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Rebuild or used motor

ItHurtz

ItHurtz

Active member
The GTP I bought has a spun bearing, she runs, but its kinda loud. Now the question is whats more economical. Having a shop, hone/bore and throw in some new rings, rods, crank and bearings. Or getting a used ebay motor for say $650-700 and eventually build up the old motor?

Id say the max budget would be 1000-1200$ for the time being, kids popping out soon so I cant go crazy yet.

If the shop route id prefer the shop to install the lower end, I can reassemble the rest myself.

If ebay engine, what models can exactly just swap in wise, I see compatible models but do they really just drop in?

One more thing, any sites that do sell a crank/rod/piston setup in 1 package?

P.S.S Is there a difference between the 4 door and 2door GTP's motor wise? Or will 4 door fit in 2 door and vise versa?
 


you can get a motor for cheaper than that. my vote is used.

all motors out of a car that comes with a L67 (the supercharged motor) will just drop right in.
 
My vote is used too....4 dr or 2 dr are all the same, motors out of GP's, Rivieras, Regals etc should all work.
 
Used motor for under $700 man where?!?! I just looked on ebay and I think the cheapest I saw was $499 with $199 to ship.
 


Way back in the days of supercharged builds there were guys who would build these wicked engines... forged pistons, balanced cranks, cryo'ed this and that, the whole works. Guess what engines were the first to blow up? The really pretty, built engines.

There's a reason so many people are running big power on junkyard motors. These engines appear to be finicky to rebuild reliably and have also demonstrated themselves as being able to handle an unbelievable amount of abuse. I'd just stick a junkyard motor in the car and call it a day.
 
Any special tools needed to swap engines? When I did a car long time ago I needed special fuel line disconnects to take the lines off the engine.


Also, do I have to worry about the tc if I am just unbolting it from the flywheel. Or should I still make sure its locked on?
 
Just take your time and label everthing you should be able to do it in a day with 2 of you. Don't forget the ***** bolt you need about 4 feet of extentions and go through the passenger side wheel opening with the wheel off. take the plastic covers off the lower part of the wheel opening and sight down the back of the engine there is a 17 mm trans to motor bolt. You will understand why they call it the ***** bolt just make sure you put it back in use duct tape to keep the bolt in the socket as you work it back in. The oil filter will be real close to the subframe rail I found it easy to take the filter off. Good luck
 
Welcome. I vote for a junkyard motor. I'm going the built route and it's VERY expensive. There is nothing cheap about the parts for these engines. You could completely rebiuld a small block chevy for 1/4 the price or less. Welcome. Good Luck.
 


4' extension eh:(

I guess there is no other way to get that bolt? Not even a small child? lol

I hope to be ordering a junkyard motor within the next week or so, do the LIM, coolant elbows and check everything else before its dropped in.

Its such a tease having this car sit in the driveway and I cant play with it:th_shakinghead2:
 
I wouldn't say 4 feet, but you do need a long extension made up about 2 feet. I use a 17mm 1/2 inch drive deep impact socket and 2 each of 4 1/4 inch and 9 1/4 inch half inch drive impact extensions with my impact gun. Breaks loose like a wheel nut with this setup. You can get it done with a 3/8 drive extension as my friend did one time, but it takes patience cause of the deflection.

When reassembling, just use the deep socket with the extensions to get it threaded in by hand. Then attach your impact or ratchet to tighten it down. Idiot I bought one of my cars from must of decided the engine and transmission were stuck together when he removed all the visible bolts holding them together cause the engine casing is broke off at this location. He must of used alot of force.
Good Luck
 
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Iv read that people have left it out. Is it that big of a deal? Kinda like if u rtv ur oil pan to the block and if ur missing a bolt it doesnt really matter.

I also heard you can take the rear manifold off and access it there? The engine I HOPE be here this week, or the beginning of next week. And providing if I have time throw headers on then drop it back in:th_thumbsup-wink:
 
There are like 7 other bolts...or 6 or 5.

Whatever.

It'll be fine...mine doesn't have the b1tch bolt...and I don't recommend putting it back in on ANY car since it is such a PITA.

And yes, you can remove the manifold and get to it very easy...pretty sure its an 18mm and its a long muthafugga
 


I don't get why everyone says it's the b1tch bolt. Once I get that darn plate off that mounts the differential cover to the engine, I would consider that bolt easy to get off with the extensions I listed. Takes me about 30 seconds or less to get it off with the extensions I listed. The PITA bolts to me are the two on that plate to the engine that mounts to the differential. I would rather leave them off, but there would be nothing for support there then. The last engine and transmission I pulled took me a little under 2 hours when dropping both and moving the car instead. Probably 20 minutes of that time were spent on those 2 bolts to that plate. If anyone has a good socket extension or box wrench combination for those 2, please post it.
 
How can you tell the difference from main or cam bearings being bad without having to tear it apart?



1998 Pontiac gtp sc 3.8
 
I sold the regular 3800 for 500 bucks then bought a drop in rdy 3800 supercharged motor for 400 bucks with 80k miles. Runs like a beast till this day. Already put 3k miles on it. I would go with used. Save yourself the time.
 
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