I am trying to decide how much of a rebuild I want to do myself. I am no stranger to working on my own car but I have never done a complete engine rebuild. After many comments from other about the dangers of buying a rebuilt engine from one of the megastores, I have begun looking at the other options and am looking for any advice I can get.
My options right now seen to be to either rebuilt it myself or have a local machine shop do it or some combination of the two.
The engine is a 1994 Chevy 2.2L out of an S-10 PU. The engine has 222,000 miles on it and has either a cracked head, block or headgasket. I know this because it was bellowing white smoke out the tailpipe the last time it ran and now the radiator is empty.
I have removed the engine from truck already so now I need to decide what to do next. I don't know anyone who can recommend a good machineshop or rebuilder in the North Atlanta Metro area. If anyone can suggest one that would be great. If not, can you give me any advice on how to determine what shop would be best for me.
I am not against the idea of doing the tear down on the engine and rebuilding after a machine shop does all of the necessary work, but I am not sure I would know if they did the work right or what work to ask them to do. Any advice here would also be appreciated.
My goal is to get the engine rebuilt to new specifications and ready to go back in the truck for under $1500. Is it possible?