Names Casey, im a camaro guy at heart. I have the worlds most hated Camaro (3rd gen) i made it cool. Now i want to fix up my moms 1988 300 ZX thats she loves dearly and wont part with. she has not driven it in 5? years now. the poor little thing blew the motor at 151,000 miles. transmission is questionable at this point. Now that im in a possition to fix it up, I want to for my mom, hell maybe il but me one after and have 2 toys and my truck

 

w00t! Welcome to ZDriver!

 

great. this site can surely help you out.

 

+1 for your mom

 

so guys, what will be easyier. engine rebuild or replace?

 

well rebuild would dif take more time. Just kinda depends on what you feel your up to doing.

 

have you tried calling a shop and seeing what it cost to rebuild it? If you are good at mechanic work just have it honed if the walls are in good condition and do the work yourself

 

First pull the heads and find out whats wrong with it. Might just be a blown timing belt which might not require a complete rebuild but just a head and timing belt kit. If it needs more, a good used motor would cost you far less than a rebuild unless you can do it yourself.

 

i have found a motor for $500 from this guy here in texas that specializes in Z's he wants $800 to install it st $1300 alll together. his motor has 150,000 miles and he offers no warrenties. have heard alot about him tho

 

thats a little stiff for a motor that has that many miles....you can find these vg pretty easy. Which vg30 does the guy have is it a/b or w series? is that n/a or turbo motor? If it was me and i had to buy a motor with that many miles it would need a tear down and only a 100 or 200. You can pick up a parts car for 800. I found a late model 87 turbo which had w series block, 30a tranny, and LSD for 500. just parted the rest out to make some money back.

 

id rather do a parts car. but...i cant find one. the motor came out of an 88 that was rearended, its non turbo. he said it ran good when pulled. im willing to spend the money and have the motor installed but he doesnt have a tranny (auto) and i dont know if mine is good or not. this guy told me to drop the pan and look for metal chunks and black fluid.

 

i found a motor and tranny on craigslist for $550. This guy claims it has 86,000 miles on it. im gonna try and look at it my next day off, anything i can look for to see if he might be lieing or not? like pulling the valve cover or oil pan?

 

If you can get the to the pan do it. See if you can turn the engine over also check compression etc etc.

 

motor isisnt in the car so idont know if ill beable to check compression

 

on hold. i totalled a car yesterday...