Choosing good motor, what to look for???

[cwc2k1]

Ok, hypothetical question here. Say that you're shopping for an sr, and you find someone and consider purchasing from them. You are able to pickup the motor, hand pick it, inspect and compression test it. Provided that all of that works out well and everything looks good, what are the odds that it IS good? Is there anything else besides what I listed that you can check, and if you check these things and they come out good what are the odds that it IS good THEN? Overall, what all can be checked in person and if the things checked come out well, how sure can you be that the motor is in good shape? Any help here would be great. Thanks

[SrS13]

I've seen this asked many times before if you try searching I am sure you will come up with all the answers you need.

But if you are buying the engine alone you will need many more parts to make it run. Also other than compression testing have a leakdown test done and make sure the CAS, TPS sensor, Turbo etc. are there or not broken.

odds whether it will be good or not are extremely hard to tell without actually running the engine in a car. I leave it to your best judgement. Personally I wouldn't purchase an engine from just anybody.

Good Luck

[cwc2k1]

Thanks.....I didn't know that to be fairly sure it needed to be in a car, figured there might be enough tests you could do to see. Reason is (and I ended up in a long argument in another thread about this although I had and still have no intention of arguing with anyone) I found a place that sells s13 sr20dets, with "everything" (motor, trans, ecu, etc.) for 1467. I talked to the owner who said that pickup is not a problem and if the customer wanted they could hand pick it, compression test it, etc. and was wondering if this was near enough to call it safe....now I know it's not, thanks. oh, btw, the site is http://www.total-boost.com if you were wondering

[quiksilvia]

my motor ran before i took it, but i did a pick up, so i knew it ran. who is doing the swap? if ur gonna do it then get a fron clip, makes everything a lot easier and u know that u have every part needed and some extras.

[cwc2k1]

Yea I planned on doing the swap myself, and if many think that I REALLY need a clip and will have a wretched time without one, then I will.....thanks for the advice

[cwc2k1]

Oh yea, one more thing, even if you picked it up, how did you know it ran and was in good condition if to really know those things it needs to be in a car?

[SrS13]

The engine dosent need to be in a car to know that it runs properly, it is the only way you will know the engine is 100% good. Buying an engine is a risk you take. I would suggest you make sure you buy an engine with guarantee and swap it in before that guarantee runs out, then you will see if it will work or not. Me and brother went through two engines. The first one we swaped in had blown piston rings (excessive oil comsumption). And the second one had a blown turbo. They gave us a another engine with a blown turbo then they gave us another turbo.

Like they say good stuff isnt cheap and cheap stuff isnt good. (something like that) There are alot of dependable, honest shops out there who will help you out when something goes wrong. But there are also those who are simply looking to screw you over.