Over a year ago I purchased a used jspec engine from an ebay seller motortime.biz. I know, I know gamble this and that. But I've purchased multiple jspec engines in the past and they have all run very strong.
I called and talked to the seller and I was assured I was getting the engine in the pictures. It was listed as a 27k mile jspec engine and I could tell from the pics that it was from a 95+TT. (new style cas & ptu, deleted egr, gold balance tube, throttle body spring cover attachment, non painted valve covers, etc)
The sticker by the ptu was their compression test results sheet, which was accurate. At this point my blue Z can't wait for it's new heart.
 
  Once receiving the engine I had doubts of the 27k miles it was advertised to be.
The turbos were both completely seized up and the oil lines were clogged. The plenum and lower plenum were very dirty inside.
I stripped everything off the engine down to the block and heads and replaced every gasket, did a 120k and put on some used turbos.
The engine started up and ticked for a min and then sounded smooth. I compression tested the engine as soon as I got it running. Awesome! 160-170 on every cylinder. I drove it with cats on for a awhile and it was burning oil. Engine Pull #2
Time to pull the engine. I replaced the turbos with another set of used stock turbos I had. This time I put downpipes and testpipes on when I pulled the engine. It started and ran but it still smoked. Engine Pull #3
OK I have one more set of used stock turbos laying around. Pull the engine again and changed them out. NO change. Perfect compression and burning oil. WTF. Engine Pull #4
Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I figured that it had to be the turbos or the valve stem seals. So I pulled the engine again. I replaced the 24 valve stem seals with Z1 viton seals and installed brand new stock chras and oil feed lines. I took it for a spin and the thing still smokes! I put 80 miles on it and it never stopped smoking so... Engine Pull #5
I pulled the engine again a week after I installed it. Dissembled the engine and removed the heads.
Every cylinder looked normal until I looked at cylinder number 1.
Funny because only a few days prior I compression tested it and it was right on spec.
 I sent my block and heads to a local machine shop. I had the heads checked and the valve guides were all bad so we replaced all 24 and another set of valve stem seals and a multi angle valve job was done. The block was fitted with 88mm wiesco pistons etc. The company that I purchased the engine from, Motortimeusa or motortime.biz, doesn't seem to be listing on ebay anymore but I bet some of you will probably recognize the name of the seller, Arley Leghorn. He has a very sketchy reputation on here and other websites as a quick Google search shows. I did search ebay and found a seller that looks surprisingly similar. we_have_usa
Above is a picture of an engine I found that they used to have listed for sale as rebuilt on ebay.
Look at those cams... Something funny there? If you can't install cams correctly I'm sure the rest of the quality of the engine rebuild is very questionable at best. This seller sells 300zx items and I'm willing to bet it's Arley Leghorn operating under a new business name. I have not contacted the company because the warranty on the engine was 6 months and I've exceeded that and they don't appear to be operating anymore. End of story. My engine is back in and is running great with no smoke.
I'm happy!
![](http://lh4.ggpht.com/_P5aDVFLsGU4/Sk-LbRLvd0I/AAAAAAAAAh4/z7ERs_0_jNA/s800/DSC05378.JPG") This is just a jspec engine warning/buyer beware post to describe what I went though for those thinking about purchasing one in the future.
EricTTZ |
My Jspec Engine review/warning/experience - 
