How new a DOHC motor will easily replace the existing 96 DOHC?

How new a DOHC motor will easily replace the existing 96 DOHC in my SC-2?

My 96 Sc2, was just recently promoted to not being my daily driver. The
car is great, served me well. Even though I've probably been too fussy
about replacing parts it is still showing it's age, Now that I don't
need to drive it every day, I can give major item loving care it needs.
It has 189K on it, the automatic trans seems as good as new, however,
the motor is showing signs of wear. When replacing the motor, I'm
hoping to find a good used motor. However most of the used motors I'm
seeing at wrecking yards have the expected mileage for their age. So
how new can i go in model years and still get a motor which will work?

Thanks

Jim

 

Lets not get ahead of ourselves. How is it showing signs of wear?

 

Right, and why replace instead of rebuild/recondition?

 

because often you can get a low mileage used motor for less than it
would cost to rebuild.

 

Guess you missed the part where he said he's having trouble finding
low-mileage used motors.

 

I have found several low-mileage used motors on eBay for a very good price.

Information on parts interchangeability can be found here:
http://www.saturnspot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19927

A rebuild is almost never worth it unless you're doing it yourself to learn,
or enjoy it as a hobby. It is a minimum of $1000 in parts and machining in
addition to all your removal/assembly/installation labor. The last motor I
bought on eBay was $200 and had 19k miles on it.

As asked by another poster - exactly what is wrong with the current motor?

Lane [ lane (at) evilplastic.com ]

 

This was what I thought you were going to say! You're motor is likely
still good. You just have stuck oil control rings. You need to do a
piston soak to unstick them. The odds of getting your oil consuption
under control is pretty good.

Read this thread
http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23676
You can try MMO, Seafoam, or GM top engine cleaner for this.

You should also do compression tests to see where you are before and
after the soak.

Far easier and cheaper than replacing the engine!

 

I have, for years, used @ 8oz of MMO in the crankcase a week or so
before an oil change. I had not thought of using MMO or Seafoam in
this way.

Thanks

Jim