engine advice needed
 

hello,

i have a 1987 yota pickup that needs a new engine. a guy offered me an ATK engine for $500 still in the plastic and crate. has anybody had experience with this brand of engines. are they good and reliable, would i be better off getting a used low milege engine from a junk yard? i had a bad experience with the last rebuilt engine i had, it wasn't an ATK. any suggestions. i want to put a good engine in it thats not going to give me problems.

thanks
jdw1

welcome to yotatech when i had my 91 it had a atk engine in it for the short time i had it seem like a good motor

I say ya cant beat 500 bucks just break it in right
Jim

I has an ATK 454 put in my ford worktruck. The first one lasted less than 5,000 miles. It ran good but the oil pan wouldn't seal, come to find out, somebody had ground a weld down too far and then smeared jb weld over it and somehow had gotten it the oil pan to actually seal. It wasn't till the shop had to pull it (after trying a few different brands of gaskets) and cleaned it that they saw what was there. I had the warranty, so I have a new one that seem to be fine so far. The thing I don't like is that the warranty doesn't start over with this new engine. Doesn't seem fair considering the first one shouldn't have been sent out in the first place. This is on my work truck, so was a huge pain in the butt to have it down for another couple weeks. Anyways, that is my rant about ATK. May not help because ford/toyota. I would say go for it if you can get their warranty.

Brand new? Can you get the warranty still?

yeah its brand new and im sure i can get the warranty. i started thinking maybe i should use my same block and head, but buy brand new premium parts for it and take to a machine shop and have them do all the work. i know it will cost more but at least i know what im getting as far as parts.

I would look into it. their warranty is actually pretty good.

Why so cheap?
Why is he selling it?
Is he a dealer for ATK?

As for any warranty: "ATK warrants to the original purchaser that each engine sold by ATK shall be free of defects in material and workmanship ******"
Unless he is a dealer of ATK the engine has no warranty being that you are not the original purchaser.

http://www.atkengines.com/warranty.htm

If the motor is new in the box and is not HOT you would be crazy to not buy it for $500. ATK does not seem to be a half-ass company so if it is a ATK motor and you truct the person selling it you should not pass it up.

If he is not a dealer and can not produce proof that it is his to sell or he can not tell you where or why he has it then it is HOT and you could get burned in the deal.

I'd go for it, had an atk sbc that thing was tough for a stock engine I ran the hell out of it... good times...I think their warranty is better than jasper. Anyway if he has anymore I'm lookin' too, need a new motor 22re for my celica gt-s pro-4 dirt car RWD and IRS RULE!!!