What should I do

[94 formula]

I am certain now that my car has spun cam bearings. That means that no matter what the engine has to be pulled and I will need to replace at a minimum the cam and the cam bearings. I will have a machine shop replace the bearings and do the rest of the work myself. After the machine work, fluids, cam, bearings, gaskets ect I realize that I am atleast into $600 if not more and a lot of time working on the car. I've been told that I need to replace the main bearings as well because pieces of the cam bearings will get into them and ruin them. I am probably going to fix my car right and then sell it. I'm 19 in college and do not have the money or time to keep dealing with this car. I'm done with school in 3 weeks and will be starting my job the next week and will be working atleast 55 hours a week to help pay for my next year of shcool and don't want to spend my little bit of free time under the hood of my car which it seems like I have done all year. I've also dropped over $1000 into my car in the last year a lot of that being the ignition. Here are my questions with you knowing what I'm dealing with.

1. Can I get away with just replacing the cam and bearings or do I need to replace all internal bearings?

2. Would I be better off to just find a replacement engine for my car and swap it in.

3. Where would the best place to find a replacement engine be and how much money am I talking about spending?

4. What would you do in my situation?

Any advice is appreciated!

[Z Ya Later]

I am certain now that my car has spun cam bearings. That means that no matter what the engine has to be pulled and I will need to replace at a minimum the cam and the cam bearings. I will have a machine shop replace the bearings and do the rest of the work myself. After the machine work, fluids, cam, bearings, gaskets ect I realize that I am atleast into $600 if not more and a lot of time working on the car. I've been told that I need to replace the main bearings as well because pieces of the cam bearings will get into them and ruin them. I am probably going to fix my car right and then sell it. I'm 19 in college and do not have the money or time to keep dealing with this car. I'm done with school in 3 weeks and will be starting my job the next week and will be working atleast 55 hours a week to help pay for my next year of shcool and don't want to spend my little bit of free time under the hood of my car which it seems like I have done all year. I've also dropped over $1000 into my car in the last year a lot of that being the ignition. Here are my questions with you knowing what I'm dealing with.

1. Can I get away with just replacing the cam and bearings or do I need to replace all internal bearings?

2. Would I be better off to just find a replacement engine for my car and swap it in.

3. Where would the best place to find a replacement engine be and how much money am I talking about spending?

4. What would you do in my situation?

Any advice is appreciated!

If you're gonna do most of the work yourself, then keep the car, but rebuild the motor. A turn-key, brand-new motor from GMPartsDirect is well over $5k, definitely not worth it. You could get one from some other places for several hundred to around $1500, but most sell used motors, not rebuilt. A rebuilt motor would probably run you in the $2-3000 range. If it were me and I had the necessary equipment and such to pull it, which I'm gathering you do, keep it and build it. Assuming you built it correctly, which I'm sure you can, you shouldn't have any major motor problems after that I don't think. Ask yourself this...could you really see yourself parting with the car? Esp. after putting all that work into the motor, would you wanna turn around and get rid of it? Build her up and keep it...she'll do you good

[Trash man]

u can replaced the motor wit a used one but what are the chances of that one being good? u may get one wit a rod knock. i say just rebuild urs completey, add some minor mods to help it out some(new cam, roller set up) and then once its all bag together enjoy her. nothing like have a car wit a rebuilt motor to make it feel new again

[97LT1Z28]

It sounds to me like deep down inside, you want to keep it - three out the four options at the end of your post are about fixing the car. So, the answer is keep it. But enough psychology already. Now that you have subliminally revealed that you want to keep it, An engine swap is the best and cheapest way. Get in the yellow pages and go to the"Auto Parts - Used" section. On monday morning when most of the salvage yards open up, get prices only on low mile motors (as low as you can find for your year). After finding the motor you want, call local shops that advertise "engine rebuilding" and see how much an engine swap would be if you brought them the car and had a local freight company drop off the motor. Don't just call any run-of-the-mill shop - engine rebuilding shops find a motor swap easy since they have all the right tools and don't have to break the motor down - for them, swaps are simple. Then all you have to do is call some local deliver companies to arrange for them to pick up the motor and deliver it to the shop. Most salvage yards keep motors on pallets - so this is no problem. As they say in China . . . .Good Ruck.

[94 formula]

If I do a motor swap I'll be doing it by myself. I have the necessary equiptment and won't have a problem doing it. I would love to keep my car don't get me wrong...my origional plan was to keep it through college then buy another vehicle and build my car into a 383. The problem is I don't have the money right now to do any of that. Even rebuilding the motor is pushing my budget. Would it be cheapest to just buy a used engine swap it in then go trade it in on a Wrangler?

[ss9c1man]

Scoggin Dickey used to sell a stock replacement four bolt short block for 1700. It came with all the internals except for the cam. This is what I would use. While the engine is out you might as well do a cam change, too.