least the warranty sounds good. You could check them out with the Better Business Bureau.

nospam

"t_puls" wrote

I would start with just fixing the head gasket problem. These were a pretty tough little engine, and unless you've had coolant in the oil for a long time, there probably is little engine damage done. Pull the head, have it checked for cracks, and possibly have it resurfaced, and install a new head gasket. Relatively cheap, and probably the best way to go at this time.

Ian

I personally had a bad experience with a local rebuilder.. "Engine Exchange Co.".. here in Hampton Roads, VA.. My dad bought a rebuilt chrysler 225 slant 6.... everyone says they are bullet proof motors... well sure they are -- if you don't rebuild them with parts from a pile laying around the "factory." My dad installed the motor into his van and drove it 10k... the van was beat, so i pulled the 225 and put it in my Dart... I was going 75 in my Dart when #4 piston decided it didn't want to finish going to TDC. Of course, this caused #4 connecting rod to install a new "sump inspection window" on the driver's side of the engine as well as "machine" the #4 rod journal to the point of uselessness. I never found half of the 5 inch diameter "inspection cover" or about 1/3rd of the rod. What a plume of steam though.. It's a hell of an experience to grenade a motor when you kick it into passing gear. Anyway, this was at 20k miles on the rebuild. I vowed I would never buy a rebuilt engine again.

But then, I went and did it again. I paid a guy I used to work for $500 for a "just rebuilt 1000 miles ago" 20R engine from a Celica. It was funny because the guy convinced me he had a buyer for it and that I needed to come get it ASAP if I wanted it. When I got there, I noticed my own handwriting on the valve cover.. it said "78 Celica" -- I had pulled the engine out of the Celica myself when I worked for the guy 5 years earlier. I thought to myself "well, this guy is full of $hit, but I'll take his word on the motor".. *BZZZZZZ* Wrong answer. I let the motor sit around for a year and then decided to pull it apart for an inspection before I wasted the time putting it into another Celica. Good call -- the bearings were wasted and so was the crank.. The head and valves were laughable too. I called the guy and told him what was up and he still insisted it was rebuilt 1000 miles previously. Long story short, he gave me money for the machinework and the parts to get a different 20R going (about 260 bucks was what I charged him). This time I REALLY vowed not to buy another rebuilt engine.

So... to do the motor rebuild myself... It took a month of a few hours at a time (definitely not every day).. not to mention waiting for parts. I didn't think to order a full rebuild kit ... DUHH. Nickeled and dimed myself with the parts and the wait for parts... Other than that, I am satisfied.

Here's a rough cost estimate..

-Cylinder head recondition at local shop = $95 (clean, pressure test, re-surface if necessary, 3-angle valve job -- no align hone though )

-New valve springs = $5 x 8 springs = $40 (granted, i should have bought new keepers and retainers, but i didn't)

-Acid wash block, "supposedly" check for cracks, Hone cylinders (no align bore on crankshaft journals) = $35

-Brass freeze plugs = $10 from Toyota (woooo)

-Upper-end Gasket set = $25 from Ebay

-Oil pan gasket = $6

-Timing gasket set (w/ front crank seal) = $25

-Timing set = $50 from ebay

-Timing Chain Tensioner = $17

-Water pump = $25

-Rear crank oil seal = $12

-Main Bearings = $60

-Rod Bearings = $30

-Thrust Washers = $20

-Piston Rings (hi-po, not file-fit though) = $55

-New Oil Pump = $90

I'm sure there was more stuff that I replaced, but that's all the stuff that I can remember at the moment.. So, rough total so far for parts (I had the good engine block, crank, and cylinder head to start out with) to this point is $595... that seems about right. Add $100 bucks for gasket sealer, oil, and other sundries.... oh yeah, did i mention a whoooole lotta time. You could try to do it all at once, but i don't recommend it on your first rebuild (if it's your first...) take your time and if you get frustrated, leave it and come back later

The engine is in the car and running wonderfully still and it has 1900 miles on it... I regularly rev it past 4500 and it feels great! If you think you might have the skill to rebuild an engine, go for it. It's not really as hard as you might think... you need the proper tools though..

Hmm.. now that you mention that stuff.. sounds like you should replace the motor..