Advice needed on used crate engine...part II
Last weekend I bought a used 300 hp 360 crate motor off of my local CL. This motor was bought as an interim engine to use for a year or two until I could build my dream stroker small block. The plans were to check it out, add a gasket set, timing set, paint it up and drive it. You can check that thread here in case you missed it.
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=178536
The ad read that it was a roller cam, roller rocker, forged piston motor with 60k miles, that he guaranteed to be a "kick ***, little hot rod motor". When I got up there to look at it, we pulled a valve cover. It didn't have roller rockers so he knocked $100 off the price and we agreed on $400. Done deal, I paid him, he gave me a receipt with a money back guarantee. We agreed that I would come back today with a pick up to get it.
Fast forward to today. Picked it up no problem and got it home on the engine stand to begin tear down. :cheers:
The first thing that I noticed while I was pulling the M1 intake was that there is some sort of epoxy smeared around where the heater hose outlet should be? Then I noticed that the outlet was plugged with a brass fitting? The other hose outlet on the water pump was capped off.
So we continue tear down and pull off the heads. Of course, there is no roller cam. It is a roller cam block, but like I was told in the previous thread, it probably didn't have a roller cam. But, it was advertised that way.
The next problem we noticed besides the Hyper pistons, is a pretty good ring ridge. My buddy is a certified Chrysler mechanic and he estimated that the engine had closer to 80-100 k miles on it. The non forged pistons didn't bother me at this point because I was told in the previous thread that they came with hypers. But I have to say I was a little pissed at the amount of cylinder wear. No signs of any cross hatch and enough ring ring that you could catch your nail easily. This is at TDC so you can't see the cylinder, sorry.
At this point, I figure what the hell else could go wrong so we continued the tear down. We found a bolt broken off in the harmonic balancer. Not a big deal, but still an unexpected pain in the ***...
Once we got the timing cover off, we found a chain that was so sloppy that it reinforced our belief that this was not a 60k mile engine as advertised.
We went a head and pulled the oil pan, that was held on by hardware store bolts and found a thick layer of sludge covering the bottom of the pan. The pan was black and not painted the same as the engine? The oil in it was thick and dark, but not what I would consider black and didn't smell bad.
We didn't bother to plastigauge the bearings as intended because I didn't feel that I could take any more bad news tonight.
The bottom line is, the engine that I bought to be an interim engine, has now become a core for a rebuild. I already have a 73 standard bore 360 that I was going to use for my stoker build.
I plan on contacting the seller in the morning after I have had a chance to calm down a bit. He sells quite a few Mopar parts on our local CL and currently has over 30 ads selling parts. He said his word is good and that he wouldn't rip off another Mopar guy, but I think he may have unknowingly done that.
I am going to send him a nicely worded email in the morning along with all of the pictures above, and ask him what he intends to do to rectify this situation. I think at least $100 refund might help take the sting out of this deal. What do you all think?!?
Last weekend I bought a used 300 hp 360 crate motor off of my local CL. This motor was bought as an interim engine to use for a year or two until I could build my dream stroker small block. The plans were to check it out, add a gasket set, timing set, paint it up and drive it. You can check that thread here in case you missed it.
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=178536
The ad read that it was a roller cam, roller rocker, forged piston motor with 60k miles, that he guaranteed to be a "kick ***, little hot rod motor". When I got up there to look at it, we pulled a valve cover. It didn't have roller rockers so he knocked $100 off the price and we agreed on $400. Done deal, I paid him, he gave me a receipt with a money back guarantee. We agreed that I would come back today with a pick up to get it.
Fast forward to today. Picked it up no problem and got it home on the engine stand to begin tear down. :cheers:
The first thing that I noticed while I was pulling the M1 intake was that there is some sort of epoxy smeared around where the heater hose outlet should be? Then I noticed that the outlet was plugged with a brass fitting? The other hose outlet on the water pump was capped off.
So we continue tear down and pull off the heads. Of course, there is no roller cam. It is a roller cam block, but like I was told in the previous thread, it probably didn't have a roller cam. But, it was advertised that way.
The next problem we noticed besides the Hyper pistons, is a pretty good ring ridge. My buddy is a certified Chrysler mechanic and he estimated that the engine had closer to 80-100 k miles on it. The non forged pistons didn't bother me at this point because I was told in the previous thread that they came with hypers. But I have to say I was a little pissed at the amount of cylinder wear. No signs of any cross hatch and enough ring ring that you could catch your nail easily. This is at TDC so you can't see the cylinder, sorry.
At this point, I figure what the hell else could go wrong so we continued the tear down. We found a bolt broken off in the harmonic balancer. Not a big deal, but still an unexpected pain in the ***...
Once we got the timing cover off, we found a chain that was so sloppy that it reinforced our belief that this was not a 60k mile engine as advertised.
We went a head and pulled the oil pan, that was held on by hardware store bolts and found a thick layer of sludge covering the bottom of the pan. The pan was black and not painted the same as the engine? The oil in it was thick and dark, but not what I would consider black and didn't smell bad.
We didn't bother to plastigauge the bearings as intended because I didn't feel that I could take any more bad news tonight.
The bottom line is, the engine that I bought to be an interim engine, has now become a core for a rebuild. I already have a 73 standard bore 360 that I was going to use for my stoker build.
I plan on contacting the seller in the morning after I have had a chance to calm down a bit. He sells quite a few Mopar parts on our local CL and currently has over 30 ads selling parts. He said his word is good and that he wouldn't rip off another Mopar guy, but I think he may have unknowingly done that.
I am going to send him a nicely worded email in the morning along with all of the pictures above, and ask him what he intends to do to rectify this situation. I think at least $100 refund might help take the sting out of this deal. What do you all think?!?
