As most of you will know, I have had endless issues with my TCT, mainly because the timing chain needs to be replaced.

My clutch is on its last legs, still biting well, but i can tell its not 100%

When I had the decat on, i would get the occasional cloud of smoke, so im guessing the valve guides / stem seals are not great.

To get the timing chain replaced, I will be looking in the region of £800, and £600 for a clutch replacement. This still leaves the "smokey" engine (which is on 110 000 miles)

So, all that into account, Im essentially repairing a tired engine.

I've been looking on ebay, seems you can pick up an engine for around £2500, that leaves fitting...

At the end of the day, im feeling a little depressed with the car at the moment, even thinking about calling "webuyanycar" lol

Also, i have major rear wheel steering and a shoddy paint job.

sigh

thoughts ?

 

It's a tough one .....

If you go down the new engine route, I think mintyhit got a box and engine fitted for a shade over £4000. If the suspension is worn and the bushes need doing, that's another £1000. If you need a clutch too, another £500. If you want the paint tidying up, that's probably another £1500.

£4000 + £1000 + £500 + £1500.

That's £7000


You can buy a nice S2000 with half the miles, better paint and a good engine for that much money.

Would be more inclined to part out what you have and see if you can make 3k in bits and then chuck in what you'd have had to spend on an engine and box against a newer one, assuming that's what you want?

 

Unclefester's hit the nail on the head i'd say.

 

Seems the economics of keeping the car just don't stack up.

 

What if it caught fire. Would insurance give you enough money to buy a new one?

 

Well, truthfully I dont have the spare cash lying around to do anything at the moment. If i were to part out the car, chances are it would take me a few months to get the majority of parts sold. I would then have to have a place to store the car whilst its being gutted.

If i were to sell the car, i would get next to nothing for it.

If i were to trade it in, could be an option, but still, would be paying dealer pries and getting dealer trade-in prices. fail

hmm, do you think an engine replacement could be a DIY job ?

 

Ask Rob2.2 He's just spent a couple of months doing his in his spare time.

 

Hi mate,

As unclefester mentioned I am getting a replacement engine and gearbox through garage R for about 4k but my engine was totalled, scored block etc.

Have you checked the compression or done a leakage test yet?

If your compression figures are ok and we assume the bottem end of your engine is in good shape then I would think about just doing the essentials rather then going for a new engine, that way you could potentially get another 40 – 50k out of the car for not a lot of money - just a bit of work.

For example you could fit a second hand non-stretched chain for a fraction of the cost of fitting a new one. Also removing the cylinder head on an S really isn’t that hard at all… the biggest ball ache is getting the inlet manifold off but even this can be done without removing all the piping if you have a good set of tools.

A good engineering shop could do all the guides\seats for you for a few hundred squid and you can even reuse the head bolts – you just need a new head gasket.

... just my couple of pence. :-)

Engine swaps are definitely DIY as long as you have a hoist and a place to work. A crate of beers and a couple of mates and you could have it done in a weekend.

I would have done mine myself but my insurance are covering (most) of the costs.

 

The chain and associated parts aren't expensive at all (I got all mine for about £180 - that's the tensioner, chain and guides) , it's the 6 hours labour required that's the biggest cost.

You can either keep the car running as is, and put it up for sale and see if you can get a decent price for it. If you're in no particular hurry, it's a good thing. In the meantime save up some money for a newer/tidier model.

I reached the "should I sell up for a newer model?" point a year or two ago - the car needed a new clutch, rust was appearing and various other bits and bobs were wearing out (not least the driver!). It was fairly evenly balanced decision - the cost of trading mine in for a 2008/9 car would have been £8-10k plus the associated depreciation, and while I've spent several thousand on the car in the last year or two (roof, suspension, radiator, clutch, timing chain, full respray) it has probably worked out cheaper.

I hope that things will stop wearing out now (or the engine lets go before the extended warranty runs out!) and that it will get a bit cheaper, but maybe that's a false hope. Who knows?

 

Truthfully, i tend to get a little worked up about things and make myself believe that they are worse than they are.

As much as I would love to get a newer model, I just can't afford it right now (spendt too much on other toys). Also, it may sound silly, but i feel i owe it to the car to get her 100%. My last car was a work in progress restoration from a piece of crap, to a magazine feature, this made me love the car alot more in the end.

Also, I am thinking about moving back to South Africa, would more than likely take the car with since they are expensive back there. So, dont really want to be blowing travel costs on replacing a car.

I will give it some thought, might just buy an engine, slap it in a crate and ship it back along with the car. One of my best mates owns a Honda tuning shop so it will cost me next to nothing to change it over.

bleh