Guest bastaad525 Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 I called this guy, who's selling a turbo motor from an '83 ZX. He wants $300 for it, it's a complete long block, including oil pan, pump, valve cover, and also including an exhaust manifold with turbo still attached. Also includes a stock flywheel, and complete clutch/pressure plate. He says the miles were about 75k on the car, it got wrecked. Also says that the turbo is in really good shape, no shaft play. The whole thing has been out of the car for about a year. He was gonna do a turbo swap but opted for a chevy 383 instead. I figure $300 is a good deal... maybe I can sell the turbo off of it (what's a good asking price for a good used T3??). But what I want to know is, is there any way that I can test the motor before buying it? It's not attached to a tranny, so no way to mount a starter to do a compression test. Can I crank the motor by hand to do a compression test? Are there any other things/tests I can/should do to check the general condition of the engine? Anything I should be worried about on an engine that's been sitting for a while? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest szlash280z Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 there is no way to test a motor out of a car unless you have some high dollar equipment or make some special mounting device and hook up a starter. you will have to just assume it will work or do what I did. I bought my turbo motor without being able to test it, but I had the plan of rebuilding everything before I even tried to use it. I rebuilt everything and installed it and so far so good. the turbo was the only bad part on mine, and it had lots of carbon and gunk in the pistons. new rings, bearings, rebuilt turbo, rebuilt head and I was basically in good shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobythevan Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 I have seen good used nissan T3 turbos bring $100 on ebay. that would help get back some money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 If the guy has a compressor near the engine you could do a leakdown test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Why not bolt up a starter motor to it and carry in a fully charged battery? It's the bell housing that has the starter threads, correct? Just get some nuts and attached it. Make sure the engine has oil in it, and do a compression test... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spork Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Skip the compression test and go straight for the leakdown test. It'll tell you much more about the engine, and its much more accurate. I've had great compression numbers (2 motors now) but when I went to do a leak down, the numbers were awful. Pulled them apart and one of them had grooves almost worn through the cylinder wall, put the compression was good. You put a soid amount of air to it for a little bit and you'll see the truth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-Gad Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 Hmmm...leak down test..sounds like a good idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 240hybrid Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 If you had a trans, fuel pump and a few other items for the motor you could start it essentially. Although its a bit too much to go through when you don't own the motor yet, but my father has started motors when their just sitting on the ground. Would be pretty cool to see a motor running on the ground like that though, just don't rev it up and tip it over . I would do the leak down test like recommended and just use common sense in looking it over. Around here people are saying a L28et is getting rare and prices are going up, but $300 with only 75K on it isn't too bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240hoke Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 i paid 400 for my engine. It had 90K miles on it. But it was also complete well everything except the dist, alt, and starter. -Austin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 I'm gonna see about bringing a bell housing and starter, I think I can arrange that. The best thing is that this motor has already almost paid for itself by selling stuff off of it that I dont need. The one thing I kinda worry about is that I THINK it may have the hydraulic head, it's an '83 motor... weren't they all P90a's? I guess if it really has less than 70k miles on it it shouldn't be a problem... will be nice to not have to adjust valve clearances and have a really quiet valvetrain though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opie Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 I just found an 83 ZXT and the guy wants $300 for it. He says it has a bad turbo and some injector leaks. Think it can be had for $250. Has a T5 in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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