What manufacture date is a safe engine?
 

Hello,
I am currently looking at a car that was manufactured August of 2000. Is the engine safe from the secondary tensioners and or the nikasil engine problems.
Any info would be great,
Thanks

Nikasil isn't going to be a problem anymore. That was a problem when fuels had a high sulfur problem. Now, on a 2000 car you should check the tensioners, a 2003 car will have the new tensioners. If your wallet allows it, look for the latest model year car you can.

Whatever car you choose, have it inspected.
Things to look at are:
tensioners
water pump
thermostat

Wear items are the front suspension bushings. On convertibles the rag top hydraulics, lines and pumps. Have these all checked.

Your car was manufactured with plastic tensioners. Unless you have documentation of replacement the only way to tell is to remove a valve cover.

The only definitive way to tell whether a car has a steel lined engine is by engine number alone.

The first steel lined engine was numbered 0008181043 which equates to a manufacture date of the 18th of August, 2000 at 10:43am. But, don't assume that a car manufactured after that date has a steel lined engine as, Jaguar still had stock of Nikasil engines and were fitting them at the same time as steel lined ones until their stock ran out. That is why you cannot rely on VIN alone.

If you adhere to the mantra of; regular oil changes, no engine shut down until full working temp has been reached and have the latest generation water pump and thermostat fitted, a Nikasil engine will probably outlast a steel lined one.

Any dealer can recover the engine serial number from the VIN. Just ask nice and you should be able to get that info.

I am looking for either a Silverstone edition or a XKR100.

That's going to be a very hard find. Either way, on either of those special editions, you should check if the tensioners have been changed and that everything else I mentioned is in good working order. Both models are pre 2003, which is when they were upgrade, and just 'cause they're special editions, doesn't mean they're exempt from the foibles of the "regular" cars.