Am I being ripped off by this shop? Timing chain or valve problem?

[Sil-14]

The shop I towed my car to says the timing chain has been put on, but not correctly. I 've just bought the car and I knew their was a timing problem. Th eprevious owner had the head rebuilt and put it back on himself. He said it ran kind off ****y and then stopped. I'm using the s13 harness ecu and transmission.

The shop said if the valves are bent it could cost me 800$ to fix.He also says if he can't tell whether its the chain or the valves by taking off the top of the head. I don't know that much about piston cars, but can he tell if its the valves or timing chain without dismantling top and bottom (which would cost 500$)?

and...should I just buy a another KA24de?

Also, does anyone know of any shops that are trustworthy?My buddies recommended this guy but they said they did'nt have to pay a deposit. My deposit was 250$, I have no reciept and the shop is'nt responsible for any parts stolen while its in the shop

[Globalsilence]

Do the timing yourself, its so simple and will save you a lot of cash. If that doesnt fix the problem you can either get a new head for 200 or less, or a new motor for 400 or less. I would do the timing first myself because it's so easy.

[Sil-14]

The problem is the head was re-built, but my buddy installed it and the timing chain. The re-worked head has like 4 miles on it.

[HashiriyaS14]

Yeah, bottom line is that the real choice here is whether to do the work yourself/with friends or to just have it done.

If you'd already be sourcing the engine independently, you might just want to go and get the swap done outside of the shop. We could also pull the KA and rebuild it, as I wouldn't mind seeing how that process works either. As long as you have somewhere to put it, I imagine that Dave, Jordan, and myself could come to you.

[A34D4ME]

Have you pulled the valve cover and tried to figure out if the cam timing is right? Is there an upgraded cam gear? I think there is a hole or notch on the cam gear that you use to line up the cam timing - search.

If the cam timing is off, fix it and cross your fingers.