Need some help/suggestions....

[fudgerunyard]

Hi guys, i have a MAJOR dilemna...seems my '03 needs an engine.

Let me backtrack first, however...roughly 9 months ago, my car was making a nasty ticking noise and i took it to a reputable shop, after diagnosing the problem, i was told i had the dreaded head tick. Needless to say i wasn't happy, but i bit the bullet and bought 2 new (or are they remanufactured?)heads from Tousley for roughly $1600 and had the shop install them. It cost appx. $2400 to install.

Fast forward to today, and i took the car back in to said shop because the car was making a bad ticking noise around 2000-2500 rpm, a few hours later i get a call back from the shop saying it sounds like a piston but they wouldn't know for sure until the engine was pulled, at which point it could be worse, and i would probably be better off either having it rebuilt or purchasing a remanufactured one...WTF???

I just spent over $4k for new heads less than a year ago and now your saying i essentially need a new motor???

My question is this...how much do remanufactured '03 motors go for, including install, or would it be cheaper to have a speed shop (not the place its at now) rebuild my current engine? What a major downer...:fm:

Oops, i almost forgot to mention my 3rd option...take the car to Carmax, hope they don't notice the ticking noise (i have catless Bassani so its pretty loud) and see how much they'll offer me for a trade-in. I owe $15k and the car only has 50K miles. Keep in mind this is a KB-powered car with the usual mods, so i'm not sure if this will affect me trading it in.

 

[Hkaiser83]

You're surprised that a stock bottom KB motor eventually let go? It would have to be tuned really well and not get the shit kicked out of it to survive!

Just get a good shortblock built! This is your chance to build something that can last a very long time.

If you trade it in you will just get the itch again and make the same mistake. Just build the motor. The crank is good for 1500hp and the rods are good to 700hp. So get you some diamond pistons, good wrist pins, and drive her another 100k. :beer:

 

[fudgerunyard]

How much $$$ would we be talking about for a built shortblock??? I can get the remanufactured '03 motor from Tousley for $3700, plus around $1500-2000 for install, for a total investment of roughly $5500.

 

[Hkaiser83]

You don't know anyone that can help you install it?

Parts, Machining, and labor for a well balanced motor re-using your block, crank, and rods? If you go with some good wristpins, ring set, bearings, ARP hardware, and go with some good machining will cost atleast $2000 but probably closer to $2500.