AndyW
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| posted on 2/5/10 at 12:37 PM |
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engine source
Starting to look for an engine for my build and e-bay seems too much like a gamble, same old stuff i.e good runner, low miles and the picture shows a
pile of sh!te. Does any one know of a good place to look at reasonable prices. I have not decided what engine but either vauxhall redtop or zetec or
similar thats locost!
any help appreciated.
thanks
Andy
[Edited on 2/5/10 by AndyW]
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tomprescott
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| posted on 2/5/10 at 12:45 PM |
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Things that don't look good can still be mechanically perfect, best bet would be to try and get a cheap running donor and take the whole lot -
that way you know it runs (and how well) before you buy. Its easy for unscrupulous sellers to clean and paint an engine that's knackered and say
it runs fine when there's no way for buyers to test!
A bird in the hand....
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UncleFista
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| posted on 2/5/10 at 12:46 PM |
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TBH I wouldn't worry about the state of a Zetec, unless it's seized I reckon it'll be OK.
Very little goes wrong with them, the few I've had have all been like new inside.
They're also cheap, I've had an XR3i version for £50 minus £70 for bits I took off and sold on eBay 
The last one I bought was from someone on the PPC forum who'd had a change of plans. It's a 2 litre silvertop, for £50
Good luck..
Tony Bond / UncleFista
Love is like a snowmobile, speeding across the frozen tundra.
Which suddenly flips, pinning you underneath.
At night the ice-weasels come...
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AndyW
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| posted on 2/5/10 at 01:01 PM |
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ref zetec, whats better silver top or black top and whats the difference any one know. Sorry for ignorance but Im more of a vauxhall man....
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turbodisplay
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| posted on 2/5/10 at 01:09 PM |
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Blacktops have shims and buckets - better suited to revs. probally more differences.
Darren
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NOTE:This user is registered as a LocostBuilders trader and may offer commercial services to other users
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tomprescott
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| posted on 2/5/10 at 01:14 PM |
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For a start age, silvertop are earlier and black tops are more recent, I would have thought that most blacktops will need a cat and will have harder
emissions tests while most silvertops won't.
A bird in the hand....
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dhutch
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| posted on 2/5/10 at 02:27 PM |
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Silver tops are also, due to the age, typically cheaper and higher millage.
If the car is an existing car i dont think i makes any diffrence to mot/cat requiments. Ie, i could as well put a blacktop in my q-plated 1991 car
over a silvertop.
Some tuning companies i have spoken to also say they prefer the silvertop as there is more support/knowlage for it. But i dont know how relivent that
is.
Identification wise, silver tops have aluminum rockercovers which are typically unpainted and hence silver. Where blacktops have plastic rocker covers
which are unless painted, black in colour.
Daniel
[Edited on 2/5/2010 by dhutch]
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AndyW
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| posted on 2/5/10 at 03:01 PM |
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thanks for reply's so where would you recommend looking for an engine?
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AndyW
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| posted on 2/5/10 at 03:01 PM |
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thanks for reply's so where would you recommend looking for an engine?
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UncleFista
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| posted on 2/5/10 at 03:10 PM |
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eBay is where I usually buy stuff like that, although it's getting more and more difficult to get a bargain on there.
You might have work at it a bit, search for "mondeo breaking" or "ford engine" rather than "zetec", you'd
only know it was a Zetec if you know what you're talking about, and most on eBay don't 
Have a look at some forums' "for sale" sections, PPC mag, Mondeo owners club (if it exists) etc.
I've had 2x1.8 in my car and have a 2.0 spare sat waiting to be fitted, none have cost more than £50.
Tony Bond / UncleFista
Love is like a snowmobile, speeding across the frozen tundra.
Which suddenly flips, pinning you underneath.
At night the ice-weasels come...
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paulf
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| posted on 2/5/10 at 05:45 PM |
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I must have been unlucky then, the first silver top i had was full of sludge in the sump and cam cover and burned oil.I then bought another that was
supposedly low mileage and looked perfect inside but that also used lots of oil.Eventually i changed to a blacktop and that has been perfect with no
oil use at all.The silver tops also seem to have a tendency to pump up the cam followers with sustained high revs but that may be due to sludge build
up in them.
Paul
quote:
Originally posted by UncleFista
TBH I wouldn't worry about the state of a Zetec, unless it's seized I reckon it'll be OK.
Very little goes wrong with them, the few I've had have all been like new inside.
They're also cheap, I've had an XR3i version for £50 minus £70 for bits I took off and sold on eBay
The last one I bought was from someone on the PPC forum who'd had a change of plans. It's a 2 litre silvertop, for £50
Good luck..
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NS Dev
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| posted on 2/5/10 at 07:07 PM |
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Buy a complete, running car off ebay.
I would never buy an engine on its own from anywhere unless it had a good warranty.
All the vauxhall engines I have bought (and its a lot now! ) have been in a car and test driven first.
Yes it costs a bit more at the start, but firstly you can break it to get most of the dosh back, and remember you'll get £150 a tonne when
weighing it in.
Secondly, what cost do you put on the faff of buying an unknown engine, then installing it, then finding its a nail.............
As an example:
On Friday we picked up a jaguar XJR6 that we got on ebay for £771
By end of saturday it was broken up, the (lsd) diff was sold for £200, the wheels are on ebay and should make £300, the gearbox is worth at least
£150, and the leather interior should make £200 ish as its pretty much mint. With a load of other bits on ebay, we should with luck see £1000 back,
then weigh the rest in for £200 ish................a fairly cheap engine!
Retro RWD is the way forward...........automotive fabrication, car restoration, sheetmetal work, engine conversion
retro car restoration and tuning
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