Search for 2.0 engine just beginning, Need help with list of what to check Options

[Bruce Allert]

After driving a 914 with a stock 2 liter I was impressed. I am going to begin searching for one that is ready for installation or one that needs a rebuild to replace my 1.7.
What I need help with is what to check & how to check it when the engine is out of the car.
This will be a new adventure into an area I have not yet gone to. Any help will be grately appreciated.
I found one engine listed in the 914.com classifieds that comes with the FI. (A big plus!) Right up in Seattle so I could actually go and check it out (if I knew what to look for!).
Anyone have a check list or could you point me to one?
thanks
bruce

[Mockmaw]

Might be worth looking into.. even fairly close to you geographically, if I'm not mistaken.

http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=48766

[Jeff Krieger]

If possible, do a leak-down test. That will give you a pretty good idea of the motor's internals (rings, valves etc.). Oh, and you can test a lot of F/I electrical stuff just by measuring (with a multi-meter) between the various terminals at the end of the wiring harness plug to the ECU http://persweb.direct.ca/aschwenk/djettest.pdf .

[Dave_Darling]

Look up into the exhaust ports. Clean them as well as you can. They love to crack on the short-radius side of the bend--the one toward the centerline of the car. (They also love to crack at the spark plug holes, but I'm not sure how you'd see that without disassembling the motor.)

Compression if you can, leak-down if you can. Oil pressure reading while the engine is running, if you can. Look at the valve adjusters and valve tips and check them for wear. Pull a lifter or eight and look at them for wear. Check that the engine tin is there, that there isn't a ton of guck built up on everything. Check that the oil cooler isn't blocked.

Check the oil on the dipstick. Old and sludgey? Brand new? In-between is probably the best thing to see.

Probably other stuff to look through...

--DD

[J P Stein]

I have my own "check list" for buying engines.

If you can't see and hear it run, do a compression check....yada, it's a core motor and should be priced
accordingly. You're going to have to rebuild it...flat out. The exception would be a rebuilt but never run motor like Jim Chambers is installing.

I sold my complete (top to bottom/end to end) 2.0L
with 40K miles (dealer rebuild with paper)and a bad hole for $900. The fella that bought it called a couple weeks later and told me that both heads were cracked.....ugh. I offered to "help" him with it but never heard back. I still feel bad bout that....I'm a sensetive fella.

If I was doing this (I'd go to a 6, but that's another story), I'd buy a local 2.0L rust bucket that runs well.
There are lots of em' around and cheep, too.
Use the motor , part the rest out....you may get a "free" motor.

There's a guy at the SCCA AXs that has a bent 2.0L 914 for cheep (500 bucks AIR). He says the motor runs gud. I'll talk at him for ya or you can come to the afternoon session (PIR pro pits)on 5 July and talk at him yoursef.

Like job hunting, "networking" is gud.

[Bruce Allert]

Thank you all guys. I lack this expeience and want to get into it so I don't have to rely on a shop to do everything.

JP, the bent 2.0 sounds just what I'm looking for. I'll be in touch. If you would, get a hold of him & pick his brain. Maybe this could be a plug & play type engine, eh?
bruce