hey guys, i am looking at buying a 1986 iroc, it's all good paint, interior, and suspension, but it doesn't run. it has had a 1991 corvette l98 tpi with a small cam swaped in, and the guy who owns the car says the fuel injectors went bad, and made the pump go dead. how can i verify that this is the problem? and worse case how much would it cost for a total rebuild (top and bottom end) if the motor is fryed? thanks, alex

 

?!?
If the injectors really did go back, and the pump went dead, replace the pump and injectors - total cost of $400 in parts if you don't shop for discounts, or $1000 if you let a shop do it. Keep the engine in one piece, why the heck would you rebuild a perfectly good "vette" engine for that reason?!?

I'd buy it, if you're ok with replacing those parts.

 

well if the engine is fryed, and needs any major workd, i would rebuild the entire thing. dont get me wrong, i DO NOT want to rebuilt, PITA because this will be my dayly driver

 

A Vette TPI engine is a pretty good motor. Even if you had to rebuild it, you've got a lot of good parts in there.

I'd make sure it's a vette motor though. It should have aluminum heads on it.

But since you have all those good parts already, you wont have to buy many new parts for a rebuild except maybe pistons and rods, and that's about it.

But if the motor just wont run for a mysterious reason, it's likely not because it needs to be rebuilt. It's probably ignition or fuel related. If it's been sitting for a while then all bets are off, but a motor that needs to be rebuilt is either making noises/seized up/burning tons of oil. If it's not doing any of those then rebuilding is probably unnecessary.

I dont know anything about fuel injectors and fuel pumps going bad, so that's up to you to figure out how likely that is.

 

Engines "fail" pretty rarely actually. The only reason it'd need a complete rebuild is if it's been run at 6000RPM with low oil for a long time. With normal use it takes a LONG time for an engine to fail. I HIGHLY doubt your engine actually needs to be torn down to the block. I'd bet that it's just a few simple sensors and external parts. Most carbed guys freak out when their FI engines start to act up, and get spooked. (myself included). Just slow down and take it one step at a time. Using a haynes manual for a 1991 Camaro start testing sensors, injectors, fuel pump etc, and go from there.

 

thank you for al of your input, and on further inspection it looks like the guy may be trying to play the motor off as a vette motor, it has the wrong valve covers ect. i am goin to check casting numbers to see if it's a legit vette motor. also the car has ben sitting for 2yrs(just found out), so that throws another variable into the equation. i'm fairly new to the car hobby, so any input and.or opinions are greatly appreciated. oh, if i posted a pic of the engine compartment would that help? i kno that the accesories are from the origional engine, but i'm not sure exactly what the differences between the vette tpi and f-body tpi are, i kno one has a diferent angle fuel line input, and the fuel rails look slightly different, but i dont kno enough to make a decent decision(its a 1991 l98 tpi). thanks again guys

 

here are the only two pics i have:

 

got a '92 b4c instead, thanks for you input guys