Thread like these show up on every car forum that exists.. if anything it's a great outlet for creativity and exchange of imaginative ideas even if they don't get off the ground.

A few years ago, one of our young engineers (his first paying job) had a tired old nissan bluebird and started a ground up rebuild of the 1800cc engine.

He removed and stripped the block in his garage, sourced & imported new pistons,rods,cams, as well as a nice shiny garret he found on ebay... and spent the majority of his free time chasing parts and the people at the shop who were doing the rebuild.

His estimate was $7-8k and 3 months installed & back on the road (and was catching the bus to work everyday as his car was off the road) Had to admire his fortitude!

Unfortunately 6 months later and -well- exceeding budget, he still didn't have an engine and was p*ssd at..

1. not having any money
2. not having any transport (esp over christmas)
3. tradespeople, sales staff and mechanics in general
4. himself

In the end he left us, as he found a (sales) job which offered a company car, and everything was on ebay 'as is' Sad story as his enthusiasm and knowledge was unquestionable. He was simply let down an unrealistic view of time and costs, and by people expected to do the work properly.

Probably would've been a rocket once done though... could prolly dig up his thread on the nissan forums somewhere.