You thought Q engines were expensive

[Q45tech]

After studying and visting all 3 local Atlanta JDM take out suppliers and seeing [7] 90-93 Q engines in stock. {$1550-$1700].None of them were pretty but all could be cleaned up nice after you swapped the exhaust manifolds to us spec.

I decided to analyse other Brands to compare the cost of just the engine assuming that all engines would require the same new parts to get them ready for install [belts, hoses, valve cover reseals, new front and rear seals] things you don't want to change with the engine in the car later.

Deciding about Q plenum hoses, knock sensors and injectors is of course variable.......you either spend a couple of thousand for parts while its easy to work on or you wait or do somethings and not others................Anyway a typical Q engine changes gets you running to spec when it leaves the shop for ~~~$5500. Things that were changed to new get warrantied, external things that were left on the take out engine are at your own risk. The engine internals are warrantied.

A 2000 MB 5 liter take out runs $8-9,000A 1992 MB 4.2 liter take out runs $3,500 A 1995 BMW 4.0 liter take out runs $3,900

Assuming the same hours and difficulty same parts cost and labor rate, markup to cover some kind of a 12/12 warranty........you can see that an engine replacement on other imported cars would range from $2,000 to $7,500 more than the same job on a 90-95 Q.

However the Lexus V8 is priced the same as the used Q V8.

Once the car's [Q] REAL value drops below $10,000 [say a 7 year old model] it seems few buyers can justify an engine swap.