Buying a used F4i motor
 

I am looking in to buying a used 2001 motor from someone on craigslist. My current motor had a rod bearing fail on me at 80+ on the freeway, still have no idea why! Guy seems relatively straight and honest, however you never know with craigslist right. What i know so far, engine has just over 12,000 miles and has had 2 owners. The guy obviously stunts, because he has a bunch of 636 and f4i parts for sale and a streetfightered f4 in the background. He claims he never used the engine for stunting. My question is what should I look for when I go to pick this motor up? Can I do a compression check by cranking the engine by hand? Any tips or suggestions would be great. This forum has been rock solid in being able to answer my questions so far, so I have come to you guys first. CHEERS

nobody? No little known tricks to test an out of frame motor? TTT

I'm in the same situation -- I'm buying a used 2001 F4i engine (~20k mi) to replace the blown one on my '01 F4i. As for an inspection, first I'm planning to pop off the head cover and crankshaft cover (on clutch cover), so I can turn the motor over manually with the crankbolt. At the head, 1. the cams/crankshaft timing can be checked, 2. a valve check can be performed (and valve adjustment done before the engine is installed, if necessary), 3. general inspection of the head assembly (clean, spins easily). Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the spark plugs need to be removed before the engine can be manually turned over, because of the compression stroke.

As for a compression test, I've never heard/read of anyone doing it on a removed F4i engine, but I've read that you can operate the starter motor with direct connections to the F4i battery. With a compression test tool and working starter motor, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to test cylinder compression, as long as there's oil in the engine for lubrication (the manual recommends draining the oil for engine removal).

There are two Honda (or homemade) locknut tools required for the frame bolts..see if you can have or borrow them from your seller for your own install.

I'm planning on doing this over the course of the next few weeks, and making a thread on it here..more pictures and how-to's on here never hurt.