salvage title 220k now what, close thread Options

[EL_Jive_Turkey]

I have a 1.8 limited edition 97 st celica the car has 220k on her and still runs great the body is still pretty straight and the interior is an 8 outta 10 i have six inch touch screen dash hands free blue tooth installed tweeters and all new door speakers powered by six hundred watt amp and a 13.5 JL W7 powered by 1000/1v2 jl amp. so six years ago a rearended someome so now the car has salvage title, should i do engine swap and exhaust or just move on to something new? See another thing is that this 7a engine has only seen synthetic oil its whole life. in the past two years the following has been replaced ball joints, right engine mount left wheel hub assemby. Shocks and struts brakes belts and couple pulleys o yeah and one cv joint. oil changed every 3k religously. so basically should i have motor professionaly rebuilt, or try to swap in new motor like a beams.

This post has been edited by EL_Jive_Turkey: Jul 10, 2012 - 10:49 AM

[Smaay]

if i were you.....i would NOT do a 3S-GTE swap. i would do a V6 swap. it will cost you half what the 3S-GTE swap will cost. Im in the middle of mine now and it should be running by the end of July. you are welcome to check it out if you like.

If i were to pull your engine, tear it down, rebuild it, and then put it back in, my labor will be about 1500. then there is the parts. full gasket kit is about 250 i think, the ring set is about 95, water pump is about 60. i dont know the status of your clutch so that might be another cost. i cant think of much else, but might want to just budget in 2000 total.

if you went the V6 route and found a 1MZ and E153 from a Camry or Solara, you can get both of those for about 1000 to 1200 if you search good. my labor to swap the engines will be about 700-800. figure 400 if you send your wiring to MR2077 (forget his actual SN) so you are in the 2300-2400 range there.

you are going to spend 2300-2500 for just the 3S-GTE by itself, that doesnt include anything to get it installed.

and there is NOTHING wrong with boosting a 7A-FE. once you get a good tune it would be a really fun car to drive. Erynn might still have her turbo kit that i bet you can get really cheap. I rushed to get her car to the summer meet 2 years ago and the tune wasnt very good and it hurt her engine, just cant make that mistake again.

some food for thought.....