Recently I had to change my engine and transmission on my rare 1996 Nissan 300zx Convertible. I live in the san francisco bay area and there are a couple of places that sell JDM (Japanese Domestic Markets)engines. Two years ago I did an engine swap on my mother's 1991 Honda Civic. I got the engine for $300 bucks at JapanEngine in San Leandro. It was a nice cnad clean engine. Since then, it has been running well without any problems.

Now that I needed an engine for my Z, I searched and called all around my area trying to find the right engine. My thought at first was to but if from JpapanEngine since i've had a good expirience with them in the past. I went to their warehouse and they showed me 4 engines they had - each was quoted as $1250. but they all looked pretty beatup so I decided to wait, I was disapointed. A friend at work recommended me Shinwa Japanese Engines and Transmission in Newark. So I went to check them out. They had three engines, they looked very clean. So I bought one for $995 Dollars and a transmission for $495 plus a started for $35.

I took the engine home and started to take all the emissions parts out to get it ready for the swap. Everything looked fine except till I got to the intake manifold. I was very dissapointed. It had exessive carbon buildup in the intake cambers. I didn't know what to do. So I asked my mechanic friend for advice. He looked at it and adviced me not to installed it.

So I called Mr. Shinwa, and told me I wanted a refund. He offered an exchange instead, but I was afraid that the other two he had in the warehouse were going to be the same, so i told him to give me a refund.

Long story short - I got my refund. Mr. Shinwa was very nice and understanding. I think he was upset that I had to get a refund. I felt bad also because I know its their business, but I couln't put that engine on my car.