When he started tearing into that, he didn't know what he was gonna find. He said if he "patches it up" there may be additional damage in there (aka bearings). He said at this point it will have to be taken out so then the options were to rebuild it or replace it.

 

Whew, you're in for it now. Or at least your checkbook is.

This is pretty much the situation I was in about 3 years ago with my '94. I ended up pulling my 3.4 and having it overhauled. Cost me about $3500 and I did the final assembly and installation.

 

I've been "in for it now" for 2 years. I've already paid over $2000 just in electrical and rewiring work. I knew then I had to be committed and I'd always have this car.

 

Judging a mechanic skill by his age is a mistake. I was a lead tech/formen for a large GM Dealership. I had 18 mechanics to oversee, 4 of those where between the ages of 60 and 65. That small group contained my best mechanic and my biggest problem. My second best mechanic was 28 years old and I was only 24.

I can keep going about how your situation should not have happened but the fact is your mechanic is telling the motor is done. One of my jobs I had to do as the formen was to quote jobs. You are really going to have to think if this car is worth the repair cost. Depending on the route you take this repair could cost twice what the car is worth. Don’t make the mistake of thinking the car is worth more then what the repair cost. One thing they teach in mechanic school, before recommending a major repair spend a half hour checking out the car. Check the transmission and the rear. Make sure everything else is in good working condition. Putting a new motor in a car that is going to need a transmission in 4 months and a new rear is 7 month is not going to make for a happy customers.

Here is a layout of your option:

Used motor. You are going to pay $500-$800 if you buy it through the garage if they are putting a warranty on it. You mostly paying for the warranty, the junk yard will mark it up and the garage will mark it up because if it does have an issue they will have eat the labor and the yard will eat the parts. You already have 5 hours in the repair. I would guess with resealing the intake they are going to have another 18 hours in the replacment plus another 250 in parts gaskets, seals, motors mount, belts and hoses, suff that is in too bad of a condition to reuse. Base on your head gasket quote I would guess they are about $85 per hour

Engine- $500-$800
Misc- $250
Labor- $2000
$2750-$3050 estimate

Remanufacture motor.
Labor and misc charge would about the same. But the motor would be $1500. Shops should be able find prices better than I can on the net. Remanufacture like selling to shops because they are repeat customer and less likely to screw the install and blame the motor.
$3750 estimate
1994 Chevrolet Camaro V6, 3.4 L, 207 CID Rebuilt Engine - Rebuilt Engines Store

Rebuild.
There is no real way to estimate this there is too much unknown until you start measuring stuff and on a motor with unknown miles that has had coolant in it the rebuild price could easily hit $3500 plus the above install price. We have guys that have rebuild their own 3.4 and had over 3k just in parts and machine work. It is very unlikely the rebuild cost would be under the reman cost.

Based on the remanufactured seems like the way to go. The used motor will not really increase the value in fact it could hurt it. A remanufactured motor with a 7 year warranty would help sell the car but not for as much as it cost. For what the repair is going to cost you could buy a decent 2002 with a 3800 in it.

 

I'll read more into what you wrote in a minute but wanted to clarify something. Selling it isn't an option. I've put way more money in it and will never get that back. I paid $1800 for the car, I've done more than that in repairs. At this point, I'd have to pay probably nearly another grand just pu t motor back together and stop. I'm going to look in a minute and see how many miles was on car when I bought it and I can be more precise on the miles I've put on it which will be tiny in the 2 yrs I've had it. Tranny is new. It was put in brand new in 2010. I doubt it has 1000 miles on it.

Shop foreman has been a GM mechanic over 40 years. He was shop foreman of Chevy dealership for 37 yrs before owner shut it down and this man moved out with his crew and wanted to continue servicing the cars. I will certainly ask questions before I commit to any decision. That's why I posted on here to get someone elses side of it. The only decision I've made is I'm keeping the car.

 

There is a time to know when to walk away, cut your losses and call the game. Youre talking about a V-6 4th generation Camaro, not a 69 RS/SS Camaro.... For the money youll have into this car, you couldve bought a 4th generation Corvette, or a much newer and somewhat more valuable Camaro. Stop looking at this with an emotional point of view and use some logic here and youll be dollars ahead in the long run.

 

Dana you will end up with a nice ride when you are done. One thing for sure is you will know exactly what has been done to your car. Should start to be able to enjoy it soon.

 

Thank you for saying that. I do realize it will never be worth the money I've put in it but I have no interest in selling it ever. I want to keep at replacing things on it. We've found a motor with a warranty on it and we're going for it. Gonna cost me $2250 for the engine and installation. He's working with me on making payments along the way so it's not a big strain at once. So I owe $1100 now lol.

The thing that saddens me the most is I'm going to lose my nice "rumble" that drew me to the car in the beginning. Now I will run the risk of hitting a deer because it wont hear me coming! lol

 

Well I believe they make a muffler that will take care of that. Would like pictures when you have a chance. We have a lot of Deer over here also, which is always a risk. At the Parts stores around here they have devices that when driving, as the wind blows through them it creates a sonic noise that is suppose to scare them off the road. We can't hear it though, people say they work.

 

The CAT has been removed and it has a Flowmaster muffler on it and we thought that was why it was so loud but then we did the same thing to an identical car and it didn't do much justice at all.