icemonkey Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Hi all. Been having a great time working out of "snowflake" (my wife named her) my new 180,000 mi 91 XE and getting into all sorts of fun trouble. So in three months I put just about 8000 miles of colorado mountain driving on her... Now her engine has spun a bearing. I replaced the water pump and everything your supposed to when you do the timing belt, but she is still making the worst noise - it sounds to me like imminent disaster. So here is the question - replace engine or rebuild? Ive not rebuilt an engine before, but have done everything else on cars. Or should I just give drop a newish engine in? Any advice for kits or where to find replacement engines? Budget is a real consideration as Ive only just moved across the country after moving back to this country so money is tight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavefromOZ Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 If you have time and skills re-build. If not, find a cheap pathy that is running solid and transplant. I have always gone the transplant method as its usually easier and can be done in a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icemonkey Posted March 25, 2009 Author Share Posted March 25, 2009 Thanks, thats what Ive been thinking of doing. Im just paranoid over getting another trashed engine. Many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunya Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 find yourself a good runner with a scrap frame on the cheap. You will have everything you need for the swap plus get some other extra pieces in the mix as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k9sar Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 if you spun a bearing, what are you worried about your timing belt etc for? I spun a bearing on my pathy. It was the main bearing, upper half (connecting rod side) of piston number 3. A couple of things happened with that... the oil feed hole in the piston shaft (connecting rod) was full of metal and not injecting oil up to the rings and there was apparetnly damage to the bearing caps or connecting rod. I tore it down, drilled the crap out of the oil hole, did not see any damage to the crank shaft so I just replaced the bearings. When I fired her up again, it started fine but was making a soft knocking sound that got progressivly louder as the small looseness in that bearing was enough to allow the piston to hammer the bearing flat and wide against the crankshaft on each power stroke. Before too long, it sounded just like it did when I spun the bearing. I replaced the engine at that point. My advice... if you rebuild, and I recommend it, take your time and replace not only the bearings but the cap and connecting rod on the one that spun. Mic the crankshaft to be sure there isn't significant wear unless you are replacing the crankshaft also. If there is wear, I believe you can get slightly overthick bearings to compensate. Use plastigauge to be sure you don't have play and end up like I did. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icemonkey Posted March 26, 2009 Author Share Posted March 26, 2009 Sorry for disappearing, had to go out for 5 mins and ended up going to the local pub... 3 hours later. Yep think I may just rebuild. It will be a good challenge. Could be Dutch Courage talking, though. Thanks all Yep spun a bearing on the front of the engine- or so I thought, replaced everything I could but to no-avail still sounds awful, grinding, loose and noisy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Find a good donor. I have one in my driveway, but I don't know where you are located. I think you can use a 3.3 liter motor also (someone verify that please) B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icemonkey Posted March 26, 2009 Author Share Posted March 26, 2009 Excellent! Precise1, Im in Eagle Colorado, how is the engine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Sorry, my home computer crashed last week and I've been too busy this last weekend to deal with it. 130k miles on it, new timing belt (@105K) and runs flawlessly. I don't think you want to deal with trying to get it to Colorado though. Look around locally for one that has a toasted auto tranny, crash/roll, etc. I see a lot of Pathys like that around here for cheap... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 your best bet for ease of transition would be to put a vg33 in there. and for a little more go install some new or re-conditoned vg30 cams in the vg33(the 33 cams were smaller) heads and all new lifters. you should see a minimum 10% improvement all all arround. and its the same block so no adapters needed. Just found that in another thread.... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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