16 year-old with blown-up 5S-FE in a ST184

[Hungrytradie]

My son has bought a 1990 celica. It's rally red, has pod filter, big exhaust and rally seats ("awesome" were his words) but the 5S-FE is dying (might be rings, but a full rebuild is my diagnosis).
Should he bother with strip and rebuild, should he get a long motor (another 5S-FE) or should we put the effort into something different?
He will turn 16 in January, so i'm thinking non-turbo would be essential for NSW & it would be great if he is allowed to learn to drive in his own car!
If you want, I will post photos of progress ......

[TheStitt]

Id probably just grab another motor, wont be worth the dollars re building the existing motor, depending on the how good the celica is it may not be worth spending the dollars on that body,

id say good car to learn how to drive in, and lets face it it will probably get bent so may not be worth spending the dollars to make it last a long time thick oil may just keep it going.

good father son exercise just swapping the engine over.

[Hungrytradie]

Thanks, I thought it would be enjoyable (and frustrating at the same time..), he might learn something about cars & I might learn something of the man he's about to become.

I think we will try for a crashed car with good engine. Any suggestions for wreckers (NSW, but freight is freight)?

[shrike]

Could always look into doing a head swap on another motor and doing a 5SGE (3SGE head on the 5SFE block) though for a learner car you probably wont need the extra grunt

[Hungrytradie]

Exhaust was crushed, compression test 12.5 Bar (180 PSI) all 4 cylinders!

[Cuts]

Love the title, compression is ok. being 16 and a fwd Celica I would stick with the 5s. In what way is it dying?