Nor-cal folks, venus-auto

[omgtofu]

Anyone in the northern california area ever buy a motor from venus-auto.com out of sacramento? Regardless of whether you have or not, are there any other companies in the sac/fairfield/bay area that import motors and are known to be reliable?

 

I contacted venus auto and when available(1 crate per month), they sell rb25's for 2 grand, rb25 neo 6 for 2500.

"all the motor swaps come with complete engine w/ uncut wire harness, manual transmission, MAF sensor, Ecu, drive shaft and cross member"

[pat1]

Do your research. I heard nothing but bad things about them. Anything from DOA motors to parts missing.

[wrcbonk]

I bought my rb25 from Venus. I got a good engine from the standpoint that it runs and did not have to be torn apart and rebuilt. The problems were with the wiring harness and missing parts, for example the harness was battered and missing several important connectors. You need to know what you are looking for before going in there. Find someone in your local area who has an rb swap and spend some time getting to know the engine. Do not be in a hurry.

 

Bonk

Edited April 8, 2012 by wrcbonk

[rayaapp2]

I have purchased 3 engines second hand that came from Venus. All three were never ran since purchased. 2 got as far as installing a new timing belt incorrectly and the 3rd was bought as a core from venus after it had been dropped during shipment. After dis-assembling all three I found that all three had wasted bearings. Down way past the babbet into the copper surface. All three engines sat at/near port or in the rain for an extended time that allowed massive buildup of water in the cylinder head plug valley and all other exposed aluminum parts. I believe he is currently sourcing his engines out of Hong Kong. Other than that it has been my experience when digging through his 'piles' that many of the missing parts are on the floor. He gets most those swaps as front clips and they are just ripped apart to get the engine out. Ron can be a nice guy or he could be in well a bad mood. Once he knows you he is usually nice unless he feels like your taking advantage of him. In most cases if you are local he will work with you on returns or missing parts.

 

With the engines I have pulled apart from there I would not trust that the engines being sourced were well cared for. Not that that is Venus/Ron's fault. Just a fact.

 

There is an extensive thread on the subject somewhere. My personal favorite place WAS Jhot Imports. Unfortunately JHot's supplier went under and they decided to close up shop.

[sileightygx]

Several of my friends have bought from them including CA18, and several S13/S14 SR20s. We went each time to inspect the motor and have it compression tested in front of us. Since we were there we also picked out all missing parts from the preloaded motorset pallets. So if anything I would recommend going there yourself to pick out your motorset/clip rather than just ordering to be shipped/picked up.

 

You have to realize as well you are buying a USED motor with an unknown history. There will always be risks associated with buying a used engine from whatever place you buy from. I am not endorsing them, just wanted to put out that my friends and myself have not come across any issues.