Well...Ok...here's the thing

My car has this rattle. Not so much a rattle as a ticking, and its pretty loud. I took it into the shop to have it looked at, one place told me, after looking at it and "diagnosing" the problem, that it would take 5 hours just to take off the oil pan to see if that was the culprit, and then I might need to replace the entire engine, meaning about $4000.00 in parts and labor, and thats for a used engine.

My dad called up another shop (both dealerships) and asked them, they said that the repair might be able to be done for around $800.00 which is a hell of a lot easier to swallow than four grand.

So I was wondering if you guys could possibly diagnose the problem, or at least try to confirm what the first place says (the second was just talked to over the phone)

Basicly when I'm driving down the road, the clicking follows the RPMs, but (here's the kicker) it seems to stop, or at least get really quiet, from around 2000 to 2250 RPM's. Also, it seems (or at least it did) quiet down when you work the engine a little bit (i.e. going up a hill, or pressing about 1/2 throttle)

I dunno...if you GM tech's could take a guess. Its going to be checked on by the second shop on Tuesday, and I'm going to drive the fire for as little as possible up until then.

Thanks for the help

Also, if it is the case that I have to replace the engine, I might either have get rid of the car, even though the body and transmission are in perfect shape, or I'll swap out an engine for something else. Maybe an SS engine, I dunno. Thanks again.