Danielsand
New Member
- Posts
- 574
- Location
- SoCal
I am happy to report.
As some of you recall, it was purchased off of junk yard, with broken timing belt. It was sitting with hood/windows open, for three months in the CA rainy season (not much rain in SoCal, but still). Dust, moisture, industry fallout, etc. wreaked havoc with the fuse boxes, electrical connectors, and such. The replacement engine (IF found locally) was quoted at $2500.
Bought a whole other, running Hippo for $2200. Yanked the engine/tranny as a unit, and replaced. Problems started right away (barrel connectors, injector wires, VIS motor wires, fuses, thermostat, leaky manifold gaskets), and most were related to age (not so much the mileage), and sitting in the open for extended period of time. (Hippo is 2002 V6 with 94K miles, and the donor was also 2002 with 95K miles!)
Yesterday it passed the CA emissions, has no codes, and all is good! Now on to rebuilding the original engine, for the future. The carcass of the engine/tranny "donor" was sold for $700, so in reality, replacement engine + tranny, ended up to be $1500! (not bad at all). Original tranny is PERFECT, and it will go back in acompanied by the original engine, when the engine is finished. The rebuild of the original engine will cost about $1000 in parts, plus my labor.
So in retrospective,.......I managed to get TWO running engine/tranny units for $2500! And in the process, I learned about Hippo's innards so much, that I know it now better than my XJ8 VDP which I rebuilt from scratch (wiring, interior, engine, tranny, brakes, axles, etc).
Wife and I are taking Hippo to Las Vegas for some RR ("poor little animal deserves some fun, after being rescued from the pound" - in my wife's words).
As some of you recall, it was purchased off of junk yard, with broken timing belt. It was sitting with hood/windows open, for three months in the CA rainy season (not much rain in SoCal, but still). Dust, moisture, industry fallout, etc. wreaked havoc with the fuse boxes, electrical connectors, and such. The replacement engine (IF found locally) was quoted at $2500.
Bought a whole other, running Hippo for $2200. Yanked the engine/tranny as a unit, and replaced. Problems started right away (barrel connectors, injector wires, VIS motor wires, fuses, thermostat, leaky manifold gaskets), and most were related to age (not so much the mileage), and sitting in the open for extended period of time. (Hippo is 2002 V6 with 94K miles, and the donor was also 2002 with 95K miles!)
Yesterday it passed the CA emissions, has no codes, and all is good! Now on to rebuilding the original engine, for the future. The carcass of the engine/tranny "donor" was sold for $700, so in reality, replacement engine + tranny, ended up to be $1500! (not bad at all). Original tranny is PERFECT, and it will go back in acompanied by the original engine, when the engine is finished. The rebuild of the original engine will cost about $1000 in parts, plus my labor.
So in retrospective,.......I managed to get TWO running engine/tranny units for $2500! And in the process, I learned about Hippo's innards so much, that I know it now better than my XJ8 VDP which I rebuilt from scratch (wiring, interior, engine, tranny, brakes, axles, etc).
Wife and I are taking Hippo to Las Vegas for some RR ("poor little animal deserves some fun, after being rescued from the pound" - in my wife's words).
