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for about 2 wks, my engine has had this knocking noise. Me and my friend thought it was a loose exhaust manifold since we were messing with replacing my cat and perhaps we loosened it up. The noise starts when the engine starts cold and stops here and there and makes noise when reving it up. My mechanic says that it might a a rod or rocker arm in my engine. Then when I left his shop the noise for some reason got extrememly loud and when it idles you can clearly her an intermitant knock form out side the car. Any suggestions on hte problem, or is my mechanic right?

I think your mechanic is right, i remember the Newkirk's saturn made a noise similiar to that and......well you've seen the pics of the huge ass hole on the bottom of the engine.....get that shit looked at asap man

Check your valvetrain, and readjust your timing.

My dad suspects a lifter or something. Anyway, I'm taking my car to my mechanic again today since it rained yesturday. Depending on the problem I have 3 options: Get the engine fixed, swap a ZE/03 or get a new car. I have a question on how much time/money it usually takes to do an engine swap, since if the problem is internal it might be able to be fixed easily or it might be too damn much to even mess with.

It all depends the motor your going to swap into it........you might need different mounts.......might have to cut some of the firewall out to make it fit........might have to move some things around........there's so many factors..........

Man, if your lifters are making THAT much noise, they're almost through. Probably the easiest course of action would be the ze swap.

^The KL-ZE swap is a direct bolt in to probe GTs. Very easy swap.

Easy swap, but still very time consuming

Any engine swap is time consuming. In the realm of engine swaps, the mazda engine swaps are pretty simple and straightforward.

yea, my car started knocking cold, then got worse and worse till....yeeaaaa, youve seen the pics. make sure you keep oil in it to keep the engine good for as long as possible. i wouldnt drive hard either. id say your either looking at a rebuild or the swap. most likely the swap is easier and cheaper so go w/ that.

Well, the car is at my mechanics. The car is definately loosing compression since the idle keeps raising everytime i start the car. It does that because the engine is taking control and trying to compensate for the lost compression. Anyway, not sure whats going on yet but Either I get a new car, get a ZE, or get a new 03 from Ford with a 3 year warrenty on it.

Ford 03: est 1800 + install
ZE : 700-800 + install
new car: ??

Dude. Get the ZE. Yeah, you get a 3 year warranty with the ford engine, but it really isn't worth the extra money you're shelling out for it. Just buy that KL-ZE, and either hit up a mechanic, or we'll all get together and have a massive engine swap party.

I think that might be looking for a new car instead now, not sure yet. There is a nice 1986 300ZX at his shop, but its not turbo . There is also a 2001 Eclipse GT in my neighborhood for sale. II'm gonna be doing some looking for cars real quick here too. This is all if we decide to get rid of the car. Also the decision to get rid of the car is like 50/50 between me and my dad so its not all just my say in the matter.

If anyone has seen any good deals around, let me know.