The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Tech → Recommendations/experience with JDM engines?
This isn't for a Lemons car build. I've got a 1960 AH Sprite that I'm considering doing a rotary engine swap on. Does anyone have any experience good or bad with used JDM engines/transmissions sold here in the state (bay area, specifically)? The idea being just getting a motor/tranny from a JDM importer and going from there, rather than sourcing elsewhere. Please let me know any positive/negatives that you know. Thanks!
Been years since I bought one. IIRC, those motors get yanked early in their lives for smog reasons. I've bought two. One for a Mazda PU and one for an impulse turbo. Both required that I pretty much strip them back to longblocks and then bolt my stuff on them. Other than that, no issues. If you are putting a rotary in a bugeye, you probably won't be running the stock intake/ignition anyway.
I've never purchased a JDM engine, but the consensus on the RX-7 forums seems to be that they should be considered core engines only. You might get super lucky and get one that runs, but you also might get one full of water or rust with only a few usable parts on it. Still, JDM parts + full rebuild might land you with a practically brand new engine for less than you could buy one for.
What engine? I'm assuming 13B-Turbo if you're asking about an importer...
EVR Bob struck out buying a JDM 1ZZ for his Vibe. It reportedly had approximately 60k miles and was guaranteed to have something like 85% leakdown on all cylinders. 3 of the 4 were high 90s, the other was just over the limit. It burned a quart of oil every 100 miles. We took it apart to re-ring it and found deep gouges in the offending cylinder bore. The top end had the kind of glaze you find in Craigslist cars. I have to wonder if people even bother changing their oil in a country where the car has to be parted out at 60k anyway. We'd be better off doing a soft rebuild on the motor we pulled out of the car with 170k miles and a spun rod bearing. The JDM block needs machine work.
YMMV.
I bought and installed a JDM motor for an old Dodge Colt a long long time ago. I stripped it down to the long block, installed my accessories, bolted it into the little Colt, and drove that car for a few more years. I was very happy with it. Back then, the JDM motors were pretty cheap. So I was happy for what I paid. Looking at prices recently, they aren't so cheap anymore.
I'd buy another one to get a little more use out of a cheap daily driver I liked. Not sure if I would buy one for a project car though.
It's hit and miss these days. Many of the engines sit in containers at the docks for a long time.
Some have sat in the rain. One of my students just bought a JDM EJ22 Subie engine and there is rust on all of the timing belt pulleys where water ran down the belt and sat. The front covers on those have pretty good seals, and all of them were intact. That begs the question, How much water had to land on that engine for it to penetrate that deep?
I think you'd be better off buying a running RX7 as a parts donor.
I work for a recycler, and we sell a huge number of engines to the JDM guys every month. They do get engines from overseas, but i would guess the vast majority are used engines from whatever salvage has one when you call them.
I work for a recycler, and we sell a huge number of engines to the JDM guys every month. They do get engines from overseas, but i would guess the vast majority are used engines from whatever salvage has one when you call them.
For the slow kids like me... I hear you saying "buyer beware" if you think you're buying JDM, you might be buying American market engines?
Baron wrote:I work for a recycler, and we sell a huge number of engines to the JDM guys every month. They do get engines from overseas, but i would guess the vast majority are used engines from whatever salvage has one when you call them.
For the slow kids like me... I hear you saying "buyer beware" if you think you're buying JDM, you might be buying American market engines?
You *could* be buying a well used american market engine. They work under the premise that they import used ones from Japan, and they do, but that isnt all that they sell. They make no claims as to mileage, so they can sell you anything.
I still get a kick out of customer's that want me to price match an engine that they found from one of these places that are only available in the us with EGR systems, and they dont come on the JDM versions. If it has emissions equipment, it surely is a US spec. When I was a tech, a guy came in wanting us to turn off the EGR and evap check engine lights. He couldnt understand that not only were we not able to, it could be illegal.
When I was a tech, a guy came in wanting us to turn off the EGR and evap check engine lights. He couldnt understand that not only were we not able to, it could be illegal.
It's so hard nowadays to find ppl to oursource your criminal activities to. Where's the taskrabbit for petty criminals? 
-g
I've bought several JDM motors over the years. All were true JDM motors, in that they were never imported to the US in the original vehicle, but were used only in Japan (and/or Australia and New Zealand for some reason). They all worked fine, but I was able to put eyes on them prior to purchasing to see that they weren't (too) sludged up or varnished or rusty like they'd been sitting at the port for 6 months. I wouldn't buy one sight unseen.
The downside with the JDM motor is that it can be difficult to impossible to source parts for them, which means that it can also be pricey. Mine were all Toyota motors, so there was some crossover on some of the parts with those also sold on US domestic market vehicles -- like the alternator for one of them was also used on the 91-95 MR2 and some of the Celicas and Camrys of the same era. But in my experience, that meant that I had to do sometimes considerable research to see what would work. Accessory parts were one thing, but internals entirely different. Gasket kits can be hard to come by and without an easy substitute.
Having done the JDM motor swap a couple times now, I've concluded that the reputed super-performance bonus that you often hear about is less impressive than advertised, often touted by those who don't have much, if any, real first-hand experience with the JDM motor itself, but are internet experts. YMMV.
If you happen to still be looking, I can sell you fc series 4 turbo or series 5 turbo, or fd twin turbo engine accessory, harness, ecu, and 5 speed trans for a "cover my costs" price. I have a lot of them in the shop for my rotary business. I could also preform a rebuild, or race prep the engine, whatever you are looking for prior to shipping it out. I also have renesis drivetrains, although that swap is quite a bit more complicated as you basically need a donor rx8 to get the key fob, ecu, key, cluster, and security module to make it run.
My experience with JDM takeout rotarys is 100% negative, and I've dealt with quite a few. Not one ran when it arrived, most were rusted solid and one was so bad it wouldn't come apart!
I will not touch them except as core parts, even then, not much is usable.
I should dig up my pictures of the 13btt that I got, there was water in the housings with creatures growing in it.
-John
PS, the choice of a rotary for a Spridget swap is somewhat past it's prime. The parts are getting expensive, there's not enough room in the car for a quiet exhaust and the fuel use is astronomical. I'm saying this and I'm a rotary guy.. hard boiled. I'm currently starting on a Miata 1.6 swap into a Sprite and it will be way better than all of the rotary swaps I've done in the past. That said, the rotary powered SPL311 I built was one of my favorite cars ever.....
All good points, John. And turns out I've got a 1.6 w/5 speed sitting in my shop space mere feet from the Sprite. Why fight it, right?
It's got to be hit and miss....I've had 2 purportedly JDM SR20DE engines (se-r/nx2000) and both ran like scalded dogs. I got the first one 6-7 years ago. The motor was clean like new and it had a non smog intake manifold (Japanese?). Compression was in the 180 range. Sadly, after thrashing it for hours on end for a couple of years in Lemons it gave up a rod.
Then, just in the last month, I found a complete NX2000 for $600 in Sacramento. The ad stated that the owner had ran out of gumption and didn't want to put their JDM motor in the car. It was sitting in the garage. I called my teammate who lives in Williams (a hour away) and he ran down and grabbed everything...car included.
Well, how fortunate or unfortunate we were...depending on how you look at it. While crossing the finish line Saturday at T'hill the motor in our heap did do-do real bad. The animals on our team decided to go get the JDM motor in Williams (a half hour away) and do a swap Saturday night. They finished at 3am and we didn't know if the new lump was even a runner. It started right up and sounded good. I was first out on Sunday morning. The motor ran great with 60psi on the oil (10w40) all day. I just checked the compression today...171-180. The block, the fuel rail, and some other stuff all look new or real clean. The only odd thing about it was it came with a smog equipped manifold which we swapped out for the non smog manifold.
So there you have it...yous pays your money and yous take your chances...
I've actually had decent luck with JDM take out piston motors... It's the rotarys that suck.
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