Here We Go Again

Illustration for article titled Here We Go Again
Image: Still mine

Welp, no AC still (although it’s narrowed down to needing a different harness), but I now have a bigger issue:

My little 3.3L has a lifter that collapses once it warms up. Now I don’t want to spend the time nor money tearing apart an engine that doesn’t make me happy, so I’m now back in the deciding stage.

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I still have the 99 3.8L sitting in the garage in need of a rebuild. The kit to rebuild it is about $350, assuming nothing needs to be machined. If I find machining is needed, it can get expensive quick. Then there is also the issue of all the stop leak we were finding in the ports......

or

I could start scouring the webs for an engine donor to pull a “good” 3.8L from, but this will likely be a crapshoot.

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or

I could bite the bullet and order a long block for $1800 and just be done with it. Obviously expensive, but guarantees a trouble free engine.

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For the moment I’m going to drive it til it launches, but I need to get everything figured so I’m ready when it does.