A '98 SE I am considering has exactly all the goodies I want. It has a major wildcard, though. The owner tried to drive through the UIM failure and took the big hit. So he had a Jasper remanufactured engine put in.

Sounds like glorified rebuilt to me. It still has most of a 3 yr/75,000 mi warranty on it. And that'* alot more confident than a rebuild. I checked some notes on their site for the L36, and they use the new UIM/LIM gaskets. I checked the plenum and it definitely isn't an OEM/Delphi hold-your-breath-till-it-goes-again part. Odd too, no Dex-Cool, Prestone green is the coolant. These folks at Jasper might be up to something smart, or it could be the usual crap.

Does anybody have any experience with a remanu engine? Maybe even Jasper. They remanu a hill of a lot of engines.

In my opinion, jasper stuff is really really expensive. I'm just speaking from a ford point of view though, I did some research on it about a month ago to get some kicks.

A jasper remanufactured T5 tranny is $1,802
A BRAND NEW ford racing T5 is $1,400

Jasper ram'd 5.0 is $1,900
You can get a rebuild 302 with all new bearings, bore, hone, new pistons and all that stuff from the smaller companies for $1,000. But I guess workmanship could be called into question with those.

I guess Jasper has to find a way to pay for their name on the side of the cars in nascar somehow!

The Jasper engines are made-brand new using all of their own parts to OEM specifications I believe and that'* why they're so expensive. But, many of the OEM defects are corrected in the Jasper version. I've heard nothing but good things about these engine/transmissions.

That'* the impression I got too. An L36 is $2500, plus the install. The good news is... I don't care. The prior owner paid for that. The car is at 50K mi and they have it offered a bit high. For some reason the dealer thinks he should get a premium for the new engine. i on the other hand, would rather have a 50K original engine. Which at 50K, I consider barely broken in. I replace the gaskets and plenum, and I'm good to go for another 100K with the usual watchful eye and add BC goodies as I go.

So far I'm winning because nobody is looking at it and the end of the month/quarter is coming up. It'* backlotted and I know they aren't going to waste much more money or time on it. They want their cash for the Fall run. So I'm definitely a better customer than shipping it off to auction.

heh, yeah, if my engine ever went out, i would most likely never go anywhere other than Jasper for a replacement. I have had many friends use them for an array of different vehicles, ford, mopar and GM and only heard supreme things. Plus, you can't go wrong with the warranty! Its as good as a new car drivetrain warranty..if not better!

Remember, its not only the engine you are paying for, its also the peace of mind for the warranty.

But i think that if the previous owner was so much of a dumbass that he drove it through the intake failure, that there should be NO premium for that new engine. Thats a load of crap.

Napa sells Jasper if that'* any indication.

The warranty they are giving is great for a "reman" engine.

Crappy Tires' el-cheapo low $$ brake pads are also Jasper. Same company?

Could be the same company....but must be in a different area than where they do the engine/trans work. All the engines and tranny'* come from their shop about 30 mins up the highway from me....I've toured their facility on a few different occasions, and trust me, they're worth their money.

Cleanest everything around....These engines are pretty much brand new with the exception of the block.

I think I'm hearing good things here about Jasper.

I will comment about their warranty. First off you have to call them before you can fix something. Then they decide if they should fix it themselves or they will choose where you can have the work done. Then you have to pay for it. Then you have to ship any bad parts to them. At that time they will decide if they are going to reimburse you. They have about 20 disclaimers, in which case they will not pay. That includes anything wrong that the engine shop did, when they dropped the engine in.. So there is considerable risk involved, even with the warranty.

Warranty aside, anybody have any thoughts on downsides of getting a reblt/remanu engine, over an original?

Thanks for your comments!

No personal experience and therefore no downside info.

My perspective on the warranty is that you will not find any engine warranty statement that does not have tons of disclaimers. Plus, and most importantly, it is still better than no warranty at all, which is what you would have on any other '98, even if it did have only 50k original miles on an OEM motor.

Also, bear in mind that a bored and blue printed motor is essentially a rebuilt/remanufactured motor, so you have to be careful lumping them all in the same catagory with the guy who'* building them under the tree out back (not that some of the best rodders didn't do it that way, lol) and just consider the company who is doing it and it'* reputation. A company with a good reputation has more at stake with a warrantied product and is more likely to honor their warranty statements than joe'* place down the street.