Has anyone had any experience with this "Leopard lll 2165 cc block motor" being sold by importmotor.com. At the price they are selling it for it sure is tempting. Appreciate any feedbacks.

http://importmotor.com/Store/ProductDetail...arSelected=1973

run for the hills ...

Andy

Y'know. I have yet to hear anyone say if they've even used these guys directly. I think dinonium did some dealings with them, and got an engine with leaky pushrod tubes or something similar. I think he also kvetched about not getting the expected case, but all the cases are basically the same, so I don't really know what his beef is there.

The price alone should tell you this isn't going to be a cream-of-the-crop engine. No actual word from anyone on how many actual new parts are used, or the quality of the workmanship. Some people mutter "bus parts", like this is really a bad thing (Jake himself has said the square port bus heads are actually a better starting point than the 1.7/1.8 oval port heads). You're not getting anything choice here like a 2.0 head, just a reworked 1.7 head. This is going to be a bargain engine, and it's at a bargain price, tops.

You could also get a mess that barely works, but so far, I've not heard anyone state definitely what you get from them.

i have only seen one engine from them in person (but have heard many stories) and it was the worst piece of junk i have ever seen.

ask brad about it,
Andy

You can't even buy all the parts for that money. I wonder how they do it?

There used to be a guy around here that would take spare used parts he had laying around, maybe polish some journals, throw some new bearings and rings in it, do a valve job maybe, and call it a rebuild. Not that i'm suggesting these guys do that, or anything, but i'd be leary. The guy here stayed in business a long time ripping people off.

I'd argue with that. One does not always NEED new pistons. They can be reused and can last perfectly well for a long time. New cylinders are also not required if the old ones are servicable after a simple hone. Rings, bearings, seals, and valve guides are under $500 even at retail. As long as the core engine isn't complete junk, this plus some machine work and assembly labor are all that's required. If you have a good stock of used engines on hand, this is perfectly acceptable, esp. at the quoted price.




What, exactly, is a rebuild, then? I'd bet that 90% of home rebuilds fall into exactly the category you just outlined. No, there are not all new parts, but if the old parts still work, what's the problem? Will you get top power and life out of such an engine? Of course, not. You're not paying top dollar, either.

I know most people would like to have a Jake-class engine, but that isn't always required, nor can everyone afford one. Doing it yourself would save a lot of money (and, in fact, would cost even less than one of these engines), but no everyone has the ability or the time to do so. Having a mid-priced alternative seems like a good thing to me. Thus far, having searched on this subject myself on all of the boards, I generally find little but negative things said about the rebuilders (except Jake). I find it hard to believe that he's the ONLY rebuilder worth giving money to. The bulk of the stories I've read were third hand stories about some guy.

I'm not saying this particular shop is worth dealing with, only that there probably are decent shops out there, but everyone does the usual thing and only focuses on the bad and never remembers the good.

I think that used to be Bernie Bergman's shop. I seem to remember something on the shoptalk forums about them.

One of the ways they are saving money is that they are using type 1 (cima) pistons....The only thing is you have to run big spacer's under the jugs.

This makes for a wide engine, the pushrod tubes are almost out of the bores.

Feel free to stop by the shop. I have one on the stand right now. 2.0 engine that came with BUS pistons and no compression. The 2.0 heads where junk. I could have rebuilt them with hand tools better they did with machines. The guy outsources all the machine work to crap shops and has them assemble the engines. He is a sales person that doesnt know his ass from a whole in the ground. I told him that I took "his" engine apart. His response when I started questioning: I didnt expect you to take it apart. A customer had bought this engine for me to install... I told him NO way until I looked at what they had done.

B

So, there we are, two well-informed opinions taken from actual engines, not just hearsay. It was stated on an earlier thread that the pushrod tubes leaked on a "new" engine from them, and Mark's comment jibes with that. Great comments from Brad. Thanks, guys.

I refuse to push "crap" to the 914 people. Let the bug guy's make those mistakes. If it runs you 5-6k to have a T4 rebuilt.. then you will know that at least the proper parts are in it and care was taken during assembly. Cheap price, cheap product.



B

Well, I guess you get what you pay for. From the way they describe what was done to rebuild the engine, they make it all sound so good. But that's why I always ask here for comments before I decide on something and its seems like this is not the way to go. Thanks for all the comments.

Mark

WOT, but, Brad, ceramic lifters are about ready to ship. Still need those two sets or more?

Charles Navarro
LN Engineering
http://www.LNengineering.com
Aircooled Precision Performance