Used Ka24de advice

[kyral]

Theres alot of DOHC for sale for really cheap like really cheap

I want to get a ka24de to rebuild but these engines are not in the car
I know i can do a leak down test

and what other things can i do to check the engine condition besides checking the oil and trying to hand crank the engine?

[Kingtal0n]

check the oil color. find out when it was changed last.
Make sure there is oil in the engine, then do a compression test.
The leakdown test if possible but good compression across the board is #1.
Look for oil paths, oil leaks even from a brand new engine, its just the rate of oil leak is slow so you do not see it pass the gasket until some 50-120k miles. But when it does, it will leave a trail, that will path behind engine accessories. Look for the trails, new or old, the old trails will collect dirt from the air (the air we breath is not clean) and so these trails will appear as lines of filth leading down the engine.

Look under the valvecover for sure. The color of the parts under the valve cover say alot about how often the oil was changed and how hot the engine was running. A dark bronze/gold/black color indicates high mileage, and poor oil change frequency.

[kyral]

what are signs of a healthy engine?

I was thought a gold color was good

[Kingtal0n]

http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t473/s13sr20detblktp/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-01/20150131_164437_zpswbchpdkg.jpg

clean engine is clean

[kyral]

that looks like a freshly rebuilt engine

[Kingtal0n]

check my build thread for pics of my open sr20det engine with 130,000~ km