I am a rookie to please excuse all my questions.

Background. My son bought a TA from someone that claimed it was a daily runner. It was a mix mash of parts from various GM cars. The seller grossly misrepresented (lied) and I now have a car with a 355 engine, straight body and blown head gasket.

What should I do next??

If I sell the car as a project car "as is" I would get less than $1K and I have much more into the car.

If I invest in getting the motor fixed then I could sell it as a runner for more and recoupe some money.

I would like to fix the car up and restore to its former glory. I would like to have a muscle car to drive on the weekends but I am a novice.

Any suggestions on where to start???

 

I took the blown heads into a local speed shop and the owner said he could modify and replace heads in current configuration for $XXX of dollars but recommended pulling the engine and having it inspected to see if their was damage done to lower half of the engine.

He also said that the engine had substantial work done for performace / horsepower upgrades and the engine might be worth investing money at least to research if it is salvageable.

Once you put time and energy into pulling the engine and having a speed shop evaluate the engine I might as well pay to have it repaired / replaced.

Thoughts / Suggestions

 

get a second oppinion unless you know and trust this person, but if the head gasket is blown and the heads are still good which does happen, replace the gaskets(25$) after having the heads "repaired" and be on your merry way, what exactly was the price quote and what was involved ? was he going to reinstall the heads for you or have you take them back home and put them on? prolly would be worth it to have the motor checked out tho just to be sure... beats the hell out of gettin a new one dont it?

 

If a head gasket was blown and the heads are good, that probably means the block deck is warped. Meaning removal, disassembly, and cleaning up the deck.

If the parts put in it are okay, then it's probably worth the minor machine work, gaskets, bearings, and rings it'll take to get it back up to snuff. But, it's really hard to say without knowing what those parts are.

We don't even know what the heads are at this point, and heads are the heart & soul of power.

 

Thanks everyone for reply's. I have not seen a definative answer as to should I make the investment (time / money) to restore the 1988 TA and is it worthwhile to do it.

I am having recession blues and income uncertainty but can't see disposing of this car.

What to do. What to do!

 

How do you know it's a 355? What induction system is on this motor? (stock TPI, carburetor, etc) Pull off either valve cover and get us the head casting number. This will tell us a lot about the engine.

 

This is what I got from my son.

Rebuilt 355
350 block bored .030 over
Steel Crank, forged rods and pistons
Double roller timing chain and gear set with cam button
.510 lift PBM camshaft, solid lifters, roller rockers with dual coil valve springs
Ported double hump heads with big valves
Aluminum high rise intake with edelbrock carb

What do you think.