I have a bit of a dilema.

My head gasket is fubar. Leaking oil front and back and letting water into the cylinders.

FTG Auto salv have ed xr6 engines for $750, and my mechanic says replacing the head gasket has the potential to cost up to a grand.

I asked him what he thought about tearing whole engine out and putting xr6 one in, he said theyd just done one like that and it worked a treat, for about $3-400. However i might be able to skip that cost by getting my uncle to do it, he has 2 drag cars, basically qual mechanic and he owns an engine crane.

So, im asking for your opinions. Educated ones are preferred but in the interest of me, any will do.

Do i fix the head or do i replace the engine all together, and risk having another f**k head.

I do plan on pulling it half appart and doing full gasket kit first tho. If i do go new engine.

Once your head gasket is gone it cost abit if your not doing it yourself. If you can get a low km motor then why not chuck it in. At least your can help out and learn something on the way

Does that include ecu if yes then go the xr. Get some help, do it your self and enjoy the experience. There is nothing better than hearing it start for the first time. If you have any questions ASK.

Is the head cracked or is it just the gaskit. if its the gaskit....replace it and tidy the motor and everything will be all good. Otherwise a $750 tickford motor would be good. Swap it over your self. Hire for a engine lift isnt much and its pretty easy to DIY.

what you can do is...get a low km motor and chuck it in. Keep the old motor and fiddle with it...pull things apart and put them back together to see how things work so if you ever plan on doing something yourself on the working engine you could always see how things go in the stuffed one. It is good to have some knowledge of things inside the engine =D

phong =P~

Its a long motor without ECU.

Darren from ftg tells me its around 200k. so its getting to midlife, and unless the heads been done before its prolly getting close to fubar.

What i might just do is source a reco tikky head now, fit it, save and buy the ecu asap.

My mechanic seems to know a fair bit about it, cause we were talking the other day about change over heads.

Ill look into it more.

Phong, i would like to do that, cause what i can do is gasket kit the whole new engine before i put it in, then ill never have to worry about oil or water leaks, front rear mains water pump etc.

But if the heads getting old then id prolly have to reco it and im back to where i started -$750.

Might just cut out the middle man.

keep both motors and work the one you have now while you are driving around with an XR6 engine...not like you are going to do much with the old engine.

phong =P~

Lol, i can hardly afford the engine i have now, its a POS, like ima be able to work it.

Plus march onwards is kinda quiet with work so i not gonna have much cash from then till august.

man wat a rip, in WA u can get EL ticky motors for 800 from walliston wreckers

Heres some from the quokka (best wa classifieds)

Fairlane AU 01 Series II 4.0Ltr VCT Mtr $800

Fairmont EL 97 Ghia, 4.0Ltr Tickford Mtr $800

Falcon AU 99 Series I XR6 ute 4.0Ltr mtr $880

FALCON BA Sdn 4.0 Ltr Twin Cam Mtr $1200

If u r willing to pay for shipping then give em a ring on 92913278