Yeah, a $1000 replacement engine would have done the job. $3000 for a rebuild...either you're exaggerating, or the mechanic is a total ripoff.

You mustn't have wanted it bad enough. Every secondhand car has it's problems, otherwise why would the owners sell??

If it was on sale for less than $7000 (good in all ways except for diff and bad engine), then it was still a good price, even with a stuffed motor.

The guy wants to sell it, he knows he's spend a lot of cash on it, and people who haven't done a conversion don't understand the effort required to do it properly.

I've spent nearly 40 hours on wiring the engine bay in my car over the past 6 days off. If I was a mechanic charging $90/hr that's $3600 alone, and $300 in wire relays and connectors (At mechanics prices). Doing it myself has cost less than $100.

Having a "daily driver" performance car is expensive. If you can't afford an engine rebuild at any time, then it's time to assess whether you can afford it, or learn how to do it yourself.

But the guy keeping the $400 is a bit "out of order".

Chris