[QUOTE=delado;5556475]Front clips also give you a better idea of what you're getting since you have the cluster to display miles and you can also catch a glimpse of the bay.[QUOTE]
This, is, priceless. Back in the day- it wouldn't matter so much because the majority of engines were coming "with actually 44,000-66,000km". But THESE days, god only knows what sort of past those motorsets have had. Sometimes you even get engines that have been installed already into cars here in the USA, run for 30,000 miles, then taken out again and re-sold as "motor swaps". You just can't tell these days.
I like to get a clean front clip, with the original cluster, power that thing on and see that it has 90,000km (thats the average these days). Check for the original side mount and plumbing, original hose clamp deal, original vacuum lines, boost solenoid... good stuff. Make sure there is general dirt and grime under those original couplers, you should be able to see if it was ever removed, because they will always have a worn-in line separating the filthy exposed half from the clean clamped half. If you see two lines where hose clamps have been removed, and re-tightened, on every single clamp- well somebody may have re-installed the entire side mount for "some odd reason" for example. Arouse suspicious
the good ol' days are gone...