Quoting Kibby:
Take it out. Do some loggin. No cel knock no boom. Park it check fluid levels all good. Go back out and it feels like she went all motor. Come home. Dipstick popped up and oil everywhere. Just my luck I guess. Parking it n walking away for a bit. So stressed ive almost smoked a pack of cigs already. Tranny needs a rebuild engine needs a rebuild. Underbody work fender work more fuel bigger turbo. Easily 10g to do it all right. Im on the fence with this one. I got 71 miles out of it after the harness swap whoopty doo. Smh.
Take heart! My '92 came to me barely running. Bad injector burned up the #3. Fused the plug to the head and ovaled out the cyl.
For me, it was only about $6k and I've not only got a new motor and head (courtesy of BogusSVO), refreshed tranny (TheDSMGuy), and short-shifter (EH Motorsports), 264/264 regrinds (Delta Cam), and other little bits.
You are right to ask, though. I knew what I was getting into, I let my mechanic (EH Motorsports) tell me what to buy, and I rented a car for a month ($450). If you go quick and/or cheap, you're liable to get into the mess the previous owner of my rig got into. 7 years on and the project was an unfinished hack-job.
Do it once. Do it right. Pay your mechanic on time in cash /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif