Has anyone ever used one of these, if so how reliable are they?

I mean the ones you always come across on kijiji selling usually a full engine/tranny/wiring harness.

 

As with any company/individual selling a rotary engine, it's best to spend some time doing your due diligence and inspecting the engine as thoroughly as you can if you don't want to waste money on junk engines. Unless you're helping to remove it from a healthy, running car, you can't be sure of it's condition. There are deals to be had from those Kijiji ads and I've proven that by getting almost new Mazda Remanufactured engines but I wouldn't buy anything like that without inspecting it in person, first. Compression test, remove the exhaust manifold and visually inspect, listen for strong 'wooshes' turning it by hand... do what you gotta do!

 

I guess I should have expected that answer, pretty straight forward stuff!

Now begins the search!

 

I recently went looking through some importers for an engine for a customer of mine that wanted to do a turbo swap. 95% of the engines had low compression. The only good ones most of the time were the 13b-RE Cosmo because their coming out of a luxury car. Like Charles said, it's best getting it from a known running car. Even by checking it at the importer, you still have no idea if the water seals are good. These engines don't like sitting around as they will rust inside. Whenever I buy an engine from an importer, I'm expecting to rebuild it regardless of whether it appears to be usable or not. Putting it in even with good compression is flipping a coin.

thewird

 

Anytime you grab an "importer" engine, best to do a rebuild. When we picked up a Cosmo 13bre, it had a decent compression ratio, but remember that these engines (if unopened) are 20+ years old. Best to rebuild it before you end up losing a housing in the end

 

I'll have to do some serious hunting then, I'm looking for a full T2 setup for my FB..

 

What bugs me the most is the price these engines are still going for, in the condition described above! Grrrr lol!

 

Well not all hope is lost, It's just hard to find a good T2 donor car since obviously the people that have them KNOW what they have and know that they are somewhat desirable..