Looking for advice on several options: 1) rebuild lower end on my current 2.7L, 2) buy 2.7L short block, 3) buy 2.7L long block, 4) 3.5L swap, 5) junk car and buy something that works...
Background story:
In the beginning of June the water pump blew on my '02 intrepid. cyl compression was great but was leaking coolant like a sieve out the weep hole. I swapped in a full timing set from Cloyes, water and oil pumps from adv auto. After the job I put 5000 miles on the car, it was running great (29 mpg on highway) until a week ago I snapped the crankshaft pulling onto the interstate (WOT 2nd gear 4000 rpm). It broke right where cylinder #5 connecting rod connects: about 3 or 4 inches forward from the driveplate. Funny thing is the engine still runs and compression is good on all cylinders around 185 psi except cyl #6 that is around 160psi. However, the timing chain stretched, The primary tensioner was at its maximum when I inspected the engine after the crank failure. Cloyes rep claimed that the 5k full chain wearout was caused by the crankshaft going bad. Surprisingly the timing never jumped any teeth. Currently the car has 206,606 miles on it and the transmission is out of the car, (I originally thought the driveplate was cracked and dropped tranny only to find that the crank was snapped just a couple inches in front of the driveplate.) The tranny pan had a few tiny metal particles in it, but nothing but powder was on the magnet, So the tranny is probably nearing the end of its life as well.
1) Rebuild option:
Since the timing never jumped I assume the heads are fine, pistons might be fine as well. Crankshaft and all journal bearings would all need to be replaced, along with possibly the connecting rods for cyl 5 and 6. Also I need to get a new timing chain since the new Cloyes one I installed 5k miles ago is already shot. Probably would get OEM, not sure how cloyes chain stretched that quick unless it was poor quality part. My concern I don't know about is, if I went this route would I need to get the bearing surfaces in the block and caps machined? And what would the reliability of the rebuild be? I don't want to do a full bottom end overhaul and only get 5k miles out of it like i did after the t-chain replacement.
2/3) Buy new/reman short or long block.
Anyone have recommendations on places to purchase 2.7L short or long block from? Since I believe heads are ok I believe I could get by with a short block.
4) 3.5L Swap.
I just ordered daytreppers manual off ebay on the swap. I am planning to call up some local junkyards to see what they have in the area. What would all consider acceptable low mileage for a 3.5L engine to swap in? Below 150k? Below 75k? Not sure their typical life. Also would it be recommended to do the water pump/t-belt on the used 3.5L before installing it? Also my 2.7L has NO EGR. Do '02-'04 3.5L have EGR normally or not? If they do is that going to cause some check engine light problems if I swap it in my car?
5) buy new car...
just bought new suspension and installed new brake system in car, be a shame to have to junk the car, but worse things have happened in life.
Any advice is appreciated, thanks.
