Half Cuts

[xmoht]

Hi all,

 

I was thinking about buying a half cut to do my engine conversion. But in talking to a mate he thinks that buying half cuts is the worst thing you can do. He said that most half cuts you buy, you can't tell what damage has been done to them as most of the car isn't there.

 

Based on what I've read in the forums buying a half cut is the way to go. Apart from buying a wrecked car myself at auction that is.

 

Can someone give advice on dangers of buying half cuts, if anyone has had any problems in doing so?

 

Cheers

[Sam_Q]

well there are definate merits to it but for some conversions it's very much not worth it. A 20v front cut into RWD is a great example, when converting you can't normally use the ECU, loom, exhaust manifold, exhaust, gearbox, etc..

 

what do you have in mind?

[xmoht]

well there are definate merits to it but for some conversions it's very much not worth it. A 20v front cut into RWD is a great example, when converting you can't normally use the ECU, loom, exhaust manifold, exhaust, gearbox, etc..

 

what do you have in mind?

 

Well I have been particularly keen on a Beams 3S-GE. Legality wise the same mate says forget it due to the problems needing to have the same catalytic converter setup, noise reduction as the Altezza would have had to begin with.

 

Aside from a Beams 3S-GE I had just planned on the 20v for obvious reasons, particularly as I'm an N/A fan. 20v conversion is costly in itself though, as you would be well aware.

[ke70dave]

half cuts are a good idea if its a simple engine transplant (ie FWD engine into a FWD car) or RWD engine into RWD car. since you will most likely be able to use most of it.

 

with something like a 20V half cut for RWD, as sam said you woulndt use half the stuff in it (ecu/loom/some of ignition system/some of water system) so depending on the price you may be better off just buying an engine + accessories and then buying the rest seperately (ecu/water system/ignition system etc)

 

I'm not sure on the 3sge how much of the original setup you will be able to use, since its a RWD engine already you may find that you can use almost all of it (loom/ecu/water/ignition/etc) which would make buying a halfcut a good idea since you can use almost all of it in the conversion.

 

having said that, you can just buy a half cut and then sell off the stuff you don't need, you may come off quite good.

 

for example if you bought a japnaese ae86 halfcut, alot of the the extra stuff (interior/overflow bottle/extra bits and peices) are quite sought after so you can sell quite a bit of it.

 

same goes for the 20V halfcut, you might be able to sell alot of the non needed stuff to FWD enthusiasts.

 

for me personally i wish i just bought an ae86 halfcut for my 16V conversion, would have been much cheaper and easier. but on the other hand i don't have any room to put a halfcut at my house so at the time it wasnt an option.

Edited June 2, 2010 by ke70dave

[xmoht]

Thanks for the reply Dave. I think you both may have misunderstood my question.

 

The problem with half cuts isn't that they don't have lots of great things in them for the transfer. The problem is that because only half the car is there, the car could have rolled, flipped, done anything that caused serious damage to the engine which you can't tell until it's been driving a while.

 

The question is, taking that into account, do the reputable ones have safety nets in place in case of the engine going awol? Warranties, letting you run it through the gears and so on?

 

EDIT: Considering Dave, that you have used a half cut before without problem, you recommend going the half cut route?

Edited June 3, 2010 by xmoht

[altezzaclub]

With your comments in mind it would certainly have be cheaper to buy one sight-unseen than one you can take a look at.

 

There is a big risk factor in buying a pig in a poke, like Ebay products, so you'd want a local source of the halfcut or you'd have to proceed on the assumption something could be seriously wrong with it.

 

Thinking of that, you could probably organise to get someone in altezzaclub to buy you one in NZ then ship it over if you wanted to. Altezzas over there are common as chips.

Edited June 3, 2010 by altezzaclub

[xmoht]

With your comments in mind it would certainly have be cheaper to buy one sight-unseen than one you can take a look at.

 

There is a big risk factor in buying a pig in a poke, like Ebay products, so you'd want a local source of the halfcut or you'd have to proceed on the assumption something could be seriously wrong with it.

 

Thinking of that, you could probably organise to get someone in altezzaclub to buy you one in NZ then ship it over if you wanted to. Altezzas over there are common as chips.

 

Was hoping you might reply Altezzaclub! I recall you saying once about the dimensions of the engine bay in the KE70 and the comparative size in the Altezza. Do you know if there are other similarities i.e. fitting brake/suspension components?

 

I was checking out your forum and noticed that a lot of Altezza owners are upgrading their own suspension and so on, TRD Sportivo etc. So would it even be worth considering sourcing those components from an Altezza if they were able to be readily fit in a KE70?

[ke70dave]

Thanks for the reply Dave. I think you both may have misunderstood my question.

 

The problem with half cuts isn't that they don't have lots of great things in them for the transfer. The problem is that because only half the car is there, the car could have rolled, flipped, done anything that caused serious damage to the engine which you can't tell until it's been driving a while.

 

The question is, taking that into account, do the reputable ones have safety nets in place in case of the engine going awol? Warranties, letting you run it through the gears and so on?

 

EDIT: Considering Dave, that you have used a half cut before without problem, you recommend going the half cut route?

 

ah sorry yeah i did misunderstand.

 

yeah i guess there is a bit of risk in halfcuts in terms of the damage that may have been done to the engine.

 

but i guess a visual inspection and a compression test should sort out if it is ok etc. and if you buy the halfcut from an import company there is a warranty that comes with it. so they would hopefully not sell you a dud.

 

i don't know to much about this, but my understanding is that alot of half cuts are "made" from cars that arent worth selling as full cars. especailly in japan where older cars are very expensive to keep, if they can make a bit of cash by cutting the front off and sending it to australia then they will do that. so it may have been a perfectly good condition car, but isnt worth anything to them.

 

i think the worst case scenario would be the car has flipped over and the engine would have been run upside down, and got serious oil starvation or something. I'm not sure how you would check for such a thing unless you inpspected the bearings or something...

 

and you may have misunderstood me, ive never had a halfcut, i was just saying that after doing an engine conversion by peiceing together the parts, i should have just bought a halfcut and got all the parts in one go.

[xmoht]

and you may have misunderstood me, ive never had a halfcut, i was just saying that after doing an engine conversion by peiceing together the parts, i should have just bought a halfcut and got all the parts in one go.

 

Oh I see thanks for the info! Yeah I must have misunderstood. A lot of people say about purchasing half cuts as the easier option because of the loom and essentially everything you need being there.

 

It was just a bit disconcerting as this mate can be pretty convincing at times. Trying to convince me to go SR20DET swap, but I suppose that's a whole other kettle of fish. Thanks for the help Dave!

[RedKE30]

I would say that any reputable business that sells half cuts would have some kind of warranty and measures for weeding out duds. I think most do at least a compression test before sale.

 

I bought an AE101 levin (20v silvertop) halfcut a while back. Motor in it was dead according to the compression test, but they threw in another motor for the same price.

 

Best thing to do would be to ring up a place that sells half cuts and ask them yourself, that way you're fully informed. I used a place that I think was called Ichibahn (spelling)? auto imports in NSW.

[xmoht]

I would say that any reputable business that sells half cuts would have some kind of warranty and measures for weeding out duds. I think most do at least a compression test before sale.

 

I bought an AE101 levin (20v silvertop) halfcut a while back. Motor in it was dead according to the compression test, but they threw in another motor for the same price.

 

Best thing to do would be to ring up a place that sells half cuts and ask them yourself, that way you're fully informed. I used a place that I think was called Ichibahn (spelling)? auto imports in NSW.

 

Yeah good advice, thanks for the tip! Ichiban?

Edited June 3, 2010 by xmoht

[altezzaclub]

I was checking out your forum and noticed that a lot of Altezza owners are upgrading their own suspension and so on, TRD Sportivo etc. So would it even be worth considering sourcing those components from an Altezza if they were able to be readily fit in a KE70?

 

No, I'm afraid the twenty years of vehicle development means nothing fits between them. The engine/g'box makes a nice KE70 conversion and a half-cut means you have all the bits you need, but I can't think of anything else that would fit.

 

I sometimes drive both in a day and the difference is chalk and cheese! The rolla is a nice lightweight fun toy, but for serious motoring the Altezza leaves it for dead in all areas.

[LittleRedSpirit]

Thanks for the reply Dave. I think you both may have misunderstood my question.

 

The problem with half cuts isn't that they don't have lots of great things in them for the transfer. The problem is that because only half the car is there, the car could have rolled, flipped, done anything that caused serious damage to the engine which you can't tell until it's been driving a while.

 

The question is, taking that into account, do the reputable ones have safety nets in place in case of the engine going awol? Warranties, letting you run it through the gears and so on?

 

EDIT: Considering Dave, that you have used a half cut before without problem, you recommend going the half cut route?

 

 

I think your mate has you a bit hysterical.

 

Who cares if the car was rolled, the motor will be fine, its not like a big bump will ruin it, I mean the thing can contain up to 8000 powerful explosions a minute.

 

If the car was rolled then yay for the halfcut, less klms on it that one that was taken off the road due to being driven long in the tooth.

 

Ive heard of people welding up the water jacket on a block that had a chunk knocked out and using the motor, went fine.

 

don't stress, who cares what happened to the body of the car that the halfcut came from. if it was cut in half 9/10 times it was pranged or at least shit enough that someone wanted a new car.

 

Also you can usually hear a halfcut run, not able to do that with just a loose motor as easy.

 

Bear in mind once the car is gas axed in half it surely is ruined, I don't think it matters whether the bits of the car you arent getting or ever going to see were dinged.

 

Uncle chop chop says...

[Pieman]

Most halfcut dealers start the engine inside the halfcut. At least that way you can start the motor cold, check for smoke, or any nasty noises.