I am wondering if I could get some personal reviews of JDM motors? The motor I found is used, mileage is not guaranteed but estimated between 20k-60k. The website has a reasonable explanation for how they come up with a somewhat approximate mileage count (http://www.jdmracingmotors.com/Index.php?p=faq&fid=4#c) The price of the engine seems almost too good to be true, 15 hundred, about 2k after shipping. I am hoping I can get multiple reviews from people who have gone this route. I am wondering if the engines are of good quality, considering they're somewhat used as well, if there's any real difference between a JDM and a turbo II coming out of an RX7 which was sold here in the States? I appreciate all reviews and I am not too knowledgable on this subject, hence the thread. This is the link to the exact motor I am considering: http://www.jdmracingmotors.com/Index.php?p=vpe&pid=91#c

 

It's a good thing they include the head. Those are bitches to find nowadays.

I myself have never had experience with importing engines, however, I pride myself in my exceptional level of common sense.Here is why I would not deal with this company right off the bat.

* No warranty on rotary engines, sold as-is.

So pretty much they can sell you a bad engine on purpose and you can't do jack squat about it. Any respectable importer will offer you at the least a 30 day startup guarantee.

I'd find another engine, I'm sure someone else will agree.

 

It says compression tested at least, but hell no dont buy that. Look in the for sale section.

 

All you need to make a bad engine test good is a little oil in the plug holes.

 

Ask Japan2LA on this board; I've had a good experience with him with an S5 turbo transmission, and he at least used to get engines in fairly regularly

 

I noticed that term on the add as well. I don't have experience in buying engines, but if it's normal for them to come with a start up guarantee, I wouldn't do it without one.

 

This topic comes up once every couple of weeks. Searching will pop up multiple threads.

I bought an imported engine for my swap. When I was shopping I never found a rotary engine with a warranty. They are all sold as-is. Some might be compression tested, but it will have been done on a cold engine and won't be reliable.

It's a roll of the dice what you are going to get. The engine is about 20 years old with an unknown history.

I just looked at the ad

The ecu is going to be JDM as will the harness. You will need lots of modifications to get a RHD harness to reach all the appropriate plugs for a LHD car. The ecu may or may not work with a USDM harness. Again do some quick searching and you'll find lots more info

 

I orderd a S4 turbo from Tigerjapanese 3 years ago. My intention was to rebuild it no matter what condition it was in. I got a S5 engine with a S4 turbo. So that was kinda funny to me.

 

oaskajdm used to be great, but thats was because they were underpriced.

 

My personal review of JDM engines is that they should all be torn down and gone through with micrometers and feeler guages, given new o rings gaskets and whatever parts dont check out. They are just getting too old to really trust them.

You can get good ones from guys who specalize in rotarys, I however would never expect any sort of warranty other than them being complete and still in a state where they will "run".

A japanese junkyard is really not much different than a US junkyard.

 

I used to sell motors, it had to be at least 6 years ago if not longer. We would test the engines once they came in, what we would do is use a standard tester, if it tested well while the plugs were out we would squirt some marvel mystery oil in them because you never knew how long that motor would sit or how long it was sitting.

If motors were visually shitty they were sold as cores, if engines had questionable compression they were sold as cores. We gave a start up and 30 day guarantee then gave a start up only because we had gotten one or two shady customers so that is why we dropped the warranty. If you buy a 20 year old used car from a guy down the street do you get a 30 day warranty?

Most of the motors were not installed in stock form, most people had no tuning knowledge, some had no business touching the car to begin with, from a legitimate business standpoint it was a nightmare waiting to happen.

Some were really knowledgeable and got very good motors, sometimes with extras already installed or already rebuilt motors.

We stopped selling the motors, they were becoming harder to get and the customers more difficult. A importer can make alot more money with much less hassle doing honda, nissan, etc.

I would only purchase a JDM motor today with the intention of rebuilding it, I would say if you were to install a motor as is consider yourself lucky that it runs and will STAY running.

 

Similar experience with Tigerjapanese. A friend ordered a S5 swap from them that ended up coming w/o a top mount. I came over to check it out for him. He said he signed for it but forgot to check it when they dropped it off. I pulled the plugs to crank it over and it sprayed rusty water everywhere.

Blown coolant seals fresh off the crate. Probably one of the cheapest places to order a T2 engine from if you don't mind rebuilding it before your putting it in.

If you want something running, PM Japan2LA here on the forum. Lots of people always talk about getting extra goodies with their engines. I've heard of HKS top mounts, aftermarket BOV's, Aftermarket clutches, and even hybrid turbos. The price is a little up there, but he can quote you the exact mileage off the motor and guarantee that it runs.