My car has been down for the last year. I have finally bought a shortblock with a spun bearing to do a 2.0l build out of it. I received the motor today via fedex (who beat the living hell outta it) and took the motor apart.

On piston 1 i did find a spun rod bearing and a rod that was bent to hell. The cylinder wall is a bit scored but nothing that a .020" over won't take care of. The problem is that the bent rod has worn away a chunk from the cylinder wall. Hopefully i can still use this block. The notch is about 1/4-3/8 inch long and really it only reaches the skirt of the piston. The rings do not come into contact with the notch, in fact there is quite a space between them.

What do you guys think?


Fedex sucks










Spun bearing on piston 1 ( crappy picture)

The notch







Cylinder two for reference


You can see where the "elbow" of the bent rod rubbed againts the cylinder wall and dug out the notch






Spun bearing again

 

I wouldn't exactly say that the motor is "good"
Is this motor better than the original motor that blew? Seems strang to ship a motor in nothing but a cardboard box
It CAN be repaired and used but it will definitely need repaired. They'll probably sleeve it.

 

Chris I'd say it will be fine. Like you said the rings won't even come close to that notch. Just send that pic of the notch to Dave.

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you can sleeve a block with that thin of cyl. walls. Aside from that I personally wouldn't build that block. That motor has clearly been through hell, and will probably only give you problems in the future.

 

My old block is toast.

about the shipping, yeah i thought it was weird too but it seems like it may have been opened along the way. The shipper said he put a bunch of newspaper in the box but i didnt find any in there.

 

yeah your block is toast that gash in the wall is nasty.

 

That notch is just a crack waiting to happen. Run a few heat cycles through it, and it's off and running. I would not waste a nickel doing machine work to that block.

Anyone who would send a GOOD block in a paper box deserves a good thunk on the noggin. Anyone who would buy one and not insist on proper shipping precautions, too. Short blocks should be crated, and protected in the crate as well. Assume that the shipper is going to kick it off the dock at least once. Your job it to try and outwit them. Newspaper packing is not the answer.

 

not only that ^^^ but FedEx freight is not known for best handling practices. When SBR shipped me my motor, it was crated and tied down to a pallet with metal straps to keep the motor from moving around at all. I sure hope you didnt pay more than a few hundred for that block because it its done.

 

The seller's insurance just ordered a new shortblock for his car. This is the box that mitsu shipped his new motor in so he just shipped it in the same box. Since the box was designated to ship a shortblock i really wasn't worried about it but i didnt expect to receive it like this.

I paid 800 dollars for this motor and he said that the mitsu tech told him it was rebuildable.

I think im gonna be sick

 

I would be too.

 

The packaging sucks, but FedEx handling probably didn't cause the notch in the block.

Did the seller inform you of the "notch" in the cylinder? At a minimum, the seller should have told you the extent of the damage and let you decide if you wanted it or not before it was shipped. That's not a rebuildable block in my opinion. That's sure not a block I'd want to spend any signficant money on as a platform for a performance build. I'd ask for my money back if you were relying on his description that it was a block that was rebuildable for a performance Evo motor. At the very least, it will have to be sleeved, at significant expense, and will still not be what you expected.

 

800?! I would be pissed. Mitsu may have shipped his motor in that box BUT I'm willing to bet that it was strapped to a pallet with the box just covering it. Nobody that knows what they're doing would ship a motor in a box with newspaper...that's ridiculous. A little newspaper isn't going to protect something that heavy.
Did you know the extent of the damage when you paid for it? Take it to a machine shop and get their opinion. IMO, you're going to have just as much in this shortblock as you would've if you just bought a quality shortblock.

 

I agree 100%

 

No the notch was not caused by the shipping.

I was told that he had been told by a mitsu tech that it was rebuildable. I wasn't told that there was a bent rod, the notch was there, or the walls were scored. The crank would only turn about 180 deg. before catching on something. (dead giveaway right there that something is wrong) I was told that the motor still ran when it was taken out and it had a spun bearing. I don't know how this thing ran without making some god aweful noise or knocking. It would've crapped a compression test.

I honestly think that the seller din't have any idea that is was in this type of condition. In the pictures he sent to me it looked fine. it was sent without an oil pan which i wish i knew because i could've asked for pictures of the underside. Also it was shipped with all the weight sitting on the cradle for the crank with a couple peices of paper and the cradboard box bottom.

 

I wouldn't use it. If he's really a straight up guy he will refund you your money. Especially considering the damage that he didn't mention. I'm betting he's not going to be easy to deal with though. He sent the motor in a box which shows me he could care less. He also knew the extent of SOME of the damage at the very least. Sounds like he was out to scam someone out of money by passing it off as an easy rebuild that had nothing but minor damage such as a spun rod bearing.