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Tracker Engines from Japan on Ebay (low miles)

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Offline dingus

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Tracker Engines from Japan on Ebay (low miles)
« on: June 20, 2009, 04:09:55 PM »
Im looking for a spare Engine for my Tracker just in case my Engine blows to bits all over the road  :laugh:
 and noticed on Ebay theres theses Engines compleat for like $900 US even with $300 shipping that seems like a deal.
They claim there only like 50000 Miles on em. but cant say for certin.
Anyone ever bought one?
All the used trackers around here im looking at have well over 200,000 KMs God knows what they have done to em the shops around here are Clueless about tracker... Read my post about (Crank failure power loss)

I can buy a Whole used tracker for about $3000 but i need a 1996 to 1998.
Kinda a toss up but id sure like a spare engine.
My 1997 looks like new 0 rust great 4x4 parts ect.

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Offline Drone637

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Re: Tracker Engines from Japan on Ebay (low miles)
« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2009, 04:49:49 PM »
You can get remanufactured engines for around 2-2500 hundred that come with full 3 year warranties.  So it's kind of a toss up, if your already spending that much you might as well go for a bit more and buy new.  Or just rebuild your existing one for that price.
96 Geo Tracker, x-SJ-410,  x-White Rabbit, x-Project Trouble
Crawlers NorthWest
x-Trouble Racing

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Offline cmays03

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Re: Tracker Engines from Japan on Ebay (low miles)
« Reply #2 on: June 20, 2009, 05:13:43 PM »
I would never buy a jdm motor you really dont know what your getting and I just rebuilt my motor just did what needed to be done and i dont have $600 into it for all the machine work and new parts. I think I could do a complete rebuild with all new parts and machine work and have around $1000 into it.That gives me a zero mile motor and I know its going to last. but thats my opinion. good luck with what ever you decide to do.
95 geo tracker sas with dana 30,35 axles 3.55 gears, 33 tsl's, 3 and 4 link suspension. stock motor trans, tcase has 4.24:1 reduction kit.

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Offline dingus

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Re: Tracker Engines from Japan on Ebay (low miles)
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2009, 05:29:07 PM »
I would never buy a jdm motor you really dont know what your getting and I just rebuilt my motor just did what needed to be done and i dont have $600 into it for all the machine work and new parts. I think I could do a complete rebuild with all new parts and machine work and have around $1000 into it.That gives me a zero mile motor and I know its going to last. but thats my opinion. good luck with what ever you decide to do.


Good advise. Your 100% right i could get something driven by some Lazy Japaneses woman who revved the crap outa it ect.

I need to get a good  1997 Engine cheep then rebuild it.
The one in my tracker purrs and burns 0 oil so should last me awhile im just worried about a crank In and out job that was done.
So far 5000 KMs and no noticeable engine noise so i hope the bolts were all torqued.


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Offline cmays03

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Re: Tracker Engines from Japan on Ebay (low miles)
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2009, 05:59:14 PM »
yeah should be fine. I had a spare at one time too just had to rebuild it but when i tore it down the block was cracked in the main journal into the cyl wall. so had to get another block. i put 2 junk yard motors in it last summer and neither one lasted a day. so I just rebuilt one. I ran almost 3 yrs on a rebuild i did and i was running up to 7000 rpm's at times. so I think it did good.I would have replaced everything in this motor but cash flow was low. so I reused as much as i could.
95 geo tracker sas with dana 30,35 axles 3.55 gears, 33 tsl's, 3 and 4 link suspension. stock motor trans, tcase has 4.24:1 reduction kit.

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Offline sammypro.com

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Re: Tracker Engines from Japan on Ebay (low miles)
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2009, 08:49:57 AM »
I would never buy a jdm motor you really dont know what your getting and I just rebuilt my motor just did what needed to be done and i dont have $600 into it for all the machine work and new parts. I think I could do a complete rebuild with all new parts and machine work and have around $1000 into it.That gives me a zero mile motor and I know its going to last. but thats my opinion. good luck with what ever you decide to do.


Good advise. Your 100% right i could get something driven by some Lazy Japaneses woman who revved the crap outa it ect.

I need to get a good  1997 Engine cheep then rebuild it.
The one in my tracker purrs and burns 0 oil so should last me awhile im just worried about a crank In and out job that was done.
So far 5000 KMs and no noticeable engine noise so i hope the bolts were all torqued.


ITS ALSO A NOT SO KNOWN FACT, JAPANESE NEVER CHANGE OIL. 30-50K MOTORS W/ NO OIL CHANGE IS BADDDDDDDDDDDD 8)
Let me tell you what Melba Toast is packin' right here, all right. We got 4:11 Positrac outback, 750 double pumper, Edelbrock intake, bored over 30, 11 to 1 pop-up pistons, turbo-jet 390 horsepower. We're talkin' some freakin' muscle.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/sammypro

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Offline Jeremiah

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Re: Tracker Engines from Japan on Ebay (low miles)
« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2009, 01:49:09 PM »
FWIW, I've been loyal to the import market for a long time now. I've personally known people running JDM, and read about a lot of people running JDM. I've not ran into anyone who's ever had a problem with one. They seem to work very well, and are a quick / cheap drop in replacement. I'd still buy from someone that does a compression check, and has a replacement warranty.

Rebuild = time & opportunity to do something wrong. I've heard of more engines going south because something wasn't torqued / assembled correctly than I have about someone getting a lemon JDM. But then again - if you're rebuilding your own motor, you have upgrade opportunities (cam, high compression pistons etc). If I were just doing a replacement, I'd JDM it. If I wanted more performance, I'd rebuild myself. That's my 2c.

ITS ALSO A NOT SO KNOWN FACT, JAPANESE NEVER CHANGE OIL. 30-50K MOTORS W/ NO OIL CHANGE IS BADDDDDDDDDDDD 8)

Never heard of this, do you have evidence to support it?
'96 4 door kick: 29" Pep-Boys M/T, 1.5" OME
'83 SJ410: 31" Toyo M/T, SPOA, 1.3L
'08 Yamaha FZ6

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Offline dingus

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Re: Tracker Engines from Japan on Ebay (low miles)
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2009, 03:00:54 PM »
FWIW, I've been loyal to the import market for a long time now. I've personally known people running JDM, and read about a lot of people running JDM. I've not ran into anyone who's ever had a problem with one. They seem to work very well, and are a quick / cheap drop in replacement. I'd still buy from someone that does a compression check, and has a replacement warranty.

Rebuild = time & opportunity to do something wrong. I've heard of more engines going south because something wasn't torqued / assembled correctly than I have about someone getting a lemon JDM. But then again - if you're rebuilding your own motor, you have upgrade opportunities (cam, high compression pistons etc). If I were just doing a replacement, I'd JDM it. If I wanted more performance, I'd rebuild myself. That's my 2c.

ITS ALSO A NOT SO KNOWN FACT, JAPANESE NEVER CHANGE OIL. 30-50K MOTORS W/ NO OIL CHANGE IS BADDDDDDDDDDDD 8)

Never heard of this, do you have evidence to support it?

Really eh?
Im am Lazy and tho Rebuilding and entire engine sounds like fun haveing one with 50,000 Miles only sitting ready to drop in sounds good to me.
what does JDM Stand for  ???

And will they work with all my plugs ect in my 1997 LSI model?

Like is it Unplug pull out plug everything back in type change or is there millions of wiiers to soder and try and colour code up.
If its not Simple id like to know is all.
I will never find a 97 16 V tracker engine with low miles for that price or even close.

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Offline zukimoo

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Re: Tracker Engines from Japan on Ebay (low miles)
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2009, 03:28:49 PM »
I bought a motor from Japan Auto in Ontario I think. Bought the motor about 8 years ago and it ran great. At the time we bough 6 different motor and they all worked like a charm.

When I was getting my motor ready I changed the timing belt and it all looked brand new, we looked down the cylinders to see the walls and they looked great. my Motor was the first to come and then the other 5 were ordered.

If I recall right it was $1200 delivered at my door and well worth the money. We've rebuilt motors before and it's never like the original motor.

At the track I used to get the motors rebuilt and they never worked as good. When I got a source of cheap motors it made rebuilding not worth the effort.

I know there are people out there that can rebuild and if you know the shop or person rebuilding then you can get a good motor that will run hard but I think most places where you can buy "refurbished" motors around here try to cut corners and will only replace the parts that are worn out and not the parts that are close to worn out.
The motor I got came with a 6 month warranty and none of us had to even call for anything.
85 SJ413K SUA, 30" BFG muds, 512's, lockers and DOHC soon...
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Offline Rhinoman

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Re: Tracker Engines from Japan on Ebay (low miles)
« Reply #9 on: June 22, 2009, 03:58:50 PM »
We get a lot of JDM engines and also vehicles (RHD), they have a pretty good reputation. I don't know anyone who has ever had a problem.
2000 Vitara 1.6, 3+3 Lift, 33"MTs, 5:83s, LWB brakes, Winch, Snorkel, Safari Rack
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Offline Uncivilized

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Re: Tracker Engines from Japan on Ebay (low miles)
« Reply #10 on: June 22, 2009, 05:47:28 PM »
I bought a motor from Japan Auto in Ontario I think. Bought the motor about 8 years ago and it ran great. At the time we bough 6 different motor and they all worked like a charm.
Same here. 10 years ago when I was all about going fast I spend $1300 on a JDM(Japanese Domestic Market) Honda Civic engine from Japan Auto. A few friends did the same over the years. It was good strong engine in fantastic shape. I'd absolutely buy another despite the rumors. Not sure on the eBay ones, I'd go with a place that's known other than the internet,.. with a phone number and shop/warehouse address.
« Last Edit: June 22, 2009, 05:52:12 PM by Uncivilized »

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Offline derekj

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Re: Tracker Engines from Japan on Ebay (low miles)
« Reply #11 on: June 22, 2009, 07:48:22 PM »
We have bought a few JDM engines and trannies over the years. It is hit and miss. The Honda engines always seem to be ok. Mazda and Subaru not so good. Usually we end up swapping intakes and manifolds because lots of stuff is not the same as far as the emissions equipment is concerned. We have sent back a lot of Subaru transmissions as the gear ratios are not the same in the diffs. Have not bought any used Zuki stuff yet.

Derek
91 Sidekick jx
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2" BDS body lift
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32" TSL's and some other stuff I did And now with a Lockrite!  www.cardomain.com/memberpage/783382

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Offline sammypro.com

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Re: Tracker Engines from Japan on Ebay (low miles)
« Reply #12 on: June 23, 2009, 08:21:25 AM »
FWIW, I've been loyal to the import market for a long time now. I've personally known people running JDM, and read about a lot of people running JDM. I've not ran into anyone who's ever had a problem with one. They seem to work very well, and are a quick / cheap drop in replacement. I'd still buy from someone that does a compression check, and has a replacement warranty.

Rebuild = time & opportunity to do something wrong. I've heard of more engines going south because something wasn't torqued / assembled correctly than I have about someone getting a lemon JDM. But then again - if you're rebuilding your own motor, you have upgrade opportunities (cam, high compression pistons etc). If I were just doing a replacement, I'd JDM it. If I wanted more performance, I'd rebuild myself. That's my 2c.

ITS ALSO A NOT SO KNOWN FACT, JAPANESE NEVER CHANGE OIL. 30-50K MOTORS W/ NO OIL CHANGE IS BADDDDDDDDDDDD 8)

Never heard of this, do you have evidence to support it?

SURE DO! my best friends brother had a buddy that had a cousin that knew a guy that had a picture one time.
Let me tell you what Melba Toast is packin' right here, all right. We got 4:11 Positrac outback, 750 double pumper, Edelbrock intake, bored over 30, 11 to 1 pop-up pistons, turbo-jet 390 horsepower. We're talkin' some freakin' muscle.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/sammypro

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Offline Drone637

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Re: Tracker Engines from Japan on Ebay (low miles)
« Reply #13 on: June 23, 2009, 10:22:44 AM »
what does JDM Stand for  ???

Japanese Domestic Market.  They have a lot more limitations for how long you can own a vehicle over there so they cut them up and ship the parts over here.
96 Geo Tracker, x-SJ-410,  x-White Rabbit, x-Project Trouble
Crawlers NorthWest
x-Trouble Racing

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Online fordem

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Re: Tracker Engines from Japan on Ebay (low miles)
« Reply #14 on: June 23, 2009, 12:41:28 PM »
Japanese Domestic Market.  They have a lot more limitations for how long you can own a vehicle over there so they cut them up and ship the parts over here.

Slightly incorrect - you can keep the vehicle but it would have to go through a "recertification" process the cost of which makes it so uneconomical that most people don't - they just trade in and get a new car.

I think the ones that get cut are the ones they cannot sell as complete vehicles - a lot of used JDM vehciles get resold in the RHD markets of the UK and the Caribbean - I'd estimate that over 80% of the vehicles imported into Guyana (which is where I live) are used JDM, as the import taxes on a new vehicle are absolutely ridiculous - imagine paying USD$20~22K for a 09' Suzuki GrandVitara and then having to pay an additional USD$45K to the government.

FWIW - I have had at least one bad experience with used JDM and I know of several other folks who have also had problems, flip side is that was one vehicle out of three (so far) and I also know several other folks who have no problems.

It's like buying anything used, you'll get some good & some bad, so if you can, buy from someone with a good reputation and a warranty.
'98 SQ420 Grand Vitara
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