How much would you pay for this s5 JDM 13bt with low compression/needs a rebuild? Better to stay away from it? Is there any potential from this particular long block? Just asking because there's a local importer here in Sacramento that gets stuff like these.

 

Until you've split the motor, I don't know how you'd guess the condition of the internals.
Safest assumption then would be that it's all probably trash.

 

what's the price of scrap now a days?..
why does it have an s4 thermo neck?

 

With no warranty it's just a bunch of old parts. If I were interested in rebuilding the engine, I would disassemble the engine at the importer's shop and pay fair market value for the parts that are still usable, and the rest I would leave for scrap. This would be the most fair solution for both parties. I would pay $1,500 if all of the hard parts are still good, which is unlikely. If the importer would not let me disassemble the engine, then I guess $50 would be worth taking a chance, but I wouldn't pay any more than that for pot luck.

 

you can't go wrong in offering $300 for a complete turbo engine. even selling the parts off the engine would get that much even if the engine was a complete waste of space. so that is going to be a price i would try to work around, lower than that the better, obviously. if it makes some compression then you know it at least has some usable parts in the engine.

but $50 and scrap value, come on guys... i've got to be cheap buying parts and even i would have to pay more than that for a complete turbo engine. it's always a gamble but if you're buying it to rebuild it i wouldn't expect much out of it, even half a good engine would set you well ahead. unless the salvage yard just wants it gone then i doubt you will get it for $100 or less, since it costs that much just to ship it from japan in a cargo container.

check the classifieds, check ebay, check wherever. resources for finding these engines has pretty much dried up in the last few years and prices are still climbing for unknowns. building a new engine still costs $6k and turbo parts are still highly in demand.

and it is a S4, not an S5.

 

Ah I ser! I said s5 cos that's what he posted in his ad

 

300-500.

 

Yes, $50 and scrap value to lame vendors who do not stand behind their product. There are just too many shady vendors out there who knowingly sell near-worthless engines to the unsuspecting public. As I stated earlier, if there is no warranty, then the most fair method for both parties is to disassemble the engine and pay market value for the usable parts. There is NO reason why the buyer should take all the risk, especially when the seller is supposedly the more knowledgeable party.

You can buy an entire car with a blown engine for that.

 

Please direct me to these cars, I will buy 10 of them today, and depending on the transport costs for those 10, I might buy 10 more tomorrow.

I have to call BS with scrap being at $10+ per 100lb and an FC weighing in at 2700lb or so minus wheels. Even if you do not pull a single part off the car and scrap it as is, scrap value is around $300. So NO ONE is going to sell you a whole car cheaper than that. Of course, anyone knowledgeable would be aware that you can part out a turbo II FC complete car for in excess of 2 grand depending on it's condition.

I have approximately 10 FC's in storage as parts cars (or non running projects). I believe I have between $500 and $750 in all of them. Obviously, I scour the internet and try to find the best deals within driving distance...so these $50 cars you speak of seem to be unlikely. Maybe you're referring to a once-in-a-lifetime stroke of luck, like the guy who needs that last 50 bucks to get his dad out of jail, or a friend of yours who really wants a case of beer on a saturday night.

Even at insurance/wreck auctions, scrappers buy up anything that comes through there for less than $300, regardless of condition, year, make or model.

 

if i was selling, i wouldn't let some guy disassemble an engine in my shop, that's kind of absurd. pull off the turbo maybe. its a used engine, you're taking a gamble...

its been my experience that these questionable engines are worth $200-300, and so its more a matter if the seller will be down in that price range.

 

your examples are once in a lifetime comparisons. if you're finding $300-500 blown engine turbo cars regularly, you might consider cashing in on your available resources.

as i was trying to say, even the parts that bolt onto the engine are worth $300+ so that would be most people's high market value, paying more puts you more at risk. but as i also said, if it's making some compression at least then you are fairly safe it has more than that.

you could sell the lower intake, upper intake, turbo, throttle body, injector set, wiring harness and a number of other parts solely by themselves for more than $50 a piece.

these days i would pay about $200-$300 for a known faulty FC turbo engine core without any accessories bolted to it, assuming only one rotor is known to be garbage. if an engine compression tested good i would pay $400-$500 just for the engine. a complete good compression engine with all the accessories $600. if you don't buy it, someone else will.

 

What are the odds on these engines like the one the o.p. asked about and the ones for sale on ebay that the rotor housings are good? I thought about buying one before I did my rebuild for a core and to do a TII conversion with as one of these complete with trans is roughly the same or alittle more than a set of new rotor housings.

Now if I could have found one for $500 or $600 I woulda did it but $1200+ seemed too big a gamble. I guess I'm just looking for confoirmation I made the right choice in rebuilding mine with new housings vs. buying one of these.

 

you can never go wrong building an engine with new housings, ever. the only downside is cost.

more than 50% of the engines torn apart these days the housings are in the territory of giving less than desirable results. this is why resurfacing has expanded a bit in recent years to try and recover housings that might otherwise be considered scrap. goopy started it, i then also took it up, now there's over half a dozen different companies doing it in less than a 3 year span.

even then most engines which have over 125k on the clock the boot wear is too deep and the housings are simply worn out.

without knowing history and mileage you just will never know without cracking an engine open. in most cases i can go in the exhaust with a light and get a feel for if the engine is worth breaking apart or not. if you see wear that is discolored near the irons the housings are likely worn out, this is because the boot has worn through the chrome completely or has worn enough that it no longer can even seal properly.

 

100% agreed. i've done a few engines with new housings, sometimes all 5 of them, and they run better. period.