I was contacted by a guy who claimed to be a "Cruiser Mania" after I posted on a Japanese 80's board with questions about junkyards since I was(still am) looking for 1HD engine, tranny, etc...
He said he had a few running 80's and several wrecked 80's, not to mention older 80's as well. He said that if I were "serious" about the swap, he could help me out.
So since he lived less than two hours away from me I decided to take a look at them today. Afterall, he said that he had a wrecked late-model 1HD that had only 50K miles on the clock that he said that he would part with for 600,000($5,400), engine, tranny and connected parts, as well. How could I pass, right?
So, trying not to be too optimistic, I grabbed a couple of buddies of mine and went for a ride. As I went around the corner where the guy said that I would be able to see his vehicles I was pretty excited. I was optimistic when I got out of my vehicle and started looking around in his family business ground, simply because there were so many Cruisers. It was so cool to see so many of them at one place. He wasn't lying when he said he was a "Cruiser Mania".
But my excitment faded quickly as I saw the conditions of his wrecked Cruisers. He had tarps on some parts of some of them because they were exposed to the elements.
To make a long story short, I was rather disappointed by the conditions of them. I took pictures, but I can not access them through the computer I'm using right now(I'll try later).
The late model 1HD the guy mentioned had an off-center frontal crash. The engine seemed like it was not affected/pushed in back by the crash. But it was fairly rusty(could be just cosmetics and the inside be as just as new as it only had about 30k miles on it, right :
I'm trying to see the positives ). Anyway, the guy said that the engine should still be operatable w/o overhauling. Yeah, right!
I tried SOOO hard trying to talk myself out of the idea of getting the engine/tranny(still trying even now) because the engine looked sooo bad(I could only see the engine as the weeds were waist-high and large spiders were thriving in Cruiser heaven, not allowing me to be able to crawl under to look at the tranny). My buddies certainly tried to talk me out of it.
Anyway, I told the guy that I would get back to him, thinking he couldn't be serious wanting me to fork out that kind of money for a motor/tranny that have not seen any actions in a few years, left out in the open.
I know that it's hard to determine w/o looking at it in person or looking at pictures. But I come before you humbly asking for your wisdom: What are the chances that an engine in a vehicle that has not been operated/touched for a few years be in a good shape. How much work would it take to get it in a pristine condition? Would it most likely need an overhaul? Also, would the rust be relatively easy to come out of?
If you can give me feedback from your experience, that would be greatly appreciated. In the meantime, I am planning on hitting some local junkyards looking for wrecked Cruisers, as well as trying the used parts dealer by my house for availability/prices on what I need.
I hope what I have written makes some sense, even though it's almost 2:00am here.
Many thanks in advance.
mot
He said he had a few running 80's and several wrecked 80's, not to mention older 80's as well. He said that if I were "serious" about the swap, he could help me out.
So since he lived less than two hours away from me I decided to take a look at them today. Afterall, he said that he had a wrecked late-model 1HD that had only 50K miles on the clock that he said that he would part with for 600,000($5,400), engine, tranny and connected parts, as well. How could I pass, right?
So, trying not to be too optimistic, I grabbed a couple of buddies of mine and went for a ride. As I went around the corner where the guy said that I would be able to see his vehicles I was pretty excited. I was optimistic when I got out of my vehicle and started looking around in his family business ground, simply because there were so many Cruisers. It was so cool to see so many of them at one place. He wasn't lying when he said he was a "Cruiser Mania".
But my excitment faded quickly as I saw the conditions of his wrecked Cruisers. He had tarps on some parts of some of them because they were exposed to the elements.
To make a long story short, I was rather disappointed by the conditions of them. I took pictures, but I can not access them through the computer I'm using right now(I'll try later).
The late model 1HD the guy mentioned had an off-center frontal crash. The engine seemed like it was not affected/pushed in back by the crash. But it was fairly rusty(could be just cosmetics and the inside be as just as new as it only had about 30k miles on it, right :
I'm trying to see the positives ). Anyway, the guy said that the engine should still be operatable w/o overhauling. Yeah, right!I tried SOOO hard trying to talk myself out of the idea of getting the engine/tranny(still trying even now) because the engine looked sooo bad(I could only see the engine as the weeds were waist-high and large spiders were thriving in Cruiser heaven, not allowing me to be able to crawl under to look at the tranny). My buddies certainly tried to talk me out of it.
Anyway, I told the guy that I would get back to him, thinking he couldn't be serious wanting me to fork out that kind of money for a motor/tranny that have not seen any actions in a few years, left out in the open.
I know that it's hard to determine w/o looking at it in person or looking at pictures. But I come before you humbly asking for your wisdom: What are the chances that an engine in a vehicle that has not been operated/touched for a few years be in a good shape. How much work would it take to get it in a pristine condition? Would it most likely need an overhaul? Also, would the rust be relatively easy to come out of?
If you can give me feedback from your experience, that would be greatly appreciated. In the meantime, I am planning on hitting some local junkyards looking for wrecked Cruisers, as well as trying the used parts dealer by my house for availability/prices on what I need.
I hope what I have written makes some sense, even though it's almost 2:00am here.
Many thanks in advance.
mot
