Need a New Car? Nope, Just a New Engine!
Engine Repower is a new service that gives car owners the option of replacing their old, worn out engine with a rebuilt engine of the same vintage instead of simply buying a new car or repairing specific problems. When a first saw this page, I was very interested, as I am a proponent of keeping your car as long as possible to reduce wasteful manufacturing processes, even in the face of promises of lower emissions made by newer cars.
- » See also: Is the Renault-Nissan Alliance Going in Two Different Electric Car Directions?
- » Get Gas 2.0 by RSS or sign up by email.
Here’s what Engine Repower has to say about their service:
Technology and auto manufacturing have advanced dramatically in the past two decades. Cars and trucks last longer. Paint is better. Bodies are more corrosion resistant. Interior materials are more durable, and even suspension and other components last longer. So when an engine “dies,” it does not have to be the end of your vehicle. When a car or truck suffers major engine damage, the first response and reaction of many consumers is to buy a new or used vehicle. Sometimes disposing of your current vehicle might make sense, but often it’s simply not necessary.
Obviously, being an advertisement, they are very high on themselves, but they do make some good points. When cars die, it seems it is most often due to accidents or blown engines. Very rarely do cars rust so badly or generally devolve to a point of undrivability before the engine begins to have trouble. Also, one of the biggest issues with emissions from old vehicles is that those vehicles have fallen out of spec and are no longer getting the best fuel economy or releasing the least emissions.
The Engine Repowering Council seems to focus on domestic vehicles, but using their find-a-shop feature, it’s likely that you can find someone to rebuild an engine of almost any make. These engines almost always come with warranties and, in my opinion (as someone who has worked at a shop in the past), will be rebuilt as carefully as anything else coming from that shop. So, if you’re considering this, pick a shop you know and trust, and that offers a good warranty.
While the service is certainly not ideal (you can’t just put a newer, cleaner engine in an old car), the ability to put life and reliability back into an old car is about as close as you can get to recycling and reusing in the automotive world.
Image source: motoringfile
Related Posts:
376.59 MPG Car Found In Museum (It Was Built In 1959)
Car and Driver Increase Pinto Fuel Economy with $11 of Ecomods
Biodiesel Guide: 7 Steps to Buying a Diesel
Sick of Gas?: Convert Your Car To Run On Electricity
6 Ways To Find And Use Biodiesel Anywhere
How Biodiesel Fuel-Cells Could Power The Future (And Your Car)
Ben, you’re an idiot. This is not new technology and from reading your other posts there might be a chance that you could be declared legally retarded.
So lets get this straight…
Engine “repowering” is new as far as you can tell…
and
you worked at a shop before…
So, this “shop you worked at has never installed a rebuilt engine? Ever?
Auto shops have been installing new, used and rebuilt engines since cars were invented n00b.
Are you going to report on these new fangled “internal combustion engines” next?
Go electric,Tesla’s motor’s only moving part is a solid rotor! One piece carbon fiber glass fiber and resin bodies are possible and repairable to a certain extent. Battery packs are a bitch though - here’s hoping they get better!
wow……..you’re serious aren’t you. ben, people have been doing this since the dawn of the automobile. this is a sarcastic article right?? you really didn’t know?? have you ever read an automobile magazine? have you ever seen a restored vehicle? did you think that 65 mustang your professor drives is a “new” car??
buy a classic-and rebulid as needed value never goes down
Dear Mr Jones.
“Engine Repower is a new (as far as I can tell) service that gives car owners the option of replacing their old, worn out engine with a rebuilt engine of the same vintage instead of simply buying a new car or repairing specific problems.”
They may be a ‘new company’ but the service is FAR from ‘NEW’. It used to be VERY common when the lifetime of a car was about 150,000 at the most {now easily 250,00} and engines wore out at 100,000
And in fact, you CAN put a ‘new tech’ engine in an ‘old tech’ car.
It takes more skill and knowhow than the average ’shop tech’ has but is well known and commonly done by backyard mechanics’ who really know their cars and how they work. … you know the guys who have to write their OWN manuals.
Is it possible to put a new engine in an old car like a classic car ?
How easy is it ? How much might it cost ?
Will it run properly, the elecs, etc ?
thanks
I just don’t know why ford or gm don’t come out or honda or even toyota with a 2 cylinder gas engine that would power a hybrid car, a hybrid can produce about 200 to 230 horse power this way.miles mer galon would be about 120 to 140 i know this would be the end of this gasoline problem because sports cars would be even better because of prize and weight.