How do you guys tell if a used engine is worth the price? I found this on ebay and I am not sure if it’s a decent engine: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Briggs-LO-206-Sealed-Go-Kart-Racing-Engine-With-Pipe-Muffler-And-Chain-Guard/143539941114?hash=item216ba5aefa:g:kP0AAOSwLJdeUu70&shqty=1&isGTR=1#shId
The seller has 100 percent positive feedback, so I wouldn’t be concerned from that aspect.
Just remember you can buy a brand new one for around $600 that you’ll know it’s history from day 1.
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Just spend a couple hundred more and buy a new one.
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Is running in LO206 class make sure the seal is new enough to still be allowed. I do not see the black line in the seal wire. It has to have one to be legal.
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The seal must either have a black wire intertwined or be the newer orange seal type. If you look closely on this one, the black wire is just visible on right side, so you are good there.
Here’s a great visual from @MargayGreg
I think the price is a little high when compared to a new unit. Are there any local deals going on around you perhaps?
Thanks a lot! Kind of irrelevant but when I was browsing used engines for sale I’ve seen words like “tuned and race ready”. Which part(s) of a stock engine do I have to tune to make it “race ready”? Thanks!
Look closely. It has the black tracer wire on the seal.
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Thanks. I looked again and sure enough you’re right. Updated my previous post.
Thanks for catching it.
Tuned and race ready can mean many things to different people.
For a 206 having the carb and valve lash set correctly is the main area of focus. There is, per design of the rule set, very little you can do.
There are many good videos by Briggs Racing that can help it all make sense.
I’ll do more research on that. Thanks a lot!
Off topic but how do you go about getting an updated seal?
I don’t think there is any way possible to get a seal updated on an LO206. You have to buy a new engine it the seal is broken of outdated. I guess it is too expensive to do it otherwise.
As far as new vs used - I have seen LO2026 take some abuse and then others not so much. So it is really hard to say how much life one has left in it.
You can to replace the shortblock or the engine as you wish. I think a short block is <$200. It’s a job you could DIY if you wanted to.
I believe the last of the engines with the original seal left the Briggs assembly line in 2011, so they’ve had a good life.
To give you an idea I bought this a couple of months ago. Runs pretty damn strong.
Basically race ready means that the tuner has gone and done the breaking in procedure, lapped the valves and set your valve lash and carb. Other than that there isn’t anything else you can really do to them. It’s basically just extra confidence that the engine is performing as good as it can out of the box.