JDM Engine importers are a 100% scam operation. For every one motor that might make it to its destination in one piece and perfectly fine, there are tons of others that show up seized or trashed in some way, shape or form. And there are TONS of 'companies' that do this 'service.' Here is how the JDM Engine Import scam works: You start up a company with a dumb name. Typically JDMHeaven or ImportJDM2DAY or TigerNinjaSuperDrift Engines Corp. Doesn't matter, they all do the same thing. Now, you need to understand some things about JDM engines. In Japan, there are tax incentives for buying new cars, and the tax cost rises considerably after the car reaches a certain age, someone with more knowledge on the subject can chime in with the exact cutoff. But either way, after the cars reach this age, they are typically traded in for new models. It keeps their domestic auto economy happy. But the dumb boy racer kiddies over in Japan will buy the latest hot 4banger and beat the ever loving crap out of them because they know that before they reach about 50-60kilometers on the odometer, they'll trade them in for something new. Almost all JDM import engines have been neglected and are typically pulled from wrecked or abandoned cars. If you think these companies are sourcing new engines or engines from perfectly good running cars, you are ignorant at best. Anyway, so JDM company sells you an SR20DET redtop with 45kilometers on the clock for 1800 bucks + 300 shipping. And you're thinking, wow, 2100 bucks for a JDM Redtop, with tranny, ECU and wiring harness with low miles! I got a great deal. And if you got a decent motor, then yeah, you would have. Then the motor arrives. And you of course didn't read the policy on returns that they have and you toss the motor on an engine stand. 1) If you remove, replace, upgrade or install ANY parts on this motor before firing it up, your warranty is void. No refunds, no returns. 2) If you open up the engine for any reason, they will NOT take returns. Even if you are an ASE certified mechanic. No refund, no returns. 3) If you do as they say, and hook this thing up to a battery and turn it over and it doesn't run, you can send it back. But YOU pay the shipping back to them, AND you pay the shipping return to you. OH, and let me go ahead and mention, if you send the motor back, they do an 'inspection" to see if you altered or changed anything, or if the alleged failure is your fault. So, what you essentially did was pay to ship your motor back to them, where they will now say "you screwed it up, no refund" and the only way you'll get that trashed motor back into your own hands is to pay to ship it back to yourself. There is only one scenario here where you win, and that is if your motor starts and runs and has no issues. You don't know what you're getting, and they are banking on you getting a bad motor. And their warranty only covers the initial testing startup, After that, it isn't their problem. And you typically only have 14 days to test it before you can make a claim. I ordered an SR20DET Redtop with Transmission and wiring harness and ECU from JDMEnginesCorp. It cost me 1800 bucks. When it arrived, something didn't seem right, so we opened up the head cover (the red top) and found essentially gelatinized oil sludge packed into the head. It had the consistency of bearing grease and it was jet black. This gelatinized oil was throughout the entire engine. When we removed the oil filter, same thing. A few drops of oil dripped out, but otherwise, the oil was gel. Then we removed the intake manifold, inside we found a chunk of cast aluminum. We concluded it came from an intercooler end tank. And then we pieced the story together in our heads. 18 year old Japanese kid buys late model Nissan Silvia S13, drives the piss out of it for 45,000 kilometers. Then slams it head on into a lamp post or tree, at which point the intercooler end tanks crack and send a shard of aluminum up the intake tract, where it then lodges itself into the intake valve hole. When I called JDM Engines Corp about this, they said "you weren't supposed to open the engine, no returns no refunds. You were supposed to put it into the car, wire up the battery and see if it ran." If I had wired up that engine and turned it over, it would likely have grenaded from shrapnel in the intake or simply ripped the rod and crank bearings to shreds due to insufficient oiling. We went back and forth for a couple months, but they pretty much washed their hands of me and told me to get lost. 500 dollars worth of gaskets and internal parts later, and after a full rebuild of the block, I have a functioning SR20DET redtop in my garage. If you are considering buying from a JDM motor importer, I would advise you to avoid it like the plague. No amount of technical knowhow or mechanical ability is going to help you when the motor takes a full on crap due to bearing failure. And that cost will NOT come out of the Importer's pockets.
