cnguyen

So here's my sad story. My poor 95 Si has never been the same after I let my climbing partner drive it home from Mt. Whitney with the AC on full blast. It died from overheating and was resurrected a bit after a head gasket job, but now there's coolant in the engine oil. Who would you trust to swap or replace my stock D16Z6 engine in the LA or SGV area and keep it smog legal for $2000 or less?

Thanks in advance!

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

too bad youre kinda far. i'm in lancaster but my shop rates are only 65 an hour. 2000 sounds more than enough. i could drop a rebuilt engine in for that but your engine is fine. just needs work. i'm guessin the ac is out or hopefully the load of the ac compressor is what pushed the head gasket too far and caused it to blow. coolant in the oil sounds like the HG was replaced without a valve job, and new head bolts. dont know of any good shops down there. you know with all the shops these days tryin to scam people i dont like to refer anyone unless i know the shop is honest and does quality work. but you deffinately are gonna need to consder doing the HG again. where can coolant mix with the oil? cracked block, bad HG....any other ideas besides the unlikely person putting coolant in the oil cap? sadly i have had a customer do that.

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

for a HG the labor would be 5.5 hours in my shop. to also do the timing belt and water pump would be an additional 1.1 hours. these prices are labor only. the parts and sub-out labor would be extra. 210 for valve job, 100 valve guides, plus any valves or seats that need replacing. plus-oil , oil filter, oil drain plug gasket, coolant, thermostat, fan switch, water pump, head bolts, timing belt tensioner, valve cover gasket set, dealer timing belt and head gasket. probably not more that $1250 total

cnguyen

lancaster is a bit far, but i don't mind riding out by metrolink if i know my car'll be in good hands. i did get a valve job and new head bolts, and i've changed the oil myself many times. what would possess anyone to put coolant in there?! how much would you charge for an engine, radiator, water pump and all the necessary checks?

apotmesil

InlineFour does good work (although they're not the cheapest). Hmotors.com is located here in socal and is a good place to pick up swaps if you r doing the work yourself. One shop to AVIOD is 5 Star Ltd. Motorsports, in N hollywood, to make a long story short I had a horrible experience there that ended up in court (i ended up winning but was still a waste of time). Anyways hope this helps, we should get a thread going tho that list all the good shops here in SoCal!...

harms_is_back

south gate auto on Firestone and Alexander city of south gate

phoxking

http://www.yelp.com/biz/tashmo-lexus...ialist-stanton or you can check out demonwerkz.com both shops are stanton and garden grove, located pretty close to each other n charge about 65/hr.