NEW Chinese 2.7 3RZ ?

Has anyone tried the New Harbor Freight motors from China yet ?
evidently you can get an all NEW 2.7 3rzmotor for $2100 FOB

KINDA SCARY

ANYONE ? ........
Bueller ?

I blew a head gasket and it hydrolocked when I pulled over
so I believe its time to spin the wheel of fortune on a strange motor

used, rebuilt or chink-a-dink ?

Hesitant to go rebuilt unless I do the work
too many forgotten wristpin clips or mismatched bearing caps to want to roll the dice again

 

Sounds like you already made your decision.

 

Harbor Fright has motors? what.

 

Not really,
no place to do the work myself so I am at the mercy of the butchers
Its a matter of cost and risk reduction now
all options are a gamble
I am in the Portland OR area now

 

that bit about harbor freight was cynical sarcasm,
there are all new motors out of china, reproductions of the 2RZ and 3RZ they have been around about 2 years but I have not heard about the reliability and not sure I want to be the first to try it

 

Either have the current engine rebuilt by a machine shop you or a trusted friend have personal experience/knowledge of, or roll the dice on a low mileage, original engine out of a wrecked vehicle.

The vehicle must have been running in order to get wrecked. The gamble is on what kind of running condition it was in, and what might have been damaged in the wreck. I am willing to take this gamble over the alternatives you suggested........

Chinese knockoff of an ENGINE? Not a chance for me.

Rebuilt engines from a mass rebuilder or auto parts store? Not for me, I've sold them all, and every single rebuilder embarrassed me at least once. The odds are not good.

I've heard of and seen ridiculous failures that were the result of our local machine shops' (multiple different ones) lack of attention to detail. Nobody wanted to own the problems either.

Best bet is brand new from the dealer ($$$$$$). Probably not an option for most of us, would cost more than the bluebook on the truck probably.

Good used out of a wreck has worked for many people. Try to at least get an inspection and some type of warranty. I'd want to pull a valve cover since we are dealing with an engine that is out of production and probably 10 years old at this point.

Good luck. Crappy place to be in.

 

If you buy Chinese your engine will be doooooomed! Doooooooooooooooomed!

 

I would get a used ebay engine for about half that...

 

Are these the engines you are talking about? I don't know where they come from or anything about this place or its motors but they are in LaCenter WA about 20 mins north of Portland.
http://www.yotashop.com/2rz-3rz/

 

I would say NO. Low quality Chinese shyat is not appealing for me.. The whole point of having a toyota is quality IMO

 

No,
don't think so, those look like rebuilt , small backwoods shop, they might be pretty good

I mean these kind there are a few sellers on the west coast )
http://www.toyotatruckengine.com/1995-2004-2rz-3rz-toyota-brand-new-engine-tacoma-4runner-t100/
or :
http://www.japanengine.com/products/prodDetails.asp?pID=161&category=3&subcategory=24&size=0&search=&page=

never heard from anyone who tried them

 

I would avoid these like the plague. Chinese clones are not good quality. You own a Toyota because of the quality.

 

You get what you pay for

 

I'd go for a wrecked vehicle's engine over anything Chinese. Honestly, you'd have to do some very serious damage to harm a block and head in a crash so if that's all you're changing I think you'd be pretty safe with one out of a wrecker. Harbor Freight is great for cheap crap that you're going to use a couple times (there are a few gems...like their milling presses...but these are few and far between). For an engine that I'd use everyday, I'd avoid it personally. Chinese manufacturers are renown for copying great designs with crappy materials and workmanship to create an inferior product people buy then regret buying.

 

Yet you would be willing to consider a 100% completely unknown product from China?

Used engines from Japan aren't much more than the Chinese engine.
They're typically low miles... engines changed out because of Japanese emissions laws. Not sure how common a used Japanese 3RZ is though, but I would trust a rebuild from East LA before I'd trust a Chinese "new" engine.

I only buy from Harbor Freight if I don't expect to use something more than once.

 

The lamp in my house the cat broke was made in china..the chair I broke at our bar was made in china...the toy my little girl almost choked on...made in china. I am all about being thrifty but china can keep the the knockoff crap they send us and take wall-mart with it! Buy second hand Japanese!

 

I scored a 100% complete take out 3RZ from a crashed 2004 with 100,500 miles has everything including the engine wire harness, computer and catalytic converter

 

why would you pay moneys for a 3rz?

 

Good to hear. Hope you got a good price on it.


I think you make some decent, albeit arguable points, but there is way too much generalization going on here. You do understand that China has ~1.3 billion citizens, right? These phrases, "china makes junk", strongly imply that 'China' is like a single guy. That one product from china is the EXACT same quality as another Chinese product because, obviously, it was the EXACT same person making both of these products. A blender AND a Toyota replica motor.

I've become very impressed with some products made by this guy named China. I picked up a 150cc Chinese scooter for free off craigslist. It was a 2008 model that had been abandoned under a tree for 3 years. Full of bird poo and acorns. It had 4k miles (which is a LOT for a scooter, especially chinese). Damn if that sucker didn't start up on the first crank and ride flawlessly at 70mph. Sold it for $500 to someone who didn't want to pay $1500 for a Jap scooter.

Back to the original point, I would not buy this replica motor for $2100. As said above, there are cheaper, less complex solutions that ensure quality, as opposed to hoping for quality. Just wait though, they will become widespread.

 

This guy named China is capable of making some very high quality items, if he is given the time, material, and tools to do so.

But in general, price and volume demands of US companies do not allow for it.

In the case of engines, many Chinese motorcycles and scooters are clones of the Honda XR engines. Hobby People/Global's "Magnum" RC airplane engines are clones of OS engines.
These engines are made from old tooling sold to this guy named China by Honda and OS.
So in some cases, the products may be nearly identical, in other cases, the parts are out of tolerance.

A company I worked for 20 years ago bought a compressor from Harbor Freight.
The piston seized within a week.
We tore it down, the piston was simply cast, not forged aluminum, and the cylinder was not sleeved.