Hi please direct me to the right area if there is already a post for this I couldn't find one. I have a 2007 V36 VQ35 and the intake cam gears are chattering . The car has done 170000k's. I'm wondering what peoples experience is with longevity of these engines as I thought if I'm pulling of the front of the engine maybe I should fix some other wearing parts while I'm there. The car is driven by my wife as a daily so not driven hard at all.

The way I look at it I have four options.
1. Sell the car.
2. Don't fix the gears and just leave it. What is the worst that can happen? No variable intake cam so reduced power and economy or will it do damage?
3. Only fix the intake gears for a cost of $1000AUD plus labour about $500. total $1500.
4. Fix the intake gears and replace the three chains and all tensioners while open for a cost of $2000AUD for parts and about $1000 in labour, total cost $3000.

The car is only worth $15000AUD if I sold it. I'd love to keep the car but I feel it's at the point now where I either cut my losses and sell it or fix it all and keep it to get my money back. Are there any other major items that I could expect to have to fix in the near future? $3k now and then another major issue down the track would really hurt me financially.