FWD TT Rebuild Dilemma

[3kgtfanatic]

Hey guys I figured I'd start off my forum debut asking a bit of advice from the 3000 experts

I have 92' SL that I converted about 2 years back that Im fairly certain has a spun bearing. Drove home one day and heard that wonderful rod knock.

I have a 99 jetta at the moment that i was using but now it has just officially crapped out on me too, so now I have a tough decision.. do i take the little cash i have and put it into rebuilding the jetta (which i would rather just get rid of), or do I take a chance and put the money into getting the beloved 3000 back and running and try and sell the jetta as is...... the 3000 has 80,000 miles and the jetta has 120,000, plus jetta has broken wiper motors, air conditioning, etc, while the 3000 is all in good condition.. Either way, I will only have one working vehicle

I know in the end its my choice just curious what the fellow FWDTT guys suggestions were

[thor'svr4]

depends on how much each will cost to fix. i like to think that im pretty mechanically inclined. I’ve done a lot of dirt bike engine rebuilds, 3 motor swaps and 4 trans swaps in my Mazda (used to be into drifting), a few motor swaps for friends trucks, plus I used to be a mechanic at a chopper shop that used to be down the st from my house. But my first 6g72 rebuild didn’t go 100% smooth. stupid things like missing a few spiral locks from Ross, a rod with a factory flaw in it, not knowing about 'packing' an oil pump before install, my mistake of f'ing up a piston ring, one of my ARP rod bolts was actually missing a few threads, ect. all this slowed me down… a lot. also keep in mind that every time you need another part you've got to wait another 3 days for it to be delivered, longer if there’s a weekend involved...

it seamed like every time i logged into 3si i would read about someone else building a short block and having issues. by reading about there issues i knew instantly that i was going to have the exact same issue and would have to remove a part back off the short block and redo the rebuild. also once i finished the rebuild i had a million small issues. the silicone sealant i used on my oil pan leaked a little. i had an oil leak coming from my oil pump even though it was a new oem pump and gasket tq'ed to spec. one of my heater core hoses somehow developed a pin hole in it during install and squirted coolant all over. just a bunch of stupid little problems.

in hindsight most of my issues were from a lack of experience with rebuilding a 6g72, but some were just pure bad luck. So coming from a guy who just finished his rebuild ~3 weeks ago I must say the end result was def worth the wait. BUT if you need a car to get to work and cant afford to have any setbacks (caused by you or a factory flaw) then I would just try to fix the jetta assuming it doesn’t need a full rebuild.

If both cars need new internals then you might as well fix the 3000gt.

I hope that helps.