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Transmission & Other Stuff Drivetrain tech and other Taco build related stuff.

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Unread 10-17-2006, 05:37 PM
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Smithers Smithers is offline
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In buying my project engine for my truck I learned a lot. I laid out the terms very adamately. I told the guy what I expected and he swore he would send me anything I wanted from the car if I needed it. I was concearned with small parts that might not come with the engine but were necessary for it to operate. Good examples are the ignitors and the Air Flow Meter (AFM). He made many promises and he sounded sincere about it. He basically told me anything I wanted to hear to get me to send him some money.

Notice that I just wrote, "some money". He even offered to accept half of the payment before the engine was sent and half when I was satisfied. I thought this was odd so I just went with it. Everytime I talked with him I recorded the date that we spoke and what was discussed. These are important notes. So soon he calls back and says he needs all the money because he's afraid of ME not sending him money once I get the engine. I should have demanded my money back right then. He wasn't living up to his terms so I could have easily asked for my money back.

The whole experience with him was not satisfying. He SUCKED at anything computer related. He couldn't open picture attachments on his emails. He was pretty retarded when it came to faxing as well. He couldn't understand why the shipping company had to fax him a slip of docking to have ready when the frieght truck showed up. What kind of business was he? He SAID he was a business and had a good volume of work dismantelling vehicles.

He also said the engine was from a car that had no damage and that he would garauntee the engine was in prefect running condition. Come to find out it was heated severly from an accident and lots of plastic was warped and melted. THe waterpump was frozen, distributors were melted and a whole bunch of other things. He swore that the main harness wouldn't be cut and that he would take good care not to break any connectors. The harness was chopped, engine mounts were broken, who knows if the ECU he sent will work, he said he would give me back money since a pulley mysteriously dissapeared before he sent me the engine. I never saw any money sent back. The guy just lied.

I have some new advice for buying a used engine. Only buy an engine that you can inspect before you pay for it! Take the cash in hand to the business and let them smell it. That's the only language they speak. Over here in California they instantly drop a very large percentage off the price and start drooling when they see cash because they just pocket the money, I'm sure of it.

Don't let them add a labor cost for pulling the engine. They will ruin it while they are doing it. I could pull one out in less than an hour WITHOUT cutting the wires, breaking the rubber engine mounts by yanking it out, breaking off the o2 sensors, breaking off the exhaust flange studs, bashing in the oil pan or robbing parts off of it and selling it to other people accidentally.

FYI all of this happened to my engine that was pulled for me at a wrecking yard by a guy who promised me everything would be perfect and promised he would send anything I needed out of the car that I would need in the future. I played the sucker and thought I got a deal on this engine and 5 months later I'm still gathering parts that I didn't get from him!! I'm restraining myself from ranting anymore!! Just be very careful when you buy an engine from a wrecker and explain that you need everything around the core of the engine in good working condition.

If you can buy a front cut from a wrecker and save yourself a TON of hair pulling and most important - your time. I would have gladly paid twice the amount that I paid, for a front cut. If you don't get everything you need with the engine you will have to pay premium from the salvage yards OR you will have to wait for the right people to be selling their spare parts on Ebay. This takes a long time waiting for the parts at lower prices. Once you pull the engine you can chop the rest of the front half with hand tools and throw it in the trash.

Good luck and don't buy anything if you have a bad feeling about it. There are many engines out there.
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