Engines from abroad

[nvpF1crazy]

Hi,

My college is participating in FSAE India (now SUPRA SAE) next year. I found a big list of engine sellers on ebay US and even contacted a few. I'm just concerned about their authenticity because we have no way of checking the engine before buying it.
Does anybody have experience of buying an engine from abroad?

[Adambomb]

Hmm...no experience buying abroad, but we have bought a good deal of engines off ebay US. It's true, there are risks involved. Once we ended up with a seller who sold us an engine that looked to have damage from sea water (not so ironically around the time of hurricane Katrina), we then returned it and he shipped us two more engines with sea water damage. Finally just had to cut our losses on that one. There has also been several ones we got that were claimed to have been strong running engines, but were completely clapped out (not really a big issue if you plan on rebuilding them anyway, but something to keep in mind). Same experience buying off a private seller on a certain popular motorcycling forum.

For the most part you just have to follow your gut instincts, many times with a bit of experience and the right questions you can sniff out a bad deal. Beyond that, ebay has a pretty decent rating system, so just look for someone with at least 97% positive ratings, and to play it safe at least a hundred or so ratings. Someone with that experience should know all the other important details like proper ways to pack an engine for shipping (I've seen some pretty sketchy packing jobs...engines shipped in plastic storage boxes wrapped with duct tape, a 185 lb transmission just sitting in a cardboard box, etc.). I've seen enough new parts damaged in shipping; no reason to tempt fate buying an engine from across the world from someone who doesn't even know how to pack it.

Also doesn't hurt to read some of the ratings to make sure you're not dealing with someone who's using their wife's arts and crafts ebay account to sell their first motorcycle engine. When it comes to bike engines there are plenty of legitimate dealers with ebay stores; that's probably safest.

Beyond that if you just plain want a solid engine and don't plan on doing a lot of modifications, it may not be bad to buy a new one. I know Honda has good support for FSAE teams, I'm thinking you can get a brand new 600 for something like $2500-$3000. After figuring in potential repairs, a rebuild, buying small parts that may be missing or damaged, etc., you may well end up paying less for a new one.

[RollingCamel]

We bought ours from a US ebay seller and bought several parts from him too. Service was good and the engine was in a very good running condition.

PS. We are from Egypt, so yes you may consider our conditions similar to yours.

[nvpF1crazy]

Thanks for your opinions!
We looked around in India and found that the same engine cost us almost double the amount that we agreed upon with an ebay dealer in US (shipping included). How come engines are so cheap in US? That's what makes me doubt them.

I know Honda has good support for FSAE teams, I'm thinking you can get a brand new 600 for something like $2500-$3000.
Do you have any contact?

[Aniket1401]

Hi, even our senoirs has imported the engine from US. Its a Suzuki GSXR600 2007 model.

my experience is that beware of the hidden cost. we were under the impression that the engine will cost a max of something abt 1 lac indian rupees in total but by time it arrived it was double that we had to pay. not to mention the costum hazel in india. the process took a lot of time and money. so check all detais properly before u act.

if u r getting sponsorship from honda, yamaha, suzuki etc it would be great...

also for supra sae i heard that u can use an 800cc engine. if its true i guess u go for a local engine and then tune it well

Aniket Chaudhary
TEAM_RGIT, Mumbai

[RollingCamel]

Originally posted by nvpF1crazy:
How come engines are so cheap in US? That's what makes me doubt them.

More mature market with better average income = more rides = more crashes.

If Clarkson's theory is right then American liver should be cheaper too...

[Taher]

well we have ordered a new CBR 600RR motor from a dealer in US. It should arrive in a fortnight or so. Will let you know our experience once we get it.

[Homemade WRX]

When I was at Formula SAE, we ordered 3 CBR250RR motors from Australia and had no issues with it. Personally I've bought engine's from ebay without issue.

[Adambomb]

Originally posted by nvpF1crazy:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> I know Honda has good support for FSAE teams, I'm thinking you can get a brand new 600 for something like $2500-$3000.
Do you have any contact? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That was from talking to a local dealer, personally we've never bought any new engines so sorry, don't have any other specifics. I'm almost thinking I saw something posted on here, don't remember for sure though.