Right now my tib has about 145K on the odometer. Original engine, original transmission (except replacing the clutch about 30K ago). It drives fine with no issues other than it eats a little oil and I have to top it off with about a half quart every 2-2.5K miles before the oil change.



Im wondering if I should look into maybe getting a new engine for it. Im sure an engine with a significantly lower mileage will not only perform much better (and be faster) but would also allow me to keep the car alot longer. I plan on keeping my tib until it literally falls apart. I also know that with more and more tibs going to junkyard heaven, that finding a good Beta 1 with low miles will start to become alot harder as time goes by. I called around to a few shops to see how much they would charge to install a new engine if I can find one and have it shipped to them. They all said that it would take around 6-8 hours to complete the swap (pull old engine, install new one, and test to make sure everything is good). Is that an accurate time frame?



What do you all think?

 

The amount of oil you are talking about is "normal" for any engine. Run a quick compression test and see what it looks like. Replacing an engine only because it has a few miles on it is a waste of money.

 

Replacing the engine for such an issue is like amputation for a splinter.

A good service will probably do that motor some good. I had to put oil in about that same interval due to a crack in the valve cover. Look for small issue as such, most of them are easy fixes and will cats folds less than a full engine especially if you plan to pay someone else to install.



Like Stocker said, start with a compression test and go from there. You might find any issues are easily dealt with.

 

hell even if it ends up popping off like a 140 in compression, as long as the cylinders arent more than like 10% different between cylinders, id keep driving it



burning oil aint sh*t, check out what us VQ35DE guys have to put up with, BRAND NEW ENGINES burning 1 quart between oil changes IS NORMAL



caddy guys have it even worse



expect roughly 10 hours worth of labor to be build out, the "guides" dont quote for age/rust/special cases(broken bolts sh*t like that)



also realize that swapping a motor is a lot more work than just what the "guide" says, if I were buying a used motor, id definitely install a new timing belt, water pump, thermostat, and other maintenance items at the same time, which will add more hours to the quote



the guide assumes just taking a complete long block and swapping it to another complete long block



if you plan on drivin it until the wheels fall off, drive this motor until it blows on you



at 138k with COUNTLESS bottles of nitrous ran through it and driving it like i stole it DAILY(it lived at a constant 4-6k rpms) the motor still had (iirc, could be off by roughly 10#) 180PSI in all 4 cylinders



good enough for me

 

You'll know when you need a new engine. It should not be done as preventative maintenance.

 

^ It's funny because it's true!

 

Is it just me, or as soon as Nissan had forsaken the L engine in the Zs we started seeing these problems?





This is the thesis for beta engines. I have dealt with some pretty ominous stuff from my motor, things that would probably show too late on many other cars (not going into specifics), and in the end it just keeps running. For now I drive it as my dd, put 65k on him in the last 3 years with little engine related difficulty. I have dreaded doing a compression test, I know I won't like the results. But in the end he runs fairly well, all things considered, and still has a good amount of get-up. Basically these block are nicely rough and tumble, one will be hard pressed to require a rebuild from miles alone. Case an point: how many around are boosted on stock compression?

 

my motor has 165k on it, internals have never been touched..... she's still running alright. i did a dyno run 2 or 3 months ago and she yeilded 102hp and 114ftlbs to the wheels, fairly decent if you ask me for so many miles and nearly all of those miles have been really, really rough. and now i'm boosting it on stock internals, waiting for it to pop so i can put in a younger engine. these engines are pretty stout, but then again most engines should be these days

 

i saw a 2 year old GK get dynoed at nopi a few years back



with a CAI he dynoed at like 112hp



so with that number, your 165k motor sounds pretty damn healthy

 

Well as a rule of thumb there needs to be something wrong with your old engine in order to justify a new one. When you've found the problem, cost up how much it'll be to fix it and then weight up that cost against the new engine together with the labour charges to install it. If the old engine is cheaper to fix overall(including machine work) then it should stay. If a new equivalent engine would be cheaper to install overall, then this is the better option money-wise.



It is generally dollars and cents that make the decision for you.