93 Loyale repacement motor or rebuild options?

[mattri]

93 Loyale 210K, engine runs but knocks. Have ruled out detonation pinging etc. The timing belts have also not been changed, neither has the oil or water pumps, clutch is original. Any one of these could just be swapped out but with so many time bombs I would rather just pull the motor once.

This is going to be a daily driver, I don't need anything special, just want it to last.

Options seem to be:

1) Pull and rebuild existing motor, providing it is rebuildable. Overbores are apparently not an option so can the sleeves be replaced or will I just need to find another core if mine is too far out of round? Also how far can cranks be ground and rods resized? I've rebuilt small block Fords and I-6's but will probably farm this out, what am I looking at price wise?

2) Crate motor rebuilders. Any good ones out there? I know about CCR, any others?

3) Buying a used motors from one of the wherehouse operations. Any favorites out there?

Please let me know what you think of these options, which you would reccomend etc. Also, if you have any other ideas. Thanks, Matt.

[MilesFox]

a used motor from the junkyard would be a safe bet. look for cars that have broken timing belts, or broken axles and the like, things that would have been easy to fix but would have cost too much

 

have you determined your oil pressure on your current motor? an oil pump re-seal or even a new oil pump could save your motor. if the motor turns out to be bad, well, at least you have a new oil pump.

 

if you wanted to do things one at a time, you could leave the timing belt covers off, all of them except for the one behind the timing belt idler pulley, and therefore you could get into the motor without having to remove the ac and alt assembly, crank pulley, and dipstick. an off the side of the road timing belt change would take 10 minutes with 3 tools

 

some will argue the reliability of open belts and debris issues, but many have adopted this feature with no reliability issues, and its easy to play with the motor often. the only reported failure was due to a loose rag under the hood

[mattri]

Thanks for the reply, that's pretty cool info about the timing belts. I have decided on a complete rebuild or replacement though. Matt.

[idosubaru]

i'd look into CCR. don't really see any reason to go with anyone else unless you have a very reliable and quality local guy to do it.

 

while the motor is out:

take hubs to a shop and have them replace the wheel bearings

take calipers to the shop with a rebuild kit and have them rebuilt or do it yourself (kits are like 10 dollars and super easy to do)

have the alternator and starter rebuilt

these are items that can leave you stranded. well spent money if you like reliability and not being stranded somewhere.

 

ship your fuel injectors off to be professionally cleaned (RC Engineering for example).