Ok so Im going a little different rout then first planned with my car. I have a set of stage2 n/a BC camshaft, duel-springs and retainers for sale on craigslist. I value these Never Installed parts with receipts at $600 minus shipping.

Now this guy wants to trade me a OEM JDM LSD M2B4 for my cams and springs w retainers. So Im basicaly paying $600 in my eyes for this. How would you tell if its worth it or not when its out of the car?

He doesnt have papers, and the story is... His freind bought a whole swap w/trans, but ended up doing a H2D. So he never used and sold to the guy Im talking to. He had in he prelude and crashed it. Now hes doing a H2B in his new hatch.

How can I tell If I should take the chance, or just get one from HMO w/ my engine at the same time. Getting now would be better, because im trading parts I dont want for some thing I need.

 

Ok so since I was in a time crunch I posted this thread. Since then Ive done lots of research on my own and figured I would share my collected knowledge with the people who will find this later down the road.

First find out as much as possible about the tranny from the previous owner. If they dont have paper work along with it theres no telling how long its been used, or a ruff estimate of how many miles is on it. So here are a few tips I found out. I plan on going and checkign on this trans tomorrow, if all seems good i might make the trade!

There is NO 100% for sure way to know if a used transmission is good or bad if it not installed in a vehicle, or seen by a trained professional.

-Check for input-shaft play, excessive play means bad wear.
-rotate assembly, either by spinning input-shaft, or like myself. I happen to have a axle shaft im going to insert into it to spin.
-Use your hand to shift through the gears, your listening for any odd noises. Try to spin in each gear you can find.
-Assembly should spin some what easy, but you should feel the weight of the gears spinnings.
-Always check the housing for cracks and chips!
-If possible "which isnt always the case" Remove the caseing and inspect the gearing

Heres a youtube video of a guy doing a very well break down of exactly what kind of things you should be looking for. I found this video to be great help!


Heres another that gets a little more into the removal of the cover.