Well as it turns out my luck just plain blows.
So the outfit who sold me this motor swore, on all that is holy, their mothers and their grandmothers, that this was an engine built with all Japanese parts. I called them multiple times and talked to multiple people, and they all had the same story. I did some pretty extensive research before handing over my money and I couldn't find anything to refute their claims. I should have been more worried by the fact that no one could verify their engine source tho. Plain and simple they lied right to my face.
As it turns out the motor they sold me is also sold by several other "engine builders". They are sourced from a company in mainland China. This company sells several Chinese knockoff versions of quality Japanese engines. Apparently they are even decent quality.
I found out because I became alarmed by the lack of Toyota casting marks on the block, and when I started searching I found the casting mark for the Chinese maker, google and history can finish this story.
Needless to say I'm beyond pissed. I contacted the company I purchased from, no surprises here; they will do nothing. If I want to return the engine I pay return shipping, and they obviously don't refund the first round of shipping. That adds up to about $700 that is gone forever. Even funnier, all of their the warranty claims or other legal claims are handled thru a third party legal outfit, which as it turns out they own (can anyone say "conflict of interest?"), that also offers divorce services, how fitting.
I dunno what I'm gonna do here. My pooper is getting pretty sore from taking all of this right up in there. There is almost nothing I can do about the engine. And my level of anger and frustration is only surpassed at this point by my wife's. I'm actually very surprised she hasn't lit Red on fire and pushed it into the street to watch it die.
