bad news for my 3SGTE engine (56K ouchie), NOW UPDATED WITH THE NEW PLAN!!! Options

[presure2]

well, looks like i have a worse case senario on my hands at this point.
removed the head on the 3s ive been working on, first thing i noticed was TONS of carbon..tops of the pistons are coated with it, its so heavy is actually flaking off.
next i had a look at the cylinder walls..and i discovered this:

needless to say, the wife can feel it with her fingernail, and from what ive read, that = time for the machine shop.
which absolutly blows.
i had no intention of "building" this motor, as my power goals (~250WHP) really do not warrant it, and i really wanted to try and get it in ASAP.
so, now im at a crossroad....do i say to hell with it, and buy forged rods and pistons over the next several months, and slowly over the next year or so build the motor, and then start the headwork...(cause IMO its kinda pointless to put a factory head on a built block) which could take ANOTHER year with MY budget!...lol OR
another option at this point is a factory short block..i can get one new for as little as 1450$ or so to my door.
have the head rebuilt (~600) and start new...
OR
at this point, im fairly confident in the 5s block, we know the weak point is pistons and rods..and hell, im pretty close to my power goal as it is with the 5sfTe..im starting to think that for my power level, i could build the 5s to take the beating pretty easily for the next few years..especially if i spent a little more time on tuning, or stepped up and bought the emanage or somthing...
thoughts? ideas? comments?
help me out here, guys, im kinda bummed out about this whole thing.

[lagos]

sorry to hear about your 3s. its a good thing you took that head off and found out now.

it seems like anyway you look at it, your going to either be rebuilding the 3s or the 5s. at least with the 3s, youll know that if you do it once, it will last forever (in theory). with the 5sfe, youll alwasy be in uncharted territory.

remember when u wanted just a little power from your 5sfTE? it starts out as.... i just want 180hp.....i just want 220hp.....i just want 250hp..... you know how that goes, we are all addicted. at least a 3sgte will give you lots of room to grow. god only knows how much power youll be making years from now.

i would compare the prices of an oem rebuild, done locally.... vs a new toyota shortblock. as nice as forged pisotons are, the 3sgte pistons are not know to be a weak point on the motor. i think you would more then meet your goals on an oem rebuild and save some cash.

the other option (if your budget is really tight) is to keep an eye out for someone selling a shortblock. i think Sean for ctech has an extra one he was trying to sell me. might want to contact him.

whatever block you do, i would also take the time to rebuild the head. a new block with an old head would be a bad idea in my opinion

This post has been edited by lagos: May 1, 2006 - 11:46 AM