Many gearheads scroll Facebook Marketplace for parts. But how much would you drop on a sight-unseen crate engine? $500? $5,000? How about $19,000?

YouTuber “Jimmy’s World” took that gamble to save a 1947 Cessna 120 airplane nicknamed Penelope. Rebuilding her original engine would’ve cost over $30K. So when a Facebook crate engine popped up for $19K, Jimmy pounced. “We’re gonna find out if today is a what-could-go-wrong kind of a day… or an it’ll-be-fine kind of a day.”

Unboxing the Facebook Marketplace crate engine

Jimmy filmed the unboxing for YouTube. “It looks like a new engine,” he said. “It looks like the right one.” At the bottom of the crate he found the real prize: “Hallelujah, log books!”

Without those docs? “Pretty much worthless.” But this engine came with entries from April 28, 2017. Jimmy said, “This engine was built eight years ago and sat in the hangar in a climate-controlled area since then.”

To be sure, Jimmy popped off a cylinder. “Looks new inside,” he said. The lube was “tacky but it’s not all gummed up.” The piston pin? “Looks like new.”

An expert mechanic gave Jimmy the thumbs-up. “It’s what I would expect from an engine that was freshly done.” His conclusion? “You’re good to go.”

Wrapping up the rebuild

Jimmy started reassembly right away. “We might have us a running airplane here before too long,” he said. Of course, a few items remain. “All we got to do is mount the engine, put all the accessories on it, get the prop done, install the avionics, do a paint on it, change all the brakes and wheel bearings, tires.” He grinned: “Pretty much just an afternoon project, really.”

Final verdict? “Everything was just like he said it was on the ad.”

Jimmy’s Facebook crate engine gamble turned out to be one of the best buys on the internet. And Penelope? She’ll soon be ready to fly again. You can see Jimmy’s video embedded below: