Where to get a turnkey engine

[RichardAlexander]

I have got some problems with the dynamo the bearings gone and noisy as hell and brass fillings now all over the engine bay. Ive been wanting to upgrade for a while and now seems the best time to do it. I'm looking for a turnkey engine off the shelf as i want a quick turn around preferably a 1641 twin port with single carb setup as i want to keep the original oil bath to preserve looks etc. But i have know idea where to get one.

Ive tried a couple of places that are either monstrously expensive or the turn key is actually my engine components bolted onto the new block and there a waiting list. At this point this is my best option.

Does anyone on here know where i can buy a off the shelf turnkey engine for my 68/69 westy.

 

[ozziedog]

:mrgreen: I had a 1641 from heritage brand spanking new and complete. This does not however usually include carbs, altercation, manifolds, tinware, shroud, Zoorst etc etc. I went for this because it was brand new and I thought you'd likely never get a brand new one in five or ten years time so I bit the bullet and wanted fit and forget.
I cannot recommend this because it's broken several times. It's brand new but not VW German, it's VW Brazilian I think. There are subtle differences in the Rocker shafts for one thing and mine has failed three times. I have cured it by fitting a very old original Rocker shaft complete. On the phone, no one had heard of this before, however I know of at least two possibly more just in n Bristol.
Whoever builds engines is either using old genuine parts so rebuilding with known tolerances but still with a lot of second hand bits, or they use lots of new stuff that has varying qualities and you are probably in the lap of the gods with these.
I would honestly say get your own motor rebuilt by someone and have a talk with people like Abel on here Atafonso I think as he seems to know his onions or Dan Simpson at Vintage speed and people in the trade like Graham may have favourites and I'm sure there are loads more. But,, your expectations have got to be realistic, as in a motor rebuilt with lots of second hand stuff can fail, not because the builder is rubbish but because that's the way machines work and some of the stuff they have to use isn't as good as it could be like gaskets like rubber parts etc etc . Brand new sounds nice and occasionally you'll hear of 1600 industrial motors been stored for years and years and these are maybe worth their weight in gold. Anyway that's what's happened for me over the last few years.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,, fit and forget might now be a pipe dream. :mrgreen:

 

[vinvan]

Ozziedog is correct, We have a twin port 1600 industrial in our van,nice sweet runner no problems up to now "fingers Crossed" we figured if it was an industrial it would be low usage ie water pump ect, The industrial engines are the same spec as a normal engine but some have extra stuff bolted on like a pump
i have seen a few for sale at some shows "Busfest being one" just check the normal things, does it turn over, endfloat, oil, compression
hope this helps

 

[atafonso]

Thanks Ozziedog for the kind words
A brand new engine means either Chinese or Brazilian parts. Don`t get me wrong, either country can produce great stuff, but nowadays the quality of the workmanship and also the materials have gone down big time.
I highly recommend using the main parts like case, crank, rods, camshaft, gears, pushrods, rockers and heads gen VW German for various reasons; first the steel/material used is of a great quality. Proof of that is the parts are still here after 40 odd years :lol: Second, back in the day, people seemed more interested in producing things that would bring their company a good reputation, so quality control was much better. That being said, if the builder has a big stack of parts and take his time(also loves what he does and not only does it for the money) to find them within factory specs, you will have an engine that will outlast any brand new engine being sold today. For example, you can use the parts i said above and build a 1776 that will have a great response, loads of down low torque and will last even more than a stock 1600 when built properly with a few improvements such as the full flow filter, rotating assembly balancing, etc.
Don`t let the fact that gen VW parts are old put you off. If we were in America, i would be concerned, for most of these Buses and Bugs have a zilion miles on them, but here in the UK they are mostly low mileage cars that have rotted away. I still open many engines today to find they have never been opened before, all STD and most parts are in great shape.
Just my £0.01 :mrgreen:

Abel

 

[67westy]

Just to put the other side across. I bought the same engine as Ozzie from heritage and so far it has been flawless and I'm extremely pleased with it. I think Ozzie got his before me so maybe some issues were resolved in the interim.

Ozzie, I've still got those pictures of the rockers to compare at some point

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