Where to buy a motor

[LilPooky]

Ok so i spent about 48 hours looking at sites and reviews and going to different sires and i need y'all help. I want to buy a black top 20v tomorrow and I'm nervous about buying from these sites. Can anyone help me or point me in the right direction ? If anyone has one for sale too holla. Phillydoom at gmail . com

[gotzoom?]

Buying any used engine is a total crap shoot unless you know and trust the person that built it. This is no different when buying a JDM engine. The source of those "low mileage" engines is that the car registration regs in Japan call for a rebuild or replacement of the engine after so many kilometers of use. Since engines need to be rebuilt or replaced with much less use than the engine can tolerate, people tend to not perform normal maintenance on their engines. You might get lucky and get an engine that was well cared for, but you also might win the Power Ball Lottery. As with any used engine, I would recommend factoring a full rebuild in to your plans. You may find that rings and bearings are reusable or you might find a huge sludgy mess. I've rebuilt two JDM low mileage engines. Both had a lot of carbon buildup in all of the oil passages. If either engine had been installed in a car and used without rebuild, it is very likely that the carbon would have blocked some oil passages and caused engine failure.

When shops pull an engine out of a car in Japan, they sell it to a scrapper. The scrapper either sells the engine to someone that exports it from Japan for sale elsewhere in the world, takes it apart and sells interesting parts from it and recycle the rest or just recycle the whole thing. The scrapper has no idea where the engine comes from. The people that buy from scrappers and sell engine overseas have no idea what the origin of the engine is and therefore the place you buy the engine from has no idea where it came from or what may be wrong with it. I don't think it really matters where you buy the engine from. If you choose not to rebuild the engine, you're gambling that it will be reliable. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

[oldeskewltoy]

Buying any used engine is a total crap shoot unless you know and trust the person that built it. This is no different when buying a JDM engine. The source of those "low mileage" engines is that the car registration regs in Japan call for a rebuild or replacement of the engine after so many kilometers of use. Since engines need to be rebuilt or replaced with much less use than the engine can tolerate, people tend to not perform normal maintenance on their engines. You might get lucky and get an engine that was well cared for, but you also might win the Power Ball Lottery. As with any used engine, I would recommend factoring a full rebuild in to your plans. You may find that rings and bearings are reusable or you might find a huge sludgy mess. I've rebuilt two JDM low mileage engines. Both had a lot of carbon buildup in all of the oil passages. If either engine had been installed in a car and used without rebuild, it is very likely that the carbon would have blocked some oil passages and caused engine failure.

When shops pull an engine out of a car in Japan, they sell it to a scrapper. The scrapper either sells the engine to someone that exports it from Japan for sale elsewhere in the world, takes it apart and sells interesting parts from it and recycle the rest or just recycle the whole thing. The scrapper has no idea where the engine comes from. The people that buy from scrappers and sell engine overseas have no idea what the origin of the engine is and therefore the place you buy the engine from has no idea where it came from or what may be wrong with it. I don't think it really matters where you buy the engine from. If you choose not to rebuild the engine, you're gambling that it will be reliable. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

This needs to be stickied, or pinned, or whatever... because it is an honest thought out response to a VERY real issue.