[wmjinman]

I guess a little "epilogue" wouldn't hurt. Turns out the head was not repairable, so we needed to look for another one. After a few days of dead ends and false starts, my mechanic LITERALLY stumbled over another complete engine, EXACT same version as mine except a year newer, in a local wrecking yard.

The story is it had been sitting there for 10 years. The car, a 2000, a year newer than mine, got rear-ended and totalled with only 7000 miles on it. For that whole time, I guess the engine had just been sitting there waiting for me.

So as of today, my '99 Swift has a 2000 engine with 7000 miles, a new clutch, new timing belt, water pump, alternator, & new axles. I drove it home and was very pleased. Good pep, quiet, smooth clutch, and 41+ MPG on the trip home (about 5 miles in mixed city/hwy driving).

So all's well that ends well.

PS: Oh, and also - the mechanic "took care of" the whole engine swap after the head repair went south. .... didn't ask for another dime.

To be fair to him, I volunteered to pay for a couple "extra" things that weren't part of the original deal (aka rebuilt head). That is, I got a new clutch & motor mounts, which I would have wanted had the original deal been to pull the engine, so I told him I'd pay for that.