Rabid Chimp 7M-GTE? Reviews Please!

[ChadMKIII]

Hey, so now that the engine I just paid 2500 to have the HG replaced LESS THAN 2000 miles ago has JUST DEVELOPED ROD KNOCK (yes I'm a bit pissed...) I'm considering buying a new LB and just giving up on this motor.

I found 7M-GTE's from Rabid Chimp for 2 grand, with a great list of stuff done to it, but I don't know if I should risk it or not:
I read xware...whatever your name is and rot 90's threads about the terrible engines they got from them, and want to know if anyone has any GOOD experience with them. Anyone? Also, are there any other people that have done the same and gotten screwed over by RC?

For 2 grand with a MHG, ARP Studs, and the other advertised stuff the price is right, but not if it comes like theirs. So, people, let me know if you have ANY experience with Rabid Chimp. Thanks!

 

[s383mmber1]

I just paid 2500 to have the HG replaced

Why so much?

Why not do it yourself?

 

[hottscennessey]

I've heard really bad things about the RC 7MGTE's

 

[Tanya]

I've gotten parts from Aaron (RC) before, great guy. Shipped very fast as the part was in stock when I ordered. You'd probably get more reviews from searching celicasupra.com, where I think that's where a majority of his business takes place

 

[fiyota]

that's news to me... I've always thought rabid chimp put out good motors (from people who bought other motors than the 7m)... i was thinking about getting one from them aswell.

 

[Tanya]

I've never heard/read anything about anyone getting a bad engine from him, I was going to get one myself (6M) but ran out of money too quick.

 

[Nick M]

Why so much?

Why not do it yourself?

Perhaps he wanted it done right.

The cylinder head gasket kit retails for about $400, labor to have the head and block decked, labor to reasemble, could easily reach $2500. I sure hope he had all that done for the money he spent though.

 

[ma71supraturbo]

The previous owner of my '85 Supra bought a rabid chimp 6m engine. It came with new gaskets and was all cleaned up and painted. I've had it for over a year and the previous owner had it for at least that long -- no burning oil and no leaks.

As far as personal purchasing experiences: I've bought maybe $750 worth of misc mk2 supra parts from him and always had good service


But if I were in your shoes, I'd rebuild the engine myself (just take in the block & head for machining -- do all of the labor myself). You're probably looking at $700-$1000 in parts and machining for a rebuilt engine that you know was done right... But if you don't have tools, space, and know-how this isn't really an option.

 

[Big Wang Bandit]

Usually the good outnumbers the bad...

And when you run into a bad, it sounds REALLY Bad.

 

[jtamulis]

I've had to fix two RC motors. one 6M, one 7M-GTE. Not my personal cars
but "new" motors. I always thought aaron was a cool guy, but Maybe he had
a bad batch?

Jeff

 

[ChadMKIII]

I've had to fix two RC motors. one 6M, one 7M-GTE. Not my personal cars
but "new" motors. I always thought aaron was a cool guy, but Maybe he had
a bad batch?

Jeff

So if you had to fix them, what was your opinion?

-Like, they came with problems you had to fix?
or
-You had to fix something small later on down the road and were impressed by the rest of the motor?

 

[jtamulis]

I had to completely replace two of his motors that were pretty much bad motors
to begin with.

Jeff

 

[bigaaron]

People should know the 7m-gte engines from Japan are just as old and have just as many problems as engines from the US. We stopped selling JDM 7m-gte JDM engines over a year ago for this reason. The only reason anyone should buy a JDM 7m-gte engine is for a CORE for rebuild. I don't think RC meant to sell any bad engines to anyone, that is just what is shipping from Japan, and the engines are going on 20 years old.

 

[iwannadie]

Im interested in hearing good/bad things about them as well.

Isnt it really a gamble with any used/rebuilt motor that something can/will go bad? I want to get a 'new' GTE motor soon. however, i havent decided if i want to buy an already rebuilt motor such as the RC one. Or go with just a used motor and do all the rebuilding myself.

Hearing bad stuff about paying alot for a rebuilt motor then having it die makes me lean towards rebuilding myself.

 

[kylefoto]

Never bought a motor from Aaron, but he got me parts two times in close situations and he's a really nice guy.

 

[QWIKSTRIKE]

Perhaps he wanted it done right.

The cylinder head gasket kit retails for about $400, labor to have the head and block decked, labor to reasemble, could easily reach $2500. I sure hope he had all that done for the money he spent though.

Tooooo much Motor in and out isn.t ever more than 1000.00 period. for 2500.00 I could have had a rebuilt long block. Take that 2,000.00 buy pistons and rods and rings for100.00 or a little less, buy mains and rod berings for 150.00 hone da block and tank it for 200.00 cut the crank for 150 and get a new pump for 140.00. tou are way better off.

 

[ChadMKIII]

Tooooo much Motor in and out isn.t ever more than 1000.00 period. for 2500.00 I could have had a rebuilt long block. Take that 2,000.00 buy pistons and rods and rings for100.00 or a little less, buy mains and rod berings for 150.00 hone da block and tank it for 200.00 cut the crank for 150 and get a new pump for 140.00. tou are way better off.

Dude I don't know where you live but the guy I went with was BY FAR the cheapest around. And I did my research. At the time I didn't feel comfortable doing any work on it, and I assumed I could just have the job done and the car would run fine for a long time, so 2 grand in the scheme of things wasn't too bad (he quoted 1200 labor + parts). My price of 2500 was including new radiator and ARP's.

But yeah what you said is what I'm leaning towards. Just redoing a bunch of stuff on this block.

Any more opinions???

 

[ma71supraturbo]

Isnt it really a gamble with any used/rebuilt motor that something can/will go bad?

With a JDM or junkyard engine, you probably have a 40% chance of getting an engine that needs no work. If you replace all of the gaskets (including a proper headgasket job), your odds probably jump to ~75%. The remaining 25% chance can be mostly attributed to rod-knock. If the previous owner drove the car relatively hard and consumed "normal" oil for a turbo car, did he check the oil level religiously? Did he blow the headgasket, but keep on driving short-distances for months getting coolant in his oil?


As far as rebuilt engines -- if you use a good machine shop that closely checks all of the tolerances, you will almost certainly end up with a good, strong engine. However, if you use some drive-through type joint that tries to crank out as many rebuilt engines as possible -- you are more likely to have problems.


I'll assert that at least half of the problems with 7m's are caused by owners not paying as close attention to their engine as they should -- especially if their owners drive it like a sports car...

 

[CPT Furious]

I have a JDM engine in mine right now and we pulled it apart to check it out and I think I'm one of those lucky people! I originally meant for it to just get me by until I rebuilt my old one, but that has taken longer than I wanted....

12,000 miles on it so far...