Finally saving for my jspec swap, & was wondering if anyone has had any horrible experiences with second hand jspecs? I'm sure there is plenty of lucky and unlucky stories. but it would be nice to get some more detailed reviews IE. what was missing, bad compression, completely blown, bad wiring, bad equipment(alterator etc.) ooor good things such as good compression, no sign of worn seals, etc.

I have searched, and read about exactly what i am asking you to post. so i am FULLY aware that searching for 9 hours would probably yield some good information, and am sorry. BUT there is NO way i can sit here and search for that long. i'm just too busy.

thanks in advance!

 

Most probably have stuck seals as a result of sitting for a long time. Mine though had a bad coolant seal. I got it started, but it immediately ate coolant, overheating and spitting an oil/coolant mix out the oil filler.

Derp.

 

sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. luck is still 50/50...

and avoid tiger japanese out of canada.
https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generati...-948289/page3/

 

****, i think i would uhh... hurt somebody.

really?! i've heard good things about them

all i know is, if i buy a $1500 motor and it doesn't run right, i'm going to join a suicide cult.

 

then you should get a step ahead and do it now.

as builders always mention, Jspecs should be viewed as core engines for a rebuild. thing to remember is they are almost always original 25 year old engines that have been through who knows what. sometimes you don't even get a good core engine, sometimes you get a perfect running engine but that is less likely after each year that passes and the good engines have been cherry picked through.

 

some tips

ask for a video of the compression
see if there is any after market parts - if yes stay away.

 

i actually prefer aftermarket parts, in some rare occasions those engines have come with hybrid turbos or multi disc clutches, worth almost as much as the engine alone. at least then you get something from the investment if the engine is toast, aftermarket parts come on almost every Jspec i've seen and has never really pointed to the engine being bad or good still.

 

Be very cautious of who you buy it from. Yes, I'd guess 50/50. You should likely plan on getting it rebuilt or just hold out for someone parting out a TII or something on here. Be sure to GOOGLE whoever you are considering buying the engine from... there is a lot of feedback on JDM suppliers on the web...especially errrr Honda... forums. It'll give you a good idea if the seller is reputable though. Just do your research... that's my advice.


Another thing I thought of too... since the aftermarket thing was brought up... get on ebay and type in rx7 front clip... there are 2 front clips on there for the FC and one of them has several aftermarket parts with it.

 

My problem is that after the engine tested good on compression when I got it, today, about five months later I tested it again and got 0psi on the rear rotor, I pour some MMO to see if its stuck seals, wish me good luck.

 

Search. There is no good threads about them on this forum. Lots of people went though mr japan2la, but he got banned for taking people's money with no intentions of delivering a product.

I thought about getting a jdm engine for my girlfriends t2. Place in jersey offered zero warranty like all others. Said I would do a compression test, but I don't know how that's possible without a starter. Even with a compression test, it could still have bad coolant seals and require a rebuild. We just decided to rebuild her engine.

I might buy a jdm engine if doing an NA to t2 swap as it comes with all the components needed. But I'd expect a rebuild and if it doesn't need it, consider yourself lucky. If you have a tired 7, I'd rather pay more for nice housings and a rebuild than take a chance.

 

your best bet is seeing and testing one in person. this isn't always an option but your next best bet is buying one from a running car and forget the Jspecs altogether.

problem is virtually every importer gives no warranty on rotary engines.

 

I want to do a swap eventually as well but I started to realize how stupid getting a spec engine is. As everyone is saying, you basically have to get the engine rebuild. So you pay 1500 and get a tranny along with it, and spend the same on a rebuild, so now you have a 3k rebuilt engine. That's assuming everything is in working order, housing, turbo, intercooler, etc. If you buy a recently rebuilt t2 engine from the forum you can save a bunch of money. You can also find a cheap engine that requires a rebuild, get it rebuilt and have just as nice of an engine and most likely have less issues and save yourself some money.

 

except many people have that mentality, turbo parts altogether are getting harder and harder to find.

mainly i have requests for turbo parts much more than non turbo parts, it's difficult to even keep them stocked.

damn near everyone wants a turbo rotary versus n/a. i'm virtually to the point of not selling engine parts unless they are n/a internals. check the for sale section and grab something that looks legit before other people get the same idea. don't even get me started on renesis blocks, they are almost always scrap by the time they are out.

 

I got s5 t2 from japan2la no rebuild just dropped it in..i was in a hurry..that was 6 months ago and still running good!! But id say get a rebuild thou without a doubt if you do get one.

 

The only thing making me lean away from a jspec is that my motor is only about 30k old.. running great, streetported, and getting about 18-21mpg. That is probably the farthest away from what I can expect from a jspec. Maybe I should just buy a t2 block and rebuild it?

 

I'd probably buy a T2 block and rebuilt it. I bought a jspec S4 T2 motor a while back, it lasted about six months in an otherwise stock T2 (the original motor was fine but had 180k so I yanked it). On the upside, it did have a few aftermarket parts that I pulled off and sold here on the club. I yanked it and rebuilt it and then it was fine, I just imagine it was probably abused in its life before me. Like others have said, its a 50/50 shot, I'd probably just do a rebuild though all things being equal, it costs about the same and you know what you're getting. Plus you have the baller status of saying you did it yourself.

 

Ok, I am calling BULLSHIT to a suggestion Japan2LA "got banned for taking people's money with no intentions of delivering a product". And I'm calling BULLSHIT!!! from many years of personal experience with Brian.

Ok, I have to step in here. I've bought two engines from Japan2la for two separate turbo-swap Verts dropping them straight in with no rebuild.

One was an S4 that ran for over 6 years driving it to Dallas and back and all over the west coast before a water landing gave way. Turned out the rest of the housings, etc was in good enough shape to be used for a rebuild afterward.

The second was an S5 that was dropped in 4 years ago and is going strong putting over 300 whp as set up. Not a hint of a problem.

Overall I've bought a number of things from Japan2LA and never a problem getting them timely. Only one time did I have a problem with something I got from him, and he replaced it without hesitation.

Some of the products he brings to this forum provide broad need that doesn't seem to come from anyone else. Name one person that has a pulley for an FD alternator that is as plug and play as what he provides.

Dealing with issues is a two way street. From my experience with Brian, if someone had a problem with something he got from him I'd look just as hard at the complainer as I would at Brian. Two sides to every story, always.

And if he was banned, it must have happened in the last few days as I know he was last on the forum less than a week ago.





Now, to the OP's question, I guess I was twice lucky. But that luck had as much to do with who I bought my engines from as it was the engines themselves.

I felt good enough about how well they checked out on the bench as the source to drop them right in without rebuild and it's worked out for me. That doesn't change the sound advise that it's a good idea to treat a JSpec engine core as something to rebuild before dropping in. Goes with the old saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

 

Makes sense.. I have seen your car, and it seems pretty solid. I just don't want to swap in a tired *** motor, and wish sellers could provide some kind of background on motors(what a great world it would be if this was possible)

Either way, I'm going for it. I already have half the money saved.

 

Have you ventured to talk with any rebuilders on Forum here?
There are some good names floating around.

 

Care to share any names?

 

Calm down my friend. Sorry to hurt your feelings, but I myself have had issues with him in the past. I'm not blowing it out my ******* making it up.

Here's the link stating why he got banned:
https://www.rx7club.com/bad-fugly-me.../#post11246204

Some more, recent bad feedback of mr japan2la threads:
https://www.rx7club.com/bad-fugly-me...45800-1016800/
https://www.rx7club.com/bad-fugly-me...ngine-1012950/

There is more too if you search. It's always been a mixed bag with him of good and bad.

 

Brian(Japan2LA) makes it very tough to defend him when in recent months he has basically taken money and had questionable intent on delivering a product. then seeing Mike(Blackadde///) lose $5800 on a total pile of garbage while Brian is nowhere to be found makes one scratch their head as to whether he is as honorable as we were led to think.

i've just heard countless stories lately about people getting fucked over by him.

maybe they all were just bad luck on his part, if that AutoEXE 20B engine had all new parts why did he never verify it actually had compression? come on now, it had 2 completely blown rotors and he charged full price for it and always claims to test engines before sending them...

maybe he was as swamped as he claimed, but that's no excuse for not making things right. no less not being able to get a hold of him for months when he responds to emails about purchases immediately.

and i have never had a bad dealing with him. the new series 5 turbo thick iron, series 4 turbo rear iron and FD rotors we ordered from him all came promptly and as described. but then you hear those stories mentioned above and can't help but wonder, he has the money and his customers have nothing to show for it. at least a promise to make things right somehow would go a long ways, but i believe he just gave up. i have SUPER shitty weeks/months but i would never walk away with someone's money in my pocket. i just had an FC engine build/swap that i was about ready to rip the engine back apart on, but we found out the previous engine just pushed about a quart of oil into the exhaust which made it look like faulty oil seals... i was pulling my hair out over that one but i was still knuckling down to rip the engine back out and tear it down losing a week's worth of work for nothing while hearing all my neighbors bitch and moan about the smoke machine. 5 hours later and a small hole in the ozone it finally subsided.

 

alright, so kinda getting scared about jspecs..

how do you guys feel about 6 port turbo set-ups? I have the kind of job where i have lots of hook-ups with vendors, shops etc. and can probably pick up all the 6 port turbo items for very cheap, but would like some input/advice before i do so.

most likely going to run stock t2 injectors, tiny chinese turbo @5-6 psi, some sort of fuel air computer such as safc2&wideband, custom fabbed intercooler piping & ebay intercooler, muffler shop special exhaust, and other things like this to keep it relatively cheap(</3 i know)

my motor is a rebuilt s5 na, monster street port, ~30k on rebuild

anyone care to project any power numbers, mpg's, reliability?

 

if you're going to use some cheap components use the money saved to buy a real EMS. if you use cheap parts for everything you will wind up before your starting point.

 

That's very Confucian.