Putting an engine in my mk3 - best approach?
 

Hey - so I'm about to buy a green 90 supra, targa, turbo, interior torn to shit, but body is pristine. Engine and tranny (5 speed) are removed from the chassis. $600. The people are throwing in the original tranny and what's left of the engine, and then I can decide if they're worth repairing or searching for a complete replacement.

Now, if I understand these folks right, they have the whole engine torn down, and in some kind of at least considerable condition - except for the block, which during the flood got half rusted to shit.

I'd like your opinion on what approach I should take as far as getting this thing running. A couple questions:
-Is a rusted block recoverable, or would it be better to find another block and start from there?
-Maybe these people don't even have half of the parts of the engine. In that scenario, should I try and get another motor used and start there, or obtain all the parts to fit in with what I do have and work from there?
-Any other comments or advice you could provide?

Thank you. (:

That's hard to say without knowing for sure what you have or don't have.

If it were me, and I had the funds to do so, I'd buy a JDM engine, tear it down, and rebuild it. Then whatever pieces you do have from the original engine can be saved as spare parts if needed, or sold online through here or eBay. Also, you would definitely have a nice, strong engine that you could either build up or use as a daily driver.

So I made the deal today - $600 for the car, transmission, an old engine that was originally in the car, which is in a pretty bad state of disrepair, a half-rusted block that looks in great condition, and a head that the previous owner was kind of working on.

My general plan of attack is to tear down and clean the individual parts of the head, inspecting everything and figuring out what I'm missing, and then put the whole engine together. The old engine can be used for extra parts, I guess. And I'm going to try and de-rust that block, because I'd really prefer not to have to get another.