ripped camel

My motor is toast, and the mechanic says it's either pistons, rings, or valve guides. He said to fix them would be pointless because it would be more cost efficient to just rebuild the motor.

So what is the most cost efficient way, yet most durable route to building a motor?

Should I have mine rebuilt?

Should I buy a 4v Crate motor?

Should I have a custom built motor?

Money is tight, but I'm willing to spend a little extra ($1000 extra) over the cost of a regular fix to it if it will give me more durability. So what's my best route?

Also whom on here is most knowledgable about our motors?

dimebag

how does he not know if its pistons/rings... or valve guides...

if it were guides and you ended up buying a whole new motor id feel bad for you. just get the guides replaced and a valve job.

you need to find out what is wrong 1st. personally, id just fix the issue, that'd be the cheapest way out.

but if i have to pick one of the 3 choices i say get a motor built by a machine shop

where do u live?

ripped camel

Florida.

He said theres no way to know unless they tear the engine apart.

It ran perfect, I sent it in to the body shop.......I got it back from the body shop, after about 10 miles of driving the exaust note changed to this horse almost blocked sound, and there was a clunking noise, no CEL, no smoke.

The next morning I start it up to take it to the shop, and it shot smoke out the tailpipes. Clunking was gone, still no CEL. Smoke disappeared when I was driving, and it was apparent when I was sitting at the light. Smokes idling, and when revving it at a stop.

I had another motorist (a cop actually) watch me take off from a roll to tell me if they see smoke. The cop said no. So it seems to only do it when sitting in place. It's a 5spd if that helps.

The smoke definitely smells like burning oil. Plus it burned a quart in a day (today).

Still no CEL, which confuses me.

dimebag

dude, pull the heads off, its that simple, youll be able to tell if the guides are beat

but i doubt all 16 of them are just beat out of nowhere... unless the body shop over revved it and had some valves slap some pistons

either way, take the heads off and see whats going on w. it

96GT226410

Drive it and let it burn oil until you have the money to fix it. Cheapest route would be to get a PI longblock and maybe throw a set of cams in or some ported heads. Hell, if you have the money get a forged shortblock. You can get a set of forged pistons and rods and use a Cobra crank. That'll probably be the cheapest route if you build it yourself. Good luck with it, Derek...

By the way, how's the Liberty doing? Any more problems?

boduke0220

i Vote mach 1 or cobra motor (99-01)
or another 4.6

ripped camel

Well I can't do that because I have to have it torn down to prove the body shop did it. The insurance company said they won't back up the 100% guarantee unless I have it torn down to see if long term wear was the cause, or if it was sudden wear/abuse.

I don't know how they can tell the difference, but I hope they can tell for my sake.

What I didn't want to do is have them rip the engine apart, me buy seperate parts to have it rebuilt, then find out after labor it would've been cheaper to have them rip it apart, then install a crate motor, rather than rebuild with the parts I give them.

Basically, I don't want to spend $2500 to rebuild the engine how it was, to find out I could've rebuilt it with forged internals for only $1000 more.

I have no clue what it costs labor wise, or parts wise for a rebuild.

Also wouldn't burning oil pertain to the bottom half of the motor? (forgive me if this question is dumb, I'm not to up to par on engine internals & how they function).

Btw, the Liberty needs to get rebuilt too. Luckily it has a 70k powertrain on it. The transmission very abruptly shifts, then shifts smooth, then repeat. It slams into gear when you put it in drive. As for the engine, after all the regular maintenance, it still runs like crap. The steering wheel shakes as do other interior parts because it's running so rough.

How are things going with your beast?

I can't pull the heads, because the insurance company requires it to be a certified shop in order for them to honor their guarantee.

What types of things can a shop do to sabotage my engine, that would take a good 10 miles to become absolutely apparent?

BTW, boduke0220 I'm considering that route also. I just want to make sure that I didn't go blow $6k on a cobra crate motor, to find out I could've built a better motor piece by piece for the same price.