As a person who imported many (from two different suppliers) I can tell you that I did not see a single engine that did not need some work.
1]The most common ailment was a poorly fitted con rod bearing. Usually waaaay too much clearance (like 10 to 15 thou") which would cause bearing destruction in short order.
I made a point of changing them out immediately or giving the buyer a new set of shells,
Many uneducated buyers would not notice the con-rod knock mixed in with the rest of the engine noise and many users of listeroids put little few hours on them so it would take some time for un-serviced bearing shells to raise an issue.
2]The second most common thing I noticed was cylinder liner protrusion above the deck. While 0.005" is the desired number, I saw many at 0.020" and this made it hard for the head gasket to seal the water passages because the cyl. head sat higher than it should. A thick gasket and a lot of lacquer at the factory got them to pass the run test.
Listeroids can be (and are) good engines if given a bit of attention at the start. And the price of spares certainly makes them good candidates for alternative fuels.
So go for it ! The cost of a set of rings and an injector may be greatly offset by the savings in fuel cost. Each person's methods and setup is different so you have to do the math and see if it works for you.
Oh...and the hobby factor ! sometimes it's just so much fun that the $$$ don't matter (within reason)
cheers,
veggie
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