I'm most likely getting a B18C1 next year and just have a couple of questions.
When you get an engine is there anyway to tell how many miles are on it? Is it a law that the seller must tell you (seems like they could lie anyhow)?

If I blow the B18C1 after a while, I will have the option to rebuild it right? Is that what most people do once the swap blows, rebuild it to like NEW?

I just would hate to dump 4-5K into the motor / labor only to have problems 30,000 miles down the road and be screwed.

Thanks for any opinions on this.

 

if it comes straight from japan it usually has about 30000 km on it

 

where is this reasoning coming from?

 

i heard before they just estimate it.. the milage is based on the year of the engine, considering average miles driven per year?


[Modified by vtec.dc2, 1:00 AM 9/12/2002]

 

japanese laws... something about 30000 km and needing a new engine / car (or so i've heard)

or people just ditch their cars really early.

 

If you buy a US motor, you can always find out the milage on it. Just take the VIN of the donor car, and run it through Carfax. The milage at which the salvage/theft title on the donor was issued will be listed in the report. That's the motor milage.

On JDM engines, to be safe, you can buy an entire front clip with the dash and odmometer still intact to verify milage. But if you are just buying the motor, the best you can do is cross your fingers and hope for the best. There is no way to verify the milage.

Andrew


[Modified by aklucsarits, 10:16 AM 9/12/2002]

 

This is what I am looking for
...and it's my own thread I started

One of the guys at IAS is going to call me when a "lower" mileage USDM GSR comes in.... Any idea how lond the carfax takes to get the #'s? Besides mileage and salvaged date what else can you learn from the vin #?

 

well if this helps calm your fears....
when i received my b16a ....
the date on the head was 97
i had some work done internally and the machine shop didn't even have to polish the crank or change the bearings becasue they were barely broken in

sometimes you get lucky...
i've seen 1st gens with water...
so you never know for sure until you turn that key
even with usdm ... what if the sycrno's are fucked up....
if i ever get to do another swap on my car i'm going to have everything looked over and pulled apart to be safe...
get the trans looked at to make sure the syncro's aren't damaged
do a compression test on the motor ... all in all you shouldn't have anything to worry about

 

Wow, old thread!

Carfax pulls data from state DOT vehicle records. Different states keep different levels of detail on their car title records. If a car is totalled, a salvage title is issued, and that would appear in the State DOT record as soon as the title is processed. The insurance co, can not sell the car or parts until the salvage title is issued. So if someone is selling a motor that they say is from a salvage car, and Carfax has no salvage title record, the car could be recently stolen.

The other thing Carfax may show you in many states is if the donor car had water/flood damage. You probably want to avoid the engine if that's the case.

Andrew

 

It's funny people say like 30-40k kilometres, whereas it's more like 50k-80k. People lie.