i bought this car cheap thinking i could replace the motor and have a nice cheap car. i had an 01 and just when i started getting it all customized the way i wanted it (body kit, wheels, exhaust, stereo system) someone decided to steal it and i never got it back, since then i have wanted another one. this one is already lowered, has wheels, and exhaust and it is not a bad looking car but the motor is knocking and trans is slipping. has almost 250k miles so its expected. well when i call salvage yards for a motor they tell me i have to have one out of a 96(even though its the same 2.4 that is in other years of 2 24's) so its a hard to find motor and they want way too much for a used one. cheapest i found was 750 for one with 120k miles! can anyone tell me why it has to come out of a 96?? and if there is any small modifications i can make to put a 98 or 99 motor in it(its my understanding they have the 2.4 motor as well but whats the difference)?? thanks for any help

If there is any modification at all the yards won't want to sell you one. At least that's what I found with my 98' S10.
After prying hard enough I found that with a few things it would work for a lot more years than they said. I thought
the only difference in a later 2.4 was something to do with EGR valves after 1998 or 1999 but that is easily fixed. It's the same block
so it has to be able to be swapped from 1996 to 2002. My 99' Z has a 2001 Olsmobile Alero 2.4 in it. Somebody will step
in here and give you exactly what needs to be changed to get a newer model engine in there. If you ask an experienced mechanic
they will give you a quick answer also... sometimes a dealership has one around thay may give up answers but it seems like they don't
like to indulge too much info as I guess that makes the service department at a dealership useless. $750 seems a little steep for 120K miles also.
If I remeber correctly I paid $700 even for mine with 8K miles on it a year and a half ago. It was like it was pulled out of a new car. Try on
http://car-part.com/ That's where I found mine at. Even if nothing comes up which it probably will just write all the numbers for yards
that are close and give them a call as they don't list all the engines on that site. You don't want to go too far in case there is a
problem with the engine. I learned that the hard way with my S10. I had to pull out one they sold me and return it over 100 miles away
and get another....huge hassle. I went as far as 50 miles on the search for my 99' Z and was lucky enough to find my engine about 25 miles away.
I would consider mileage of the used engine first, year of the used engine second and how far the engine is away from you third.