back in the spring the oil line to the oil cooler opened up and caused a fire while on track in my 86 951. all the oil came out of engine and hood paint was damaged.
Now I found a used engine for $800. the guy said it came from a n 87 wreck and ran fine before the accident. He says engine has oil. he had the engine for a project which he never go round to. anyways a guy that races successfully up here suggested change the rod bearings and then put the engine in and do compression test. I am hoping to find someone to pull my engine and put this in for $1k and may need to use some parts from my old engine and may need to buy some new that were damaged in the fire (ie coolant bottle, powere steering bottle etc.
so what do you guys think? would you risk putting in an unknown engine? would you do rod bearings first? is $800 reasonable for what he is selling?
please advise me.
I will post pics of the engine shortly.

 

here are the pics provided

 

You can have a leak down test done on a engine in that state. It would give you a better indication of condition than a compression test. I'd also consider changing head gasket and timing components before putting it in.

 

thanks good point

 

edit: misread, yes 800 sounds fair for a running 951 motor. since its already out I would definitely do rod bearings, head gasket, all seals, timing stuff, water pump/belts, freshen it up as much as possible without really tearing into it. I'd also do a new clutch and release bearing.

 

thanks guys

 

Is that 800.00 US or Canadian? If it's Canadian go for it look at the exchange rate right now.

 

Heck for 800 Can if you don't buy it I'm tempted

 

I don't think it's a big risk. If it's toast just sell the pieces. Just the DME and KLR could easily bring a couple hundred bucks, intake is another easy $50, turbo, crank, cylinder head, cam tower. You might even come out on top.

 

Is it in TO?

 

Be realistic with your budget. If you buy this engine for $800, and then do new bearings, gaskets, seals, belts, water pump and head gasket, that's going to be about $2k in parts. If you find someone to do the job for $1,000 (25 hours at $40/hr), you'll be into it for about $4k.

 

Van; what would you recommend then?

 

It is worth the 4k as I really like my car and it has now been sitting. I am looking for a used engine if anyone has one please let me know.

 

At $800, seems like a decent deal.

 

The time and effort to get it in the car is probably a bigger risk than the $800, along with whatever you do to it as Lart says (HG, rod bearings, seals, flywheel machining/bolts, etc -- the list could go on and on). To me it would come down to the seller. Do you know him and/or have reason to trust him? If it really runs without issues, I'd say that's a bargain -- probably less than what you could get for all those parts.