rcompart, I appreciate the insight and the offers despite the fact that it probably doesn't make sense. The thing about the $600 is that I live in a place where everything is cheap (good and bad), so this price wouldn't be someone rushing, but rather, someone that's just charging a lot less per hour than you'd expect. He's been recommended from a good friend and I feel really comfortable with him. He has a pretty nice shop (not a shadetree mech).

I guess I'm going to be better off on the 1k engine. I was told the car was tboned and they do offer a 6 month warranty on some of them, I'll certainly check on that as well.