Alrighty heres the situation. There are 2 options, A or B, or if anyone else has any other options i can look at, please give me a suggestion. My budget is 2,500 what should i do?

My car has 125k org miles on the motor(so im told)
turbos, i dont know how old they must be. My car idles at about 1,000 rpm sometimes, and at other times like 700rpm, It goes up when i disconnect the smog pump, but that gives me electrical problems for some reason. I know for a fact, the alternator is going bad, and that the turbos are leaking oil all over. The oil would come from the ypipe out of the intercooler coupling and leak onto the ypipe, and the bov would spit tons of oil onto the intake hoses, after some hard driving, this leads to white smoke from the heated up oil on the ypipe. Another thing is my 3rd and 5th gear synchros are going bad. I dont know what condition the motor is in. The car stutters sometimes during acceleration from the transition to the 2nd turbo.

here are the options:

A) I should get a japanese front clip motor and turbos and tranny for the price of 2,500, but in return i have to turn in my old motor. The motor is supposed to have under 50k, and the only thing i was told about it other then its got under 50k miles was "it turned on fine before it was shipped." So the problem with this is i dont know how the car was driven before it was shipped, how do i not know that im selling my motor, for one thats even closer to being blown.

B) I could spend 1,000 to rebuild the turbos and fix all the oil leakings, the alternator, and several other little things like leaks and old hoses and belts. So i would be left with 1,500 left over, but not knowing what condition my motor is in. Would it be possible to get a rebuild the engine at the bare minimum price of 1000, so i will be with maybe 500 dollars left over?

I dont know what to do, I could also get a compression test done on my motor, and the jdm one. but I dont know if that will help much, Any suggestions?

Thanks
-Phat

 

bump

 

I would go with some derivation of b... This is personal opinion - but I would never buy an engine with 50k. Period.

 

when in doubt, choose "c"... j/k
what year is the j-spec motor and turbo's?
the later year model j-spec engine and turbo's have more hp. i know the 99's have 280hp, and i think 96 or 97, not sure what year it was has like 270ish... im sure someone will correct me on this.
if its not a later year model, id just get a rebuild, that way you'd know for sure the motor and turbo's are gonna be good for a while. good luck

 

oh and engine rebuild would be more than 1k, closer to 2k or 2.5k unless you did it yourself.

 

well the shop said its a later model such as 95-96, he said they are under 50k miles but by that he said he usually gets them around 35-40k, and 2k-2.5k is kinda alot considering im on a budget of 2.5k yet i also have the turbos to fix which seems to be a primary problem, and the alternator, thanks, more feedback please.

 

IF I remember right the 99 spec turbos flow a bit more, but the engine is basically the same. I think most of gain in horsepower is due to the JDM FD not having a precat.

Any current mods on oyur car?

Either way I'd go with B. Get your engine rebuilt and fix all the little things. I just can't see spending so much on something used that is pretty much the same as what you can get here.

 

its just got upgraded clutch, trust exhaust, hks bov, vacuum hose job, and thats about it.

 

Oh, it might be worth if your getting a 99 front clip if it comes with the bumper and combo lights and allt hat stuff.

 

bump

 

it wont let me vote

 

Yo man I got the same problem but I know already that my front rotor is gone so what I suggest is get yourself a jack set and find a way to pull out the engine and do it yourself, and send away parts for porting and polishing, save yourself some crazy doe man, I'm still thinking about it myself but i think thats the cheapest way to go, so whatever man, but I have to send away my rotor and stuff so whatever man