Engine Troubles....Fix my current or get a new one?

Whats up all. First post here, and was wanting to get a little help.

First, i'm not a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, i wish i did know how to work on my stang but never got under the hood.

Now, to my question.

I've got a 98 4.6L V8 that i had a "friend" work on about a year ago. There wasn't anything really wrong with it but he said he knew what he was doing and could fix it no problem.

Well, after getting it back it didn't run hardly at all so i had to park it for about a year. Now that i got it back and trying to get it on the road, i took it to a local mechanic and he said he'd let me come in and help out with working on my car. But, he said there's quite a few cracks in my intake (i believe) and several other things wrong with my engine. All in all it's about $600-700 worth of parts and labor.

Or he said that he has a "Interceptor" engine that he could drop into my car for $600. Now my question is, what should i do? Would it be best to go with the "Interceptor" or just pay the few extra bucks to get my current engine fixed.

Oh and the "Interceptor" has almost half the miles on it as my current 4.6.


Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Thanks for the input guys, that's probably what i'll do....keep mine.

Thanks again!