What Would You Do? (engine Wise)

[AzzurrA]

As i'm sure you all read in the other thread, i've lunched the turbo on my RB20 on the way to work today...

It was the compressor blades that broke (not exhaust like normal) and there is fine metallic dust through the intake, and it appears to be on the tops of the pistons as well... Now, i found larger chunks of metal through the intake, i just don't know if any of those made it into the engine....

Now, the choices i have are:

Put another turbo on and hope for the best

Buy a wreckers engine and hope for the best

Get my current engine rebuilt

Now, there are pros and cons of each.....

Pros for putting another turbo on....

Cheapest option

Cons for putting another turbo on....

Could spend money/time putting it on only to find the engine is fubar, and be in exactly the same situation

Pros for buying a wreckers engine....

'relatively' cheap option

Cons for buying a wreckers engine....

don't know past history, it could have been thrashed, on the verge of death etc... could only last a month or 2 before it dies and then i'm back in exactly the same situation

Pros for rebuilding the engine....

Will be a brand new engine, you know exactly whats done to it, how its been treated, should last for years and years to come (i'm looking to keep the car for a fair while hopefully, as it owes me too much money to sell), the engine has 190000km on it anyway, so its just about due for a rebuild...

Cons for rebuilding the engine....

Is the most expensive option

What would you do in this situation?

Keep in mind that i need the car for work, but i could probably get away without it for a week or 2....

[chaos]

re-build i would say, and upgrade internals, maybe a bigger bottom end on it.

[AzzurrA]

I should have mentioned.. if i got it rebuilt, it would just be a stock rebuild, with possibly some forged pistons (because they may even be cheaper than standard nissan pistons)

I'm only going to be chasing ~200rwkw from the car, so don't have to go overboard with the engine...

[chaos]

would probably do the re-build with the pistons and upgrade the turbo, or high flow a standard one.

[oRiCLe]

im gonna say go with a second hand engine, and get a warranty on it, if something stuffs up, warranty, ask them to test the engine before you buy it even, get a compression test etc, if you have found shrapnal in ypur engine...you could also get a rebuild, but it all depends on how much value a rebuild is going to give you...and the cost when you work out how much damage you have done to your engine.

A. if you got a rebuild you will know the internals, but it will more than likely cost more than expected (past experiences) also, you will rebuild it and then still have to get either the turbo fixed or get another turbo.

B. if you got another engine, that was possibly tested, for less than the rebuild, worst case scenario, something dies, but you now have enough parts to make one engine from two, best case scenario, compressions are all equal and the car powers on like it should and makes your 200kw a new engine might come with a turbo also, ruling out some more cost...

C. you whack another turbo on, and the engine screws up, first off you needed the turbo anyway as the other one is stuffed, secondly you need to then choose either rebuild or get another motor so you are in the same situation as before but you have ruled out one possibility. only problem i can see with that is that if the turbo gets damaged in the process of driving the car if something is damaged or some crap gets in the oil. other hand, if the engine works fine, then you have saved yourself the cost of a rebuild.

lol. ok i'll stop rambling now good luck

[85URK]

but on the other hand though........... rofl ^^^^

[Mud]

rebuild sounds the goods

[Squizz]

Put a cheap turbo back on it and save for a low-kay Neo front cut.

[wrxkilla]

thought about throwing an rb30 block with rb25 head or something on...

[predator2]

how long you wanna wait? my rb20 is coming out in about 2 months.. never mucked with until I got to it.. Still pulls pretty hard and you can check the compression, etc in the car.

Mine will be cheaper than a wrecker engine.. probably about $900

Otherwise, just get an rb25 or better.. it will add to the resale value of your car amongst 50 other R32 out there. Rb20's aren't the greatest things.

[AzzurrA]

well, i got quotes today for rebuilds etc... most places want 5 - 6k for just a standard rebuild! ouch!

However, was speaking to 101 Motorcafe, and they said they can do a RB25 conversion for me with a low-kay RB25 for around 4 - 4.5k drive in/drive out....

Now, i said to them what sort of things can we check to make sure its not going to grenade itself within a few months etc, and they said that they could do a compression/leakdown test, pull the head off and check that everything looks okay, and also pull the sump off and make sure the bearings etc are okay.... any other suggestions?

[dangerous_daveo]

well, i got quotes today for rebuilds etc... most places want 5 - 6k for just a standard rebuild! ouch!

However, was speaking to 101 Motorcafe, and they said they can do a RB25 conversion for me with a low-kay RB25 for around 4 - 4.5k drive in/drive out....

Now, i said to them what sort of things can we check to make sure its not going to grenade itself within a few months etc, and they said that they could do a compression/leakdown test, pull the head off and check that everything looks okay, and also pull the sump off and make sure the bearings etc are okay.... any other suggestions?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

101 is pretty good too. I havnt heard a bad thing about them yet. For what you use the car for dude, the 25 would be probably the goer.

[NA_R33]

put a V8 in it.... i did....