My car has been running like sh!t for a while now, and after just spending over $500 on new spark plugs, distributor leads and inlet manifold gasket, it broke down on the side of the Hume FWY next to Wallan today.
Got towed into Wallan after waiting over an hour, and the mechanic has come to the conclusion that the gear in the distributor has stripped and it's an expensive big job to replace, he recommends a new motor. However I want to have your opinions on what i should do? I don't have enough mechanic knowledge to fix it myself and I sure don't have the funds to pay for it! Please help.
Cheers, Zane.

Quickest and cheapest, get a second hand running motor installed...including warranty. However there is no guarantee the second hand motor will die on you down the road as well, after warranty expires, then you'll be at square one.

To clean up the mess from a stripped distributor, I'd say would take a fair bit of money for labour. You'd have to clean the internals to remove all metal filings/chips/what not and then buy another distributor...preferably a BOSCH one, aftermarket may be cheap, but there have been accounts of stripped auxiliary shafts due to them. Depending on how the mechanic cleans the mess, if he takes the engine out, it will be the same labour cost if you were to put another motor in on top of clean up labour.

IMO, I'd get a second hand motor if you are in a hurry to get back on the road.

if the dizzy gear has stripped, that means that both the dizzy gear and aux shaft are now stripped, ive been there and done this... best thing to do is get a replacement engine, because all that metal has been through the oil pump, some of the finer stuff will have made it through the filter and started scoring the bearings,

so as it is the engine will need to have the sump removed to r&r timing case to get to the aux shaft to replace it,(which is no longer available new)..

so a replacement engine would be cheaper and easier...

I thought I would have to... Im pretty sure someone I know can install a new motor for me.
Thanks for your help. Will the wiring need changing if I get a new motor?

no, just use the wiring from your engine

Engine could be swapped in a day if you know what your doing. The trick is if using a different(cheap, s**t) dizzy swap the gear off it from an original el dizzy/ef sensor. I bought a el with this problem and i swapped the dizzy gear on the cheap dizzy with an original one off an ef and I never rooted the second engines aux shaft.

I think the whole motor has sh!at itself. Its been running like cr@p for a while now so its good in a way I guess if I look on the bright side!
My sisters fiance has access to a crane and all that and him and his mates reckon they can do a swap.
What should I look out for when getting a new motor? Would the wiring require a change if I were to bought an xr engine?

If it's an EL XR then no changes are needed. However if you get an EF (standard or XR), it will require a bit more work to remove and add bits and pieces (EL has distributor, EF has coil pack).

So to make things easy, grab an EL motor. If you grab an XR variety, grab the ECU with it, different fuel mapping I believe, but it will still run with standard ECU if you can't get hold of the XR ECU.

An engine swap is pretty easy...remove everything around the engine, remove tail shaft, remove transmission mount, remove engine mount, lift motor and transmission out as one. Remove transmission, fit to replacement engine, reinstall in reverse.

Just got to make sure everything removed is clear of the engine and doesn't get snagged. So wires and hoses tucked back with tape or cable ties. Power steering and A/C compressor can be unbolted and just pushed to the side. When putting the engine back in, make sure everything is plugged back where it came from and triple check that the fuel line is connected correctly! Besides that, pretty much plug and play.

Hope it all works out

My advice is take the alternator and it's mount off.. gives you extra clearance for getting the motor out. Otherwise you'll basically have to have the motor pointing toward the sky for it to come out.

I assume he means the distributor drive aux gear? if so, my car did this around 5 years ago we whipped the old aux gear out, put a S/H one in changed the oil and it has been fine since. changed the dizzy at the same time as the old one felt very tight.

Apparantly there was a bronze dizzy gear you could get so it shat itself rather than the aux gear.

the job takes around a day, the radiator needs to come out, timing cover needs to come off.

Thanks for your help.. i will be getting my sisters fiance to help me remove the engine and replace it, it will be a good chance for me to learn more about cars as I havent had much experience with stuff like that. An xr motor sounds good to me but it all comes down to funds -.-