The Famous Timing Belt

ok i currently do not own a 08 cobalt 2.2L however... i have a buddy that is willing to sell me his for only $200 bucks...whats the catch? yep you got it the timing belt broke, slipped, ETC. Well i am not a ASE certified mechanic at all but reading online this seems like a longggg dull process i will have to go through in order to simply change and realign the timing chain...WOW however for 200 bucks, i mean is it not worth it?!?! he has done a few things to the car that let alone if i sold the parts off i could get my money back, i could scrap the car and get it back, i could sell the car as a shell and get my money back, so im not WORRIED by any means however the one part that scares me is this once again seems like a long process, and not only that but another mechanic has touched the vehicle, this may rule in my favor but my buddy stated he had the head rebuilt, or "the whole top end is rebuilt, but its not put back together" and he is done paying this mechanic to work on it, with this said ik the valves may have been bent, but im not 100% and the mechanic even stated even tho he rebuilt it he literally stated "it may run it may not" so goes to show you how much the mechanic believes in his own work which makes me scared

now from my understanding, he drove and drove and drove around with no issues in his cobalt all day, went home went to bed woke up for work went to crank the car it wouldnt crank.....and thats when he got the mechanic invovled that stated his timing belt was broke......once again i have honestly never looked under his hood, so i have no idea if this was the truth or if its somthing further, any ideas here? if the whole head was rebuilt and he has a new timing chain, could i not just throw the gaskets on there and get this car rolling???? easier said than done but just stating in general i just want an exp. person to come in and let me know what all this will include, if this is a great idea, and personally if the timing chain did break but the head was rebuilt, "top end rebuilt" with me adding everything back and putting the chain back in place will it crank right up?

If the valves are good and the piston heads aren't damaged you should be good to go. It should slap together.

At the most you're looking at a whole new motor, you can pick one up at a junkyard for cheap and still sell the car for a couple grand.

i agree, but it would have to sit for awhile before adding a motor, and i do plan to keep the car, and maybe even get rid of the Rumble bee im currently driving costing me way to much in gas and getting rid of a 285 dollar monthly car note, we shall see how it looks when i get there this weekend i just mainly wanted some insight as to what exactly i should be looking for, of course the valves not to be bent and nothing showing on the pistons, besides that tho i have no clue

That's rely about it, the rods should be fine, make sure the valvetrain looks good so far as the springs, keepers, and rollers go.

well cool deal i will be checking it out friday evening so ill be crossing my fingers that everything turns out great!

welp i did buy the car, i will have to upload pictures but it looks like the oil was NEVER changed!! or USED oil was put back into this engine, i have cleaned the valve covers, the oil pan and for some reason the mechanic he paid took out a piston???? (before he ran off with his money) so i was unable to ask any questions to figure out the main issues here..... atleast he was able to get the piston so all i have to do is replace the connecting rod bearings which i figured i will change as a set, i noticed the timing chain is missing and the whole head was redone so that is a + i will be working on this for the next few weekends to get it up and going, if anyone has a "NEED TO KNOW" when puting this car all back together, and i mean literally everything except for the Crank shaft (other 3 pistons will be removed for bearing change) and the transmission, everything else is sitting on a table (and idk if that is EVERYTHING) like i said ill take some pictures im sure i need some screws and i am already grabing some gaskets.

I have two notes for this.

1) An Ecotec engine with a weak battery or starter that is drawing too much power SOUNDS like a car with a thrown timing belt/chain. I don't know why that is, but it's true.

2) If the head was removed, machine work and valve job done, and it just needs slapped back together and retimed, I would jump on this like white on rice. But it sounds like the mechanic really screwed it up good.

IMHO, I would check this engine over a little better before assembly. Mic and plastigage EVERYTHING. Change any bearing or seal you find. Get the most complete gasket set you can get and use them all if possible. No sense doing a near complete rebuild only to find something wasn't quite right and then you have to take it out again. I would even consider buying a running junkyard engine, freshen, and put THAT in, then use the questionable engine to rebuild and fire on a stand. Sell it to someone needing a rebuilt engine. If you do it right, you can be even money or better by the time the engine sells.

Yes the junk yard idea is what I have in mind however I have started to assemble the motor and now the timing chain is killing me seems as if it has 1 to many links or somthing is lose and not adding up idk what the problem is and I cannot find it so I plan on buying another motor cleaning it up and running it for awhile

Ok so funds have been cut due to personal things for this car so I will have to continue to fight with what I have with that said I did find a old post about a guy having the same exact issue however just a bunch of ppl throwing out answers that may work when turning over the motor and the guides and tensioner is in everything is perfect lined up and going smoothly I notice when the springs n the cams start to click over I see little slack on the right side down towards the crank gear which seems to allow the crank gear just enough room to skip a link and allow for the whole process of it being out of whack I'm stuck at this point no idea what to do if anyone can please help

I did this whole thing about a month ago. Aligning the marks was a bear. Make sure the unique colored link is on the intake sprocket. I had to turn the intake cam gear and put slight pressure on the springs to get it to all align. With all the guides in I didn't have a lot of slack. Certainly not enough where it would jump off. Did you release your tensioner after you torqued it down?