South Carolina Cougar with blown motor

[EffingLimey]

So, my little black '99 cougar MTX has a seized 2.5L motor. The car has about 75K miles on it, but the paint on the hoods and roof are faded badly making the car seem older and more beat up. The tires, brakes, clutch, et all are all fairly new.

I'm no mechanic, but I've been reading this forum on the 3.0L swap. The question is: Is there anyone in the Charleston area that has done this or would be willing to? Has anyone seen any 3.0L motors for sale lately? If it were your car, would you do it or just junk it?

[Blackcoog]

Check my sig if you are looking for a site that sells prepped 3L motors. Otherwise you can search your local junk yard if you want to modify it on your own.

How many miles are on the car and what is it's condition?

[EffingLimey]

Yeah, I went onto your site and looked around earlier today. My issue is getting someone to do the work - if you were here (vs. Minneapolis), I'd drop the $3200 "installed" price (+ a set of headers and a tune) in a heartbeat and be done with it...

[DanG]

I'm outside DC... Still a bit of a haul, but I've done more 3L installs than I can count...

[StealthyWeasel]

If you want another 2.5, I have one with about 100k on it that runs fine, we can do the whole install start to finish for around $1500 total price. Then maybe you can sell the car, if you're unsatsfied with it's exterior. I live near DanG as well in the DC area. Def recommend his service if you want a 3L.

[fordrule]

i know there is a couple of guys that live in SC in hardeeville area that are working on building a 3L also. u can pm ilovemycar. he might be able to help you also. but josh and dan are both are very knowledgable

[EffingLimey]

I don't want to haul the car to DC, because I don't have a vehicle to do it. Plus, it doesn't make any sense to me to put a 100K mile motor in the car if I just grenaded one after only 80K miles. If I buy one of BlackCoog's motor's, that's like $2500 plus the labor (which is undoubtedly a grand, right), plus headers and exhaust that would make sense to do now, right? That's past the cost efficacy point - I'm coming to the determination that it's better to just sell it as a parts/junker and cut my losses. Anyone looking for a car as a starting point for this project?

It's a '99 (like everybody else's), V6, MTX5. Black with a cloth interior. Just turned 80K miles, power windows & locks, p.o.s. OEM CD changer in the trunk, paint on roof (and less so on hood) is sun faded but otherwise the body is in very decent, driveable condition with no major dents or scratches. New serpentine belt & alternator less than 500 miles ago. Only mods are a short throw shifter, the GMK Cold Air intake (into the wheel well), and the stubby antenna. I put vented and drilled rotors and more aggressive pads on when I put four Hankook Ventus tires on it about 10K miles ago.

Crap.

[fordrule]

why not consider spending the 500 at a local junk yard and buying a 3L and replacing the gaskets and bearings?do a full 3L swap if u dont want to spend terribly too much. and be done with it. when i built mine it cost me 500 for the engine , about 500 or so for the gaskets and other parts to do the swap. while ur at replace the clutch also. u can purchase headers pretty reasonable right now

[EffingLimey]

You're right, of course - but that would require time and expertise. The repair facility where it is at quoted $900 for labor for installing the "prepped" 3.0 motor that BlackCoog sells, and I'm sure it would be higher if there is more work involved (junkyard 3.0).

I'm washing my hands of it and going back to RWD cars.

[EffingLimey]

eBay Motors: Mercury : Cougar (item 330233910054 end time May-11-08 19:29:19 PDT)