Hey everyone, I've got a 1986 MR2 that's not doing so well right now. I seemed to have cracked 3 pistons (!!). Whoops. It was strange because the engine gave no signs of being damaged prior to when the engine finally blew (no smoke, mis-fire, oil consumption). I pulled the enine out and ripped it apart, head-to-block. When I took the pistons out, #'s 1, 3, and 4 were damaged. Another odd thing was that they were all damaged on the same side (intake side). The #3 piston looked really bad, sort of like I was running a badly tuned turbo or (gasp) nitrous, hahah. As far as the rest of the car goes, it has the usuall body rott around the read quarter panels, a common problem on the Mk1's I've discovered. Also has the other common C50 trans problem with 5th gear grinding when engaged (a little double clutch helps that). So now I'm sure you're all thinking "Man, just get rid of that thing. It's dead". At least that's what everyone of my friends and family have been saying :p Now I really love this car. It was my second car (first was Toyota Cressida '85) and the first car I really learned to drive 5-speed on (learn to drive 5-speed properly, at least). I really can't bring myself to let it go because I don't really have the finances to buy another one right now (I'm 19 and in college, 'nuff said). But I'm fairly sure I can swing an engine replacement/rebuild. Thing is, I've never done anything like this before. I'm pretty confident with working under the hood of a car, and have become quite the gearhead in the past two years, so feel free to get as technical as you want. I could use some advice as to which route seems to be the best to take, given my situation ("get rid of it" isn't good advice! :). So here's what's going on: I called a local toyota dealership to get some prices on things I need to replace. For pistons (heads no connecting rods) 61.80 each, Rings 97.10, gasket set for the head roughly 250 (forgot the exact number. includes head gasket though). So thus far, when I added everything up and factored in an extra 150 or so for extraneous tools and things, I figured that to rebuild the engine myself would be somewhere in the area of 750 bucks. Now, I'm not sure if I should buy all of the parts and try this myself, or go out and buy a JDM motor. Thing is with the JDM motors, they have no EGR so they're illegal for street use in the states. I want to drive this car again as a dail driver. I'm not trying to build a racecar (that's later in life, haha). So I got to thinking, there's a company that I'm sure a few of you have heard of called Toysport (www.toysport.com) They have a few different 4A-GE and 4A-GZE long blocks for sale, but they're JDM. I was thinking that maybe I could purchase a 4A-GE long block, and then retrofit it with my intake and exhaust manifolds so I could put the EGR on. I'm really not sure what to do. As far as the body rot, I'm going to most likely take the 1/4's off (fun, fun) and repair them. Might have to weld new metal onto the pass. side, driver's side's getting some bondo or maybe, if I'm feeling ambitious, fiberglass. The body's not that big of a deal to me right now. It's structuraly(sp?) sound so I'll worry about it later. So let me sum this up: 1. Anyone know of an aftermarket, OEM spec piston maker that might be cheaper than Toyota? 2. Same thing for the gasked set 3. any tips on the rebuild itself (possible snags, cautions, etc...) So if you just read all of that, thank-you. I appreciate it. My e-mail is es250948@.... I check it almost every day, so that is probably the best way to contact me. I don't frequent these groups too often so if you post and I take forever to reply, don't be offended. Thanks again if you read this and I hope to hear from somebody soon. Oh, and by the way, HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!