TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue May 22, 2012 6:31 pm

First an introduction: My name is Chris and I am located in Las Vegas NV.
My knowledge of VWs is extremely limited at this point in time but hoping to change that.

Now to the reason for joining and posting:
My GF recently bought a 1965 VW bug with the 40 HP 1200 engine. and unfortunately the engine developed a rod knock. After debating the costs of overhauling this engine V.S. making the necessary changes to the bellhousing, exhaust etc. to install a 1600. We decided the best route would be to bite the bullet and move up to the 1600. Or so I thought,

The problem seems to be in finding a (decent) turnkey engine supplier that puts out a product that wont grenade itself in 300 miles. I have read countless threads on this forum of which engine companies to avoid, Gex, JCS, Importmotors etc. But none of these threads seem to have any definitive answers as to who to purchase decent engines from. We are not looking for cheap, rather reliability and confidence in an engine. She is not interested in a racing engine or anything hopped up. She wants to leave the car as reliable as possible and that was the reason I suggested repowering to the 1600.

Are there any recommended sources that sell well built turnkey engines out there? Sorry for the long winded post, and I appreciate any help you all can provide

Tue May 22, 2012 8:13 pm

Try mohr performance. He is located in hesperia, ca (about a 3 hour drive from vegas). He's a good builder and offers a 1600 0 mile motor with warranty. His number is (760) 947-6647.

Or you can ask some of the las vegas vw club guys and mabe find someone closer.

Dustin

Tue May 22, 2012 8:18 pm

On the feature page of the home page is a rebuilt turnkey engine from Wright Gearbox in Riverside.

Another company I've read good things about is GEMVW or Gervais.

Chuey

Wed May 23, 2012 4:39 am

Contact Chico @ CPR. He'll built a reliable 1600DP for you a a reasonable price. I've installed a dozen of his engine and the only one that had a problem he replaced and covered the cost.

Wed May 23, 2012 5:08 pm

Guys, thanks for all of the suggestions. I appreciate it. This will help get me going in the right direction with a bit more confidence. Being new to the aircooled game, and reading some of the horror stories, definitely has me doing my homework before committing to anything.

I will be making some calls and sending a few emails to the recommended shops. Thanks again. I'm sure I will be posting up more questions as I get further into this car.

Thu May 24, 2012 11:58 am

DryHeatDude03 wrote: We are not looking for cheap, rather reliability and confidence in an engine. She is not interested in a racing engine or anything hopped up. She wants to leave the car as reliable as possible and that was the reason I suggested repowering to the 1600.

Dave Gilchrist from Vintage German here in Utah, could do you a good/reliable 1600--or you could also throw in a few peppy items like slight cam/head mods and still be perfectly reliable with good mileage.

Art does some excellent 1600s as well. My buddy has one of Art's 1600s in his super. It is very torquey, gets excellent mileage, was VERY well built, DOES NOT LEAK ONE DROP OF OIL---even 2 years after it was built!!! This motor runs cool on hot days. We are putting some NOS Kads on it soon.

Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:02 pm

Just wanted to post an update to anyone interested. After doing a good bit of research on several different builders on this site as well as a few other sites and sources, we elected to have a stock 1776 built by John Randolph at Powerhaus in So-Cal.
We have had the engine in the car now for just under 2 weeks, and we couldn't be happier with results! We went and picked up the engine from Johns shop and I was very impressed with his attention to detail and overall organization and cleanliness of his shop. He kept us informed from the start of the process all the way to the day we picked the engine up, with pictures of the build. He even sent us a video of the engine running on the test bench!

The car has been running great and definitely feels a lot peppier than it did with the tired 1200. I would not hesitate to recommend John and his staff at Powerhaus to anyone interested in getting a good turnkey built. Figured I toss a few pics in as well since pics are worth a thousand words.

Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:04 pm

Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:06 pm

Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:10 pm

Nice engine and nice Bug. Looks like a solid little car. Grats on getting it dialed in.

Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:12 pm

One more

Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:14 pm

Thanks offshores, My Girlfriend couldn't be happier with it!

Mon Apr 07, 2014 10:47 am

DryHeat, I'km looking for a good source for an engine and saw your thread about Powerhaus. Just wondered how it is running after a year or so. Very nice looking bug. The benefit of living out West, I guess.

Mon Apr 07, 2014 7:17 pm

Hey Mike, thanks for asking. We have only had 1 issue with the car since my last post and it was actually a part failure. One of the pressure plate fingers cracked due to a clutch adjustment issue. This actually wasn't even Johns fault but he sent us a new pressure plate under warranty in good faith. My G/F drives this car literally every day and the engine runs flawlessly with not so much as even a drop of oil leaked under the car when parked in the garage. I can recommend an engine built by John with confidence. You wont be disappointed with the results. Hope this helps

Mon Apr 07, 2014 7:32 pm

mike231 wrote: The benefit of living out West, I guess.

Oh and I forgot to add, the irony of it is that the car actually lived in New York for many many years before landing in Vegas. 8)