There's a (GAPING) Hole in My Motor, Dear Liza, Dear Liza...

[Slide Panda]

If it's $1200 for the new plant installed - then I'd lean that way. It's a pretty fixed number and not exorbitant. You might well get to $1200 in parts and labor if you repair your current engine. Also, that price is a lot hard to fix, since you don't know the extent of the damage at this time. If it's found that more components than just the top end are busted, the costs could easily exceeded that $1200 mark.

And as noted, the banged up engine still has some value that you might be able to recapture.