So a month ago I posted about my 1996 camaro ss that has low oil pressure when hot . I really like this car and I'm ready to get it on the road. I spoke to my mechanic and he said swap the motor with a used one. I'm just looking for opinions and possible other options. My car is all original btw, I'm leaning towards swapping the motor and keeping the original so I can save for a real rebuild. My thought is the original motor adds value. What do you think? It's black on black t tops 120000 miles, exhaust package and bilstein suspension. Also the differential package I think, it's an automatic.

 

Did your mechanic also tell you that your engine may be fine, but your oil pressure switch could be bad? Have you verified your actual oil pressure with a mechanical gauge? I've had a couple of cars in the past with a bad pressure switch, that would give a progressively lower reading on the gauge as the engine got hotter. I wouldn't write off the engine yet, until double checking the oil pressure.

 

He did mention that. But we based it off of the metallic oil color. There's a lot of metal specks in the oil

 

It also makes a weird noise when revved

 

Noise when revving (depending on what it sounds like) and metallic in the oil is pretty damming for a motor. I would be tempted to cut the oil filter in half to see what is in there.

I like the direction you are heading. By all means keep the numbers matching motor. Since it’s a SS it may come in useful some day but with 120K on the clock already I doubt she will ever be a show car. I see it being a good decade before restoring 4th gen is worth the money like the older Camaros.

The only suggestion I would have is to spend a little money resealing the used motor while it is out. Oil pan gaskets, rear main, front mains,, are all huge pains to replace in the car but easy to do with the motor out. Plugs, wires also.

 

to be honest, your car isn't a classic where a "numbers matching" situation would matter. If you want to rebuilt the current motor then by all means do so, but I wouldn't worry about it if the motor is junk

 

Does anybody even check the numbers on a 4th gen to see if they match? It may make a difference someday, on an all original, low miles, ultra rare optioned model. But I doubt you're going to live to see the day where matching numbers makes a significant difference in value.

 

Lol thanks Camaro 69. And everyone else that replied. Im not really worried about resale value i was just wondering if it mattered in a car like this. Can anyone that has swapped an engine point me towards a site that i can buy a used motor from please? Or if you know of somewhere i can buy a reasonably priced remanufactured motor too that would be great. Im gonna be buying a motor tomorrow so if you can help id really appreciate it. Im in the bay area btw

 

car-part.com

 

Thanks, checked that website and didnt like what i found. Does anyone know of a good place to buy a remanufactured motor?