Head Gasket Gone. Gonna Replace The Motor, But What Kind?

[mirage83]

You could do 1j or 2j if you'd prefer, but there's going to be more involved than just cleaning up the engine bay and dropping the new one in. There's a number of mods involved, some simple and some more involved. And yes, your ECU would have to be switched out, but that's not a real big deal.

Personally, unless you've just got a bunch of money sitting around I'd do a quality rebuild on your engine. Or, swap your N/A for a GTE. Either way will be simpler and you'll likely come out cheaper than going to a J series engine. J's are good though, no argument there.

Basically, I'd figure out what I was willing to spend to get my car running and plan accordingly.

JMHO.

Edit to add...

Who the heck did you buy that car from? Whoever it was I would go and "discuss" the situation with them. BHG's don't happen for no reason, and I would be very surprised if said previous owner/driver was completely unaware of what was going on with that engine. BTW, just for the record, a blown head gasket isn't really a reason to junk the whole engine, not unless there's a lot of other problems with it.