Newbie: Motor Replacement Advice Needed

[Sense_of_Speed]

Hey there all I'm new to the DSM world. It was one of my dream cars in HS and I stumbled across one the other day. So now I'm in need of some advice.

It's a 97 Eclipse GS, 2.0L 420a, AT, 144,000
Cayenne Red Pear over Tan and black interior, the previous owner installed 02 Black leather seats front and back and after market 16s and a cd player.
I picked up the car for $350.00

The body and interior are in great condition but now to the problem.

The guy i bought it from was driving the car the otherday to another guy who bought it while it was running. He was about 5mi away and he blew the motor. Basically he says "he heard a big boom, and then oil started leaking everywhere" he says he thinks he blew a rod but honestly he was a younger kid and not quite sure if he even has a clue.

Anyways I've found a replacement motor here locally for $300 with a 90 day warranty. I have 3 to choose from

I've found someone to install the motor for $200.oo

I have $7-$800 to play with, and I'd like to do some motor work before I put it in if its possible with that budget. I'm not quite sure what would be good to do. So I'm looking for your opinions on what you would do with the money.

This is going to be my daily driver and I'm going to rack up miles on it so i'm looking for dependability as well as performance to make those long drives a little more fun.

The site looks great and I look forward to hearing from ya guys.

Thanks

 

[agarc023]

The first thing you will want to do is take care of all its maintenance needs (if its been used). After that, there a lot of things you can do. You may want to do some reading so you can see how much you can build and stay reliable..

you can start here: Tech Guide: 2G 420A Power Upgrades - DSMtuners

 

[95burgundyesi]

What are you plans for the car? If it were me I would just get the motor and car to running condition and rock it stock. My 95 esi got awesome MPG. For 200 bucks, and a reliable shop with a warranty I would say have at it, and get a set date on when I can pick her up.

If you are looking for performance, I know anything more than 8psi and thats like it on a stock 420a. Check out Hahn racecraft. Mayeb some 420a people will chime in. Goodluck!

 

[Assmatic]

With that budget you won't really be able to build the engine much unless you can install the parts yourself...like said above, if it's just a daily driver and nothing more don't worry about the parts...if you're going for performance you don't HAVE to build the motor right off the bat
Goodluck with whatever you do and maintenance first

 

[Fotowntalon]

junk the car, and sell me the interior, black leather interior is rare and sexy... if you dont want to sell me the interior... then get more of an idea of what you want than dd thats fun, that is rather vague. Turbo or NA. Overall 420a's turbo or NA are very very reliable cars.

Honestly the best bet for you would be to just get it repaired, and then slowly mod it to see if you even enjoy tuning or even DSM's all together, because it would suck to save up, blow all that money and then not be happy. If you are 100% sure though, see next two paragraphs

If you want to turbo, personally if you had another dd, i'd save up till you can get the new motor rebuilt, better, cheaper, and less downtime overall. And you will become boost addicted, better to do something right the first time, it will suck to wait to save up for the budget, but in the end you will be more happy.

If you stay NA, while you have the motor out, i'd still save up some money, get the head p&p, and new cams and a udp for it. Basically getting it all built before ya put it in, but you dont really need to go all out as much as you would if you wanted to have it built for turbo.

Like i said, best to get that hard stuff done now while its out, will save time and money. But thats just my opinion.

 

[Diamondrev]

to be honest you dont really sound like you know what your doing. thats fine. you just need to research and learn how to install parts your self. if not then your going to be spending alot of money on labor.

--- but if you have 800 to spend then I would buy afx ecu, ebay intake, ebay exhaust, ebay Light weight harmonic balancer, ebay headers...

 

[#40Fan]

Replace the water pump, timing belt, timing belt idler and tensioner pulleys as well as the hydraulic tensioner. Might as well do the cam seals and crank seal while the motor is out. Take a good look at the back driver's side of the head on the new engine. See if it looks like it has been leaking oil. Replace the head gasket and valve seals if it is leaking.

I would just do everything I mention above just because you want it to be a good daily driver.

 

[Sense_of_Speed]

I'm 24, this is my 42nd vehicle, I've had everything from fox mustangs, to civics, vans, blazers,motorcycles and trucks which i'm more familiar with, right now I have a 98 F-150 with a built 4.6L motor out of a mustang that i built and swapped myself. I know my way around cars me and my father have been rebuilding cars since i was about 14. This is however my first DSM and I've been out of the so called import seen since i was 17, so i guess you could say with these cars ya I don't know what I'm doing that's why I'm asking for advice. I picked up this car as a daily driver but I figured the best time to do some minor modifications to the motor would be while the motor was out. And yes I will be doing the work my self so any tricks of the trade would be appreciated.

I guess my over all goal for the car would be to make a clean, dependable, daily driver thats personalized to me, I like the fact that its got the updated interior and the exterior is in good condition. I would like the motor to just be upgraded a bit over stock something that will make it a little more fun to drive. I would do an intake and exhaust but i don't want something that sound so "ricey", thats why I was thinking cams, but I don't know what else i need to upgrade if i do the cams. I like the idea of a port and polish as well. And i don't mind spending a little more money if its gonna make the car better, but i don't wanna get to out of hand because I'm rebuilding this as my daily driver so I can do work on my truck and stop driving it everyday. So again if you have advice I'm very open to listen that's why I'm here and on numerous other forums so I can enlist the knowledge of you guys that know more that me, but please don't insult me.

Thanks

 

[Diamondrev]

So again if you have advice I'm very open to listen that's why I'm here and on numerous other forums so I can enlist the knowledge of you guys that know more that me, but please don't insult me.

Thanks

you mentioned that you were having a guy install the motor for 200. that is why i assumed you didnt have the knowledge. I said that was fine, but NO one is trying to insult you. my honest mistake. this is a DSM forum not a Honda forum. no disrespect here.

I would do maintenance first. otherwise just bolt-ons would be fine, its not going to get you alot of hp. It takes alot of money to make these cars fast.

 

[Sense_of_Speed]

I lost my shop in the old house when we moved and now i have no electricity or heat in my garage and shop wont be done till summer so the original idea was to just pay a friend with a garage to do it but I just pulled it into the garage today and i'm gonna pull the old and possibly put the new one depending on how the weather goes. And I've learned that these things can be money pit by reading through these forums so I appreciate the honesty.

Are there any upgraded oem replacement parts that i should look for, when I'm doing maintenance? Such as a certain brand plugs, wires, oil, filter and the such?