advice on a tune up (7afe 97 st), just wondering what i should replace while I am in their Options

[addictions]

ok so my roomate is a motor guy and told me he replace every thing in the motor and do all the work as long as i bought the parts but his car runs like **** and is always breaking down.....so i would much rather just try and do the work my self (never seen the inside of a motor before) so i was wondering what all do i need to replace to get this thing running like new again? it has 202,XXX on the motor and burns alot of oil but their is no oil in the motor coolent motor runs and drives smooth and is my DD so i dont want to have her off the road for more than a day or two unless i have to so any advice on what is causing and how to fix this would be of great help thanks.

This post has been edited by addictions: Mar 28, 2008 - 11:33 AM

[GriffGirl]

There could be a few causes for the oil to be burning off. Unfortunately one of the causes is that it's a 7A, our engines are pretty notorious for this. Use the search engine for this specific thing, there was a thread I looked at yesterday that specifically addresses it. I believe it boils down to being either leaking piston rings or something about valve clearance or something. IDK - it's way over my head.

What's not over my head is how to tune it up and make it otherwise run excellently, assuming there aren't other issues to be addressed.
1) NGK Plugs (they don't HAVE to be iridium, especially on our cars. Platinum works great and is WAY cheaper). Available at most any parts store.
2) NGK Ignition Wires - get these off Amazon, it'll save you twenty five bucks and they'll come in like a day or two anyway
3) New distributor cap and rotor. Pretty much any brand, Denso is OEM but $$$. You can get a mid-grade run of the mill brand at any parts store; I'd wenht this route and it's working out just fine for me.
4) New air filter (if you're running the stock intake setup). Fram is most common brand, inexpensive, decent quality for disposable filters, available at any parts store. You could go K&N drop-in filter if you want to upgrade, expect to spend about $60 on this, plus the cleaning kit $10 I believe.

[addictions]

There could be a few causes for the oil to be burning off. Unfortunately one of the causes is that it's a 7A, our engines are pretty notorious for this. Use the search engine for this specific thing, there was a thread I looked at yesterday that specifically addresses it. I believe it boils down to being either leaking piston rings or something about valve clearance or something. IDK - it's way over my head.

What's not over my head is how to tune it up and make it otherwise run excellently, assuming there aren't other issues to be addressed.
1) NGK Plugs (they don't HAVE to be iridium, especially on our cars. Platinum works great and is WAY cheaper). Available at most any parts store.
2) NGK Ignition Wires - get these off Amazon, it'll save you twenty five bucks and they'll come in like a day or two anyway
3) New distributor cap and rotor. Pretty much any brand, Denso is OEM but $$$. You can get a mid-grade run of the mill brand at any parts store; I'd wenht this route and it's working out just fine for me.
4) New air filter (if you're running the stock intake setup). Fram is most common brand, inexpensive, decent quality for disposable filters, available at any parts store. You could go K&N drop-in filter if you want to upgrade, expect to spend about $60 on this, plus the cleaning kit $10 I believe.

so with number 3). is the rotor part of the distributor or is that something way different?? again i am not a motor guy but i am trying