- Joined
- May 27, 2024
- Messages
- 31
- Reaction score
- 22
- Location
- Willenhall, West Midlands
- Year of Your Van(s)
- 1971
- Van Type
- T2 Danbury
Hi,
Thought Id share my experience of a new engine build I had built recently by lovepurple03 on ebay, Id appreciate any feedback positive or negative. This is my first Air-cooled vehicle, and my first classic so I probably got a lot to learn, but be interested to see if you side with me or the engine builder.
Last year June 2023 I bought from a private seller a mint 1971 VW Baywindow, the van looked amazing, fresh 1600 engine build, everything was pretty much new from the ground up, after driving it home from Chester to West Midlands, I got home and noticed a bit of oil spray in the engine bay, thought nothing of it and carried on driving it for a couple of weeks, but still noticed splashes of oil in the engine bay which was very clean so was easy to spot. So I took it to a specialist close by who checked it over and said it had end float which meant it would eventually need a new engine. So I took it home and thought right ill get a new engine build,
I did my research and decided for my budget I wanted a 1776cc build using my 1600cc block, So I got in contact with a couple of bigger companies(So wish I used one of these) and was ready to pull the trigger, But instead looked on Ebay and found a listing for a company building engines under the ebay name lovepurple03 , On there listing they did 1776cc builds along with other builds, So I got in contact with a guy called Ian, who spoke to me and seemed a nice guy who knew his stuff come across as a VW enthusiast, he said i will get someone to phone you back with a quote for the build, Anyway a few hours later Kelly phoned me with a quote and told me everything they did and what they would do for me to build my block upto a 1776cc with a bigger cam etc and 12 months warranty, and the price was £2,300 which was a lot cheaper then elsewhere.
So I agreed to take the engine down and arranged a date/time which is 12th July 2023, and sent a deposit of £800, So on the day of taking my engine down I drove from the West Midlands to Dagenham in Essex. I pulled upto what looked like a house in a busy street, and was met by Kelly the engine builder, She seemed nice and we took the engine inside to her back garden where there was a shed converted into a workshop with engines everywhere and lots of old school machinery that they use to build the engines, So they take my 1600cc engine apart in front of me, to make sure the block is in good condition, they check it over and tell me the reason it had end float is that the bearings are the wrong size and the engine looks like its done less then 500miles. Everything goes well and Kelly and Ian tell me the engine should be ready for pick up first week in September, Great.
First week of September comes and no communication, I left it a few weeks as I thought they could be busy and ill give them some time, So after waiting a few weeks I got in contact with Kelly and she apologies and says that she has been driving back and fourth from North Wales as her mom has been ill and she been looking after her, OK no problem these things happen, family come first. Few weeks go by and I get in contact and again Kelly says that there waiting on parts and will be another few weeks, OK, what can I do they got my deposit and engine block ill have to wait. Anyway time goes by and I get the another 2 weeks, and then another, By the time Im told it is ready its the end of December 2023, So I waited 5 and half months for the engine to be built.
Kelly and Ian apologies for the delays when I pick the engine up late December 2023, As much as I was annoyed my engine was ready and I was excited to get it home and ready to fit it in my van, I get a list of things I have to do to fit the engine such as the burning in process then change oil, and change the plugs oil after 500 miles/100miles etc, I sign the paperwork to say I will do this and the 12 months unlimited miles warranty signed by myself and Ian who does the engine machining.
So with Christmas and New Years I put it off until February 2024 to fit the engine to my van, and with a bit of help from my mate (Scott) who is a absolute legend who gave up his nights/weekends to help me fit the engine, So we get it fitted and first start of the engine we do the burning in process, I drop the oil for new stuff and the engine is running sweet, I fit a set of Weber 40s twin carbs and I get it set up on a base tune on the rolling road and the engine and van is running spot on we keep the revs below 3.5k rpm and I drive it running the engine in using the van everyday, and to get some mileage on the van I take a family trip to Snowdonia and by the time I come back the new engine had clocked 500miles, So I drop the oil and fit new plugs, and adjust the tappets to 00.6. and give it a service ready for another 500 miles, The van run perfect for our weekend away to Snowdonia and keeping the revs below 3,5k rpm,
A few weeks later I take another family camping trip to the Cotswolds, and the van runs great again, no problems and by the time I get home the new engine has covered 800miles, so another 200miles to go and I can do another service and take it to have a proper tune of the carbs and use the rest of the rev range, So I use the van another week back/from work and its coming upto the end of May 2024, On a warm Sunday my wife turns to me and says lets find a nice pub in the countryside and go for some food/drink, So me the wife and 2x kids jump in the van and put the pub in the sat nav and head from my house to the M6 motorway which is 5mins from my house, I come down the slip road on Junction 10 0f the M6 and onto the motorway where all 4 smart lanes are open and the average speed is 40mph So we slowly enter the motorway and make a steady 40mph North of the M6.
We are doing 40mph in 4th gear no stress on engine and we been traveling 10mins at most, and in the far left lane, when I start hearing a rattling sound and loads of smoke from the back of the van and into the cab through the front vents, the kids are screaming the vans on fire and I'm shouting back its not, by now the van is rattling its **** off and im on a smart motorway with all live lanes, I look ahead a 300 yards I see a S0S cut out lane So I put hazards on and manage to pull it into the SOS lane and turn the van off, the van from rattling to pulling into the safe zone probably on for about 30 seconds. We all get out and I phone the AA and get recovered back to my house and they roll the van onto my drive.
So a few hours later I go to the van and drop the oil and I notice metal fragments in the oil, I start taking bit of the engine the shroud, carbs etc and I notice a massive hole on top of the block, so its proper gone. I contact Ian and Kelly and send them pics of the block with the damage, and Kelly phones me and asks me to bring the engine down to them so they can check why/how its broke, I agree a time/date and I arrange a van to take the engine down the weekend after,
So I pull up to Kelly/Ians house and im met with Ian that says the engine probably overheated?? I said cant be as I was only driving 10mins so it wouldn't have gotten that hot, plus I have a oil gauge with warning light/alarm of the oil gets to hot, He says you can usually smell it if its overheated, which I couldn't smell it and nether could they when the stripped the engine. So they get it on the bench and strip the engine and you can see where the camshaft had split in 3 pieces and 2 of the conrods have melted and inside was a proper mess, So it had done some serious damage, but Kelly and Ian couldn't tell me why the damage had occurred.
So Kelly makes me a cup of tea and comes back and Ian says Ive got some bad news, the damage occurred is not covered under warranty, I said why is that?? He said the problem is when you was driving on the motorway you should have turned the engine off straight away as soon as you head a noise!! I said I turned it off 30 seconds after I head the noise and I was on a busy motorway with 2 young kids in the van, so my priority was to keep us safe and get us into the S0S layby. He said well you should have just turned it off and left the it there?? So basically the warranty is not worth the paper its written on.
I said how else could I have avoided the engine breaking, I did everything you asked to run it in, and out of the blue is broke, What else could I have done to save the engine, Kelly said well its one of those things, its a learning curve?? Then to get me out the door Kelly kept saying have a word with your wife and let us know what you want to do, If you want us to build you another engine, were here for you just phone us were always here for you, just have some time to think about it and just phone us if you need anything.
So there you go, Im £2,3k out of pocket, lesson learned do your homework on engine builders, Kelly and Ian come across and nice people and proper VW enthusiasts, Think there quite know in the Beetle scene, But personally I think they had no intention off honoring there warranty's, So anyone looking on ebay and come across a listing building engine for your van under the name lovepurple03 Located in: Essex, United Kingdom remember as nice as they will appear, if your engine goes bang dont expect to get it fixed under that warranty, Personally if they said go halfs on costs to repair, id probably would have agreed, but it was full price for a new build.
Thought Id share my experience of a new engine build I had built recently by lovepurple03 on ebay, Id appreciate any feedback positive or negative. This is my first Air-cooled vehicle, and my first classic so I probably got a lot to learn, but be interested to see if you side with me or the engine builder.
Last year June 2023 I bought from a private seller a mint 1971 VW Baywindow, the van looked amazing, fresh 1600 engine build, everything was pretty much new from the ground up, after driving it home from Chester to West Midlands, I got home and noticed a bit of oil spray in the engine bay, thought nothing of it and carried on driving it for a couple of weeks, but still noticed splashes of oil in the engine bay which was very clean so was easy to spot. So I took it to a specialist close by who checked it over and said it had end float which meant it would eventually need a new engine. So I took it home and thought right ill get a new engine build,
I did my research and decided for my budget I wanted a 1776cc build using my 1600cc block, So I got in contact with a couple of bigger companies(So wish I used one of these) and was ready to pull the trigger, But instead looked on Ebay and found a listing for a company building engines under the ebay name lovepurple03 , On there listing they did 1776cc builds along with other builds, So I got in contact with a guy called Ian, who spoke to me and seemed a nice guy who knew his stuff come across as a VW enthusiast, he said i will get someone to phone you back with a quote for the build, Anyway a few hours later Kelly phoned me with a quote and told me everything they did and what they would do for me to build my block upto a 1776cc with a bigger cam etc and 12 months warranty, and the price was £2,300 which was a lot cheaper then elsewhere.
So I agreed to take the engine down and arranged a date/time which is 12th July 2023, and sent a deposit of £800, So on the day of taking my engine down I drove from the West Midlands to Dagenham in Essex. I pulled upto what looked like a house in a busy street, and was met by Kelly the engine builder, She seemed nice and we took the engine inside to her back garden where there was a shed converted into a workshop with engines everywhere and lots of old school machinery that they use to build the engines, So they take my 1600cc engine apart in front of me, to make sure the block is in good condition, they check it over and tell me the reason it had end float is that the bearings are the wrong size and the engine looks like its done less then 500miles. Everything goes well and Kelly and Ian tell me the engine should be ready for pick up first week in September, Great.
First week of September comes and no communication, I left it a few weeks as I thought they could be busy and ill give them some time, So after waiting a few weeks I got in contact with Kelly and she apologies and says that she has been driving back and fourth from North Wales as her mom has been ill and she been looking after her, OK no problem these things happen, family come first. Few weeks go by and I get in contact and again Kelly says that there waiting on parts and will be another few weeks, OK, what can I do they got my deposit and engine block ill have to wait. Anyway time goes by and I get the another 2 weeks, and then another, By the time Im told it is ready its the end of December 2023, So I waited 5 and half months for the engine to be built.
Kelly and Ian apologies for the delays when I pick the engine up late December 2023, As much as I was annoyed my engine was ready and I was excited to get it home and ready to fit it in my van, I get a list of things I have to do to fit the engine such as the burning in process then change oil, and change the plugs oil after 500 miles/100miles etc, I sign the paperwork to say I will do this and the 12 months unlimited miles warranty signed by myself and Ian who does the engine machining.
So with Christmas and New Years I put it off until February 2024 to fit the engine to my van, and with a bit of help from my mate (Scott) who is a absolute legend who gave up his nights/weekends to help me fit the engine, So we get it fitted and first start of the engine we do the burning in process, I drop the oil for new stuff and the engine is running sweet, I fit a set of Weber 40s twin carbs and I get it set up on a base tune on the rolling road and the engine and van is running spot on we keep the revs below 3.5k rpm and I drive it running the engine in using the van everyday, and to get some mileage on the van I take a family trip to Snowdonia and by the time I come back the new engine had clocked 500miles, So I drop the oil and fit new plugs, and adjust the tappets to 00.6. and give it a service ready for another 500 miles, The van run perfect for our weekend away to Snowdonia and keeping the revs below 3,5k rpm,
A few weeks later I take another family camping trip to the Cotswolds, and the van runs great again, no problems and by the time I get home the new engine has covered 800miles, so another 200miles to go and I can do another service and take it to have a proper tune of the carbs and use the rest of the rev range, So I use the van another week back/from work and its coming upto the end of May 2024, On a warm Sunday my wife turns to me and says lets find a nice pub in the countryside and go for some food/drink, So me the wife and 2x kids jump in the van and put the pub in the sat nav and head from my house to the M6 motorway which is 5mins from my house, I come down the slip road on Junction 10 0f the M6 and onto the motorway where all 4 smart lanes are open and the average speed is 40mph So we slowly enter the motorway and make a steady 40mph North of the M6.
We are doing 40mph in 4th gear no stress on engine and we been traveling 10mins at most, and in the far left lane, when I start hearing a rattling sound and loads of smoke from the back of the van and into the cab through the front vents, the kids are screaming the vans on fire and I'm shouting back its not, by now the van is rattling its **** off and im on a smart motorway with all live lanes, I look ahead a 300 yards I see a S0S cut out lane So I put hazards on and manage to pull it into the SOS lane and turn the van off, the van from rattling to pulling into the safe zone probably on for about 30 seconds. We all get out and I phone the AA and get recovered back to my house and they roll the van onto my drive.
So a few hours later I go to the van and drop the oil and I notice metal fragments in the oil, I start taking bit of the engine the shroud, carbs etc and I notice a massive hole on top of the block, so its proper gone. I contact Ian and Kelly and send them pics of the block with the damage, and Kelly phones me and asks me to bring the engine down to them so they can check why/how its broke, I agree a time/date and I arrange a van to take the engine down the weekend after,
So I pull up to Kelly/Ians house and im met with Ian that says the engine probably overheated?? I said cant be as I was only driving 10mins so it wouldn't have gotten that hot, plus I have a oil gauge with warning light/alarm of the oil gets to hot, He says you can usually smell it if its overheated, which I couldn't smell it and nether could they when the stripped the engine. So they get it on the bench and strip the engine and you can see where the camshaft had split in 3 pieces and 2 of the conrods have melted and inside was a proper mess, So it had done some serious damage, but Kelly and Ian couldn't tell me why the damage had occurred.
So Kelly makes me a cup of tea and comes back and Ian says Ive got some bad news, the damage occurred is not covered under warranty, I said why is that?? He said the problem is when you was driving on the motorway you should have turned the engine off straight away as soon as you head a noise!! I said I turned it off 30 seconds after I head the noise and I was on a busy motorway with 2 young kids in the van, so my priority was to keep us safe and get us into the S0S layby. He said well you should have just turned it off and left the it there?? So basically the warranty is not worth the paper its written on.
I said how else could I have avoided the engine breaking, I did everything you asked to run it in, and out of the blue is broke, What else could I have done to save the engine, Kelly said well its one of those things, its a learning curve?? Then to get me out the door Kelly kept saying have a word with your wife and let us know what you want to do, If you want us to build you another engine, were here for you just phone us were always here for you, just have some time to think about it and just phone us if you need anything.
So there you go, Im £2,3k out of pocket, lesson learned do your homework on engine builders, Kelly and Ian come across and nice people and proper VW enthusiasts, Think there quite know in the Beetle scene, But personally I think they had no intention off honoring there warranty's, So anyone looking on ebay and come across a listing building engine for your van under the name lovepurple03 Located in: Essex, United Kingdom remember as nice as they will appear, if your engine goes bang dont expect to get it fixed under that warranty, Personally if they said go halfs on costs to repair, id probably would have agreed, but it was full price for a new build.