I picked up a '97 cheap as you know..

Hell, if you don't end up taking it, let me know. I'd like to have it to make mine nicer. lol. We're going to be prepping it and painting it pretty soon so it doesn't look so bad. I mean, hey, it's free. I'll take what I can get.

They're pretty good cars though!

 

yea the trans and headgaskets are the worst mechanical things for these little guys. That was one reason idecided to do a 2.4 instead of rebuild my 2.0 in my 96 and swap it from auto to 5-speedp

I picked it up for $250. Needed a new fuse box. Ran great till I ripped all the wiring, engine and trans out

 

PartsAmerica does list it as an interference engine,so there would have most likely been valve contact when it broke.whichever valves happened to be activated by the cams at that time would stay open,others that were closed would stay closed.
damage could be limited to the head,but i've also seen pistons get eaten up pretty bad or valves break and get crunched up in the combustion chamber bending rods or breaking pistons.i'd pull the head and see what the bottom end looks like before buying a head.main thing is how high it was being turned when it broke,and how long the bottom end was being drug along as they stopped the car(did they push the clutch in immediately,or let the tranny continue to spin the crank as they stopped).
Chris

 

Well, again, the good news is that you can get a longblock for these things for next to nothing and it would still be worth the investment of buying the motor to have a daily driver, considering the fact that he isn't paying anything for the car. You know?

 

i agree.but,no reason to jump the gun and buy a head when you may need a whole engine.i say tear it down and figure out what you need first.
Chris

 

if you do have to get a new engine, ill give u a few $$ for the old one.

 

Its going to be awhile...poped the hood and out came half the forest......


Bunch of mice were living under the hood in an moldy ass bag so the car has an odd odor to it now....

 

why was there a bag under the hood???

 

it was chewed up and nasty looking..like the rodents dragged it up there to make an home...

 

No telling what else they chewed up wiring harness etc.etc.