sconney

experience in rebuilds? My 91 CQ is awesome, fun to drive but seems a bit slower than my friends. My shop has compression tested to see about 20% leakage apparently normal for this many miles. car eats 1 quart of oil every 800 miles and gets only 20.8 MPG!! These are singns of leakage in the seals right? I was quoted 3-4K for a rebuild and want to know if the car will suddenly feel new again? Should my mileage go up to 23-24 MPG? I know the engine is a bit tired, but would consider dumping the money if I can really freshen up the car. What do you think?

Hokie - STI avant

why not go they distance and do a swap. Then you will have gobs of power.

Mike

4Driver4

The factory reman units are way better quality than more bench top rebuilds.

TabulaRasa

Mobil 1 15W50, 231k miles, never done any internal engine work. All 5 Injectors have been replaced twice in the lifetime of the car. Some vaccum lines going rotten (and being replaced as neccesary). Michelin man hose is split (and taped back up). Clutch, synchros, power steering, and brake booster good. I'm on my 2nd driver's side window reg. Pass window reg is squeaking but now I just don't use it.

Is my engine down on power from the time it was new? Probably. Am I going to rebuild it? No. If I spend any major $$ on engine work, I'm going to upgrade to a 20v turbo engine. IMHO, the CQ came from the factory underpowered. If the 2.3 20v 7a engine made 200hp crank from the factory I'd probably keep it but it doesn't and 164hp isn't good enough for me.

cuatrokoop

You can DIY for MUCH less than $3-4k. I'd figure on spending 1k or so (can't remember how much) on rebuild parts for the 7A, doing a COMPLETE rebuild using your block, head, cams, valves, pistons, rods, and crank. Pretty much all the other stuff would be new.

FWIW, I was getting 22-23mpg city and 27-28mpg highway before my O2 and engine had problems.

Also, you could put a MC code 10vt in the car with the help of a friend or two, for $3k including new driveline mounts and a chip + WG spring. Although, I still haven't worked out the AC compressor fitment like I thought I had, so I'm just leaving it off.

AUDI 90 (88)

Rebuild your cylinder head that should give you some increased performance. But rebulding the rest of the engine is pointless.
Dont rebuild your engine unless you absolutelly have to do it.

cuatrokoop

What they need to do, to decide if it is pointless or not, is to see how much movement is in the bottom end.

At 155k miles, the 10vt was in need of a rebuild. It lead a difficult life, for sure. All the mains, rods, thrust, and wrist pin bushes/bearings were starting to become two-tone or were significantly two-tone. Especially the thrust bearings. The rings also had worn top edges, cylinders needed honed, etc.

Best bet is to pull the head and oil pan and take a look at the bottom end.

Its only pointless if you don't find anything, but with 186k on the clock, I'll bet they find some extra play in the bottom end and cylinder walls in need of a hone.

AUDI 90 (88)

Rebulding the engine costs anywhere from $2000-3000.
For $1500 you can get and allready rebuild engine and get it swaped(both engine price and instalation work included).
Or for around $600 you can get an engine with about 100 000km on the clock - and for about $700 you can get it swaped in.

TabulaRasa

You also have to take into account other issues on an old car that would require freshening or that you might as well change while you're in there such as:

clutch
hoses
fluids
etc.

cuatrokoop

Why do you think I said DIY and save money?? Thats what I'm doing, and its why for $2500-3000 I can put a fully rebuilt 10vt in my car (minus the AC) with a chip and WG spring, and be making 230hp pretty easily.

The 10vt rebuild itself is under a grand in parts. The only things the vast majority of people can't do is hone the cylinder walls, ream wrist pin bushes to match the pins, and ream valve guides. The labor involved in that by a shop is around $300 at the most.