Car Repair > wounded cars, flaky mechanic buddies, and broken promises:( >

Here's the story:

I own a 1988 Mazda 626 (2.2L 4cyl Turbo)and I'm having trouble with the cylinder head and gasket. The engine was rebuilt when I bought the car last year, and the head gasket was blown (the car still ran). i had left it at a friend's house until I could get around to fixing it. Recently I started the head gasket replacement and of course the aluminum cylinder head was warped terribly. Unfortunately, it wasnt until after I had taken it to a machinist to have it milled when I learned that since the engine is an interference type engine, and this particular cylinder head had been milled once already, that the valves, when open, would come into contact with the pistons and ruin them.

At this point I'm looking at paying 4-500 dollars for a new cylinder head (300 for rebuilt) to make this car alive again. I've already put 200 into it so far.I realize it was a mistake to not push this car flaming off a cliff into the sea; what are my options now?

Customer (name blocked for privacy)

at this point you must be concerned with the fact that if the head was so warped than there has to be further damage and if so would it be cheaper to find a used motor from a salvage yard that will waranty the engine for a period of time .i also would be checking for leaks in the coolant system like the heater core and the water pump and things that may have caused the problem all over if the motor was truely rebuilt than it has to have other problems like is the bore too thin etc....id also do a little investigation on who has done the work rebuilding the motor and maybe where they got there parts from

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