Pre-Purchase Sr20 engine inspection?? (help)

[BlackZenkiS14]

Ok, so I am going to go check out a possible replacement for my current motor tonight, its a full S14 SR swap, at a low price, so I am going to go do a compression check, and pull the valve cover to see what the head looks like, what else can I do to see what kind of condition this motor is in before dropping thousand+ on an unknown motor?

[Hashiriya415]

pull oil pan and make sure no spun rod bearing and no metal or other crap pieces in oil pan

[Propaganda]

leak down test
cooling system pressure test
dry/wet compression test

pray that you don't get screwed

[camaro379ss]

pray that you don't get screwed

LOL that pretty much sums it up.

But seriously everything above is what you need to do.

[BlackZenkiS14]

Well everything in the head looked great, the turbo didnt have much shaft play at all, but the compression wasnt very good :(

If the motor had been sitting for 3 years, and hasnt been turned over in forever, and the check was done on a cold dry motor, how much difference will that make?

[camaro379ss]

what were the numbers?

[BlackZenkiS14]

Dry, completely, after sitting without being started or anything for 3 years it was 90, 100, 110, 120

Then after putting oil in it, oil in the cylinders, and cranking for a bit it was 120, 120, 155, 155.

Im still questioning the quality of the compression tester, but I also still done know if I should buy this motor or not :(

[camaro379ss]

I dunno man man those first 2 cylinders are pretty low. I mean it could be as simple as a headgasket (if you wanna consider that simple) or a crack....I guess it just depends on how much time you can put into it and at what price you get it for.

Either way those definitely arent the greatest numbers.