97 grand am worth it?

[Soulmonger]

I've been offered a 97 grand am for $500. The interior is in beautiful shape as is the body. I has a clogged catylic converter, a leaking water pump and it needs a valve job. I was thinking I would just buy a rebuilt head (about $450 with install kit). My question really is how much work is removing the head? Can it be done with the engine in the car or do you have to pull it to get the head off? I am just about finished with a complete engine swap in a 93 bonneville, and I didn't find that very difficult at all, but Ive heard that bonnes have some of the easiest engines to work on. Are the grand ams very difficult? If I can get the car running for at or under $1500 and it's something I can do with 2-4 days of work I think I'll jump on it. What do you guys think?


Edit: it is an se and has the quad 4 engine Also just out of curiosity can the V6 be swapped into the car without any modification?

[b2089]

The cat isn't a big deal, they are easily replaced or hollowed out depending on state laws and how good the OBD1 system checks it.

From my experience the water pumps on those cars do develop leaks over time, so that's not unexpected. There's still controversy as to why they leak with some people claiming that the dexcool becomes corrosive as it ages. I think it's probably just a weakpoint in the design. I don't recall how hard the pump is to replace because I let someone else do that.

For 500 I'd get it. I'd leave the quad 4 in it though because foctory to factory the Quad 4 is very close to the six in performance.

[Soulmonger]

I was asking about the v6 more for upgrade purposes. Putting engine internals in a V6 should yeild more power than in a 4 cylinder yes?

Also is it possible to put in any of the larger V6s in there? Maybe an L67... car would be awesome with a supercharged 3800

[Matt95GT]

Depends... if you can do all the work yourself, go for it. Make sure you pick up a shop manual for the teardown order, timing, and torque specs though.

Removing the timing components and cams, etc is one of the more lengthy proceedures... some mechcanics really hate doing that. It can be done while in the car, but expect some tight fits with tools in the timing chain area.

The V6 is more trouble than worth to swap. You'll need the trans, complete wiring harness, PCM, gauge cluster, etc... possibly mounts to cut and weld too. Although it would have more torque, the 5-10 more HP isn't really worth the trouble. If your 2.4 has the manual transmission, then actually it's on fairly level performance ground as the V6.

3800... that's a frankenstein project... and wouldn't be easy... custom fab work for that.

Originally posted by b2089
The cat isn't a big deal, they are easily replaced or hollowed out depending on state laws and how good the OBD1 system checks it.


It's illegal in every state I know of to gut it. The 97 is OBDII... it will throw a code if you gut it. Just pickup a universal Catco cat for about $60.

[Soulmonger]

car is automatic unfortunatly... wonder how much I can grab a used manual for... Think I may go ahead and buy it

[daman]

I'd pull the trigger,,

i picked up a '95 with a blown H/G for 5 put 3 in parts and
have a damn nice car for way under $1000 bucks, and
books out for over $2000 yet :D