Fitness Stain

as you may or may not know i blew my engine a few weeks ago...

i figure going j-spec would be the best bet cause they are the cheapest it seems so far (around $950)...
the other main reason that i wanna go j-spec is because it comes with pretty much all you need to just pop it in.....im afraid i blew a seal into my turbo cause it was smoking from that area....
ANYWAY
ive heard that you have to re-wire the engine harness to make them compatible.....

does anyone know of this as being true.....and if so is it a hard job to do or is it real easy or what...and is there anything else that i will have to do before i can just pop this motor in??

thanks for any help you can give

=-dustin

hypntyz7

Can someone explain to me why in the world you'd buy a used engine with unknown history for $950 instead of a fresh rebuild for $1200?

Fitness Stain

because you didnt read my post......

i cant afford 1200 a new rebuilt engine.....that doesnt include a working turbo.....

and if your just gonna bitch at me then dont respond....im looking for some answers and not criticism

Fitness Stain

bump

Fitness Stain

poo

$150FC

Heh. Don't insult Kevin, people will ignore your posts...

I'm getting a J-Spec for less than $900. Furthermore I'm doing a TII swap and so the long block is mo' bettah' for me.

As for your questions...Assuming you get an engine out of an '88, it will drop straight in. There are some issues with the brake booster line. If you get an 87 or an 86 Turbo motor, then you'll have to mess with the harness a little to get the impedance for the injectors right. Not hard, and there are write-ups available.

86 TII ETA: May 1

Ryde _Or_Die

I would much rather wait and save up the $300 for a rebuilt one. J-specs have some unconsistent history.

Icemark

I was gonna say, the only reason for a Jspec is for the long block parts, then you need to rebuild it before putting it into the car...

But he already has a T2, so I would just rebuild it myself if I was him.

Its not like the Jspec is going to last more than a couple thousand miles (if that) before it needs rebuilding anyway.

Cory Simpson

There's a web site that I saw that garante's good compression and for the motor to last for 40,000 miles or somthing like that. But maybe I read it wrong. Also I think it might be beter to buy a whole front clip, but maybe that cost more money than you have.

TonyTurboII

People usually buy jspec because:

They need a new rotor and/or housing. Therefore, rebuilds are no longer cheap.

KNONFS

iTrader: (14)

Thank you very much, that's 2 housing in my case, plus a turbo rebuild.....

BTW = Do a search, the subject has been beaten to death

banzaitoyota

In my experience: J-Specs are good core motors ONLY.

What do you think: There is a big enclosed, temperature and humidity controlled wharehouse full of never raced, properly maintained, low milage high compression engines. Just waiting to be sold to you for the low low price of 995??

GET REAL!!!!
Every J-Spec I have seen has been literly yanked from the donor vehicle. The wire harness is cut, the mounts were not unbolted before the engine was yanked!

Most J-specs suffer some form of shipping damage, Bent Throttle shafts, deformed intercoolers, bent pullies, damaged oil pans, broken intake pipes. etc. etc.

Another tidnit. Everyone will agree that allowing a Rotary to sit is detrimental to its health. Lets look at the timeline for a J-Spec:

Day 0: Car is wrecked/disposed off
Day 5-14: Car makes it thru legal paperwork and goes to junkyard
Day-14 thru 30: Engine is yanked from car
Day 45: Engine is sold to exporter
Day 45-90: Engine sits while exporter gathers enough for a container
Day 90: Container is loaded and sent to the docks
Day 90-120: Container waits at dock (Exposed to salt water laden air)
Day 120: Loaded on ship
Day 120-145: Trip to US
Day 145: Unloaded at customs
Day 145-160: Container finally clears Customs
Day 160: Delivered to Importer

So at best this engine has taken 160 days to get ready to sell

Most of the importers only offer a start-up guarentee. They claim to compression test, but a compression test is only accurate if performed properly on a warmed up engine.

The last J-Spec I helped install blew after 2 weeks, under no boost cruising conditions. It was bought from a REPUTABLE IMPORTER! Had good compression at start-up. Why did it blow, we don't know yet. But sitting around for at least 6 months did not do it any good.

TonyTurboII

What do you think? Every person who owns a car parks it inside of a tempature controlled enviroment? No.

I also know of many cars that have sat for 6+ months and hever had a problem. The only problem is lubrication. Stick a small amount of oil in the plug holes, turn it over by hand, let it sit for awhile. Prime the oil system.

i8aMR2

iTrader: (1)

According to Dave at Mazdees.........

"What the hell is a Jspec? Why do they call them Jspec? They are crap, man. Sometimes they pour in this cleaner **** inside the engine before shipping it over and this rots out the seals and such. Don't get a Jspec my friend. Go get a remanufactured one from Mazda or let me rebuild you one. I can find a used housing to lower the cost, man." -Dave

Jay

YakATK

Your all making me think twice about getting this JSPEC engine I am looking into. This place offers a 60 day Guarantee for the engine as long as it is installed properly (will be done at dealership so whatever). They are all compression tested and Leakdown tested before shipping out, and any broken or damaged parts are replaced as long as you report it right away after arrival. I don't know though, what your all saying makes sense about them being sorta shotty after sitting for quite some time. Crap, I don't wanna spend an extra $1000 for a rebuilt NA engine.......hrm.....decisions decisions.

banzaitoyota

Plus shipping on top of the 950, and removing it if it is a bad engine and the shipping back

Rex4Life

Hey, hypntyz7 is just trying to give you some good advice. He knows what he is talking about.

Check the boards, do a search on J-spec and you'll see they are not all that great. But then again, maybe you'll get lucky--I know I'm not, so I'll spend the extra cash to avoid the trouble.

Good Luck

Rex4Life

P.S. If you are like me and plan on some mods and then really like the hp, you'll probably beat on that engine pretty hard--so go with a rebuild.

hypntyz7

You can lead one to water, but you cant make 'em drink...

Well, go right the hell ahead then, and just ignore wtf everybody with experience here is telling you. We're all just here to bitch you out, we're just a bunch of jspec haters so screw us. Go get your jspec, spend a few hundred to install it, and Ill keep an eye out for new posts by you detailing how/when it lets go.

Ni5mo180SX

Got my jspec with 6 month/6k mile warranty and was there to watch them compression test and and see it put out 120psi per rotor. Even with this though, I think its a bit of a gamble. Guess we'll see if it runs or not next weekend.

Coal

I am getting a JSPEC engine soon as well. I think it has got to be just chance for wether you get a good one or not. They aren't all gonna blow within a month or so, and it can also depend on how its driven when first start up again, if you jut drive normal then yeah it might break earlier, but if you drive it like your breaking it in then I don't see how it can be any worse then a freshly rebuilt engine. Unless of course the person in Japan who owned it drove it real hard and did not take care of it, in which case it may not show good compression at this point. Either way....I am willing to chance it and see what happens, if it blows then that means I will have a SP'd JSPEC engine rather then a stock port JSPEC. Either way, name a cheaper way of doing a NA to TII conversion.

hypntyz7

As we have said above, rebuild it before it goes in the first time. Calculate how much extra you're looking at to rebuild, along with a replacement rotor and housing, and labor to remove and reinstall the engine a second time. You're almost doubling your cost there.

l33trx7

dude this is exactly why when my NA goes Im coming to you for the rebuild

Terrh

iTrader: (7)

my jspec seems to be working fine! I'm having some issues, but none are lack of compression due to apex seal loss or anything like that...

I inspected mine personally, though, and checked the compression -0 110PSI on both front and rear. Seems OK to me!

I paid $700, but it was a shortblock.

pd_day

iTrader: (6)

Can I ask you how you check this?
I am assuming the engine was out of the car already when you are buying it. How did you get the engine to warm up and spin fast enough to get a proper reading?

Cause I want to check mine too.

Thanks.