Viewing feedback for: Bergmann VW Engines Email: [email protected] Last Visited: June 28, 2015 |
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welcomewagen Samba Member
Joined: January 03, 2008 Posts: 8 Location: Port Townsend
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:20 pm Post subject: Bernie Bergmann - [email protected] |
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Has anyone heard good or bad feedback on his engines with the Porsche 911 cooling tin kits?
Moderator note:
This person has an abnormal number of complaints in this thread, please read the feedback below |
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Glenn Mr. 010
Joined: December 25, 2001 Posts: 76761 Location: Sneaking up behind you
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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I worked on one Bergmann engine that failed. It was a 2332 with stock 311B rods that looked like they were clearanced with a bench grinder. The case was hacked and the parts were "tossed together". Yo could of just put the parts in a cement mixer and had better quality.
His 911 shroud just dumps the air in which over cools 2 cylinders and under cools the other two. It removes the stock oil cooler and he used one of the in/out oil pumps to a mesa style cooler. Those pumps are restrictive.
Personally... i'd pass. _________________ Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"
Member #1009
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welcomewagen Samba Member
Joined: January 03, 2008 Posts: 8 Location: Port Townsend
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:54 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks Glenn! Anyone else have any experiences with Bernie's engines? |
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Terry Cloyd Banned
Joined: March 23, 2004 Posts: 2218 Location: Valley Center "SO CAL"
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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welcomewagen wrote: |
Thanks Glenn! Anyone else have any experiences with Bernie's engines? |
If, Berinie or his son builds your motor you have no problems. |
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Glenn Mr. 010
Joined: December 25, 2001 Posts: 76761 Location: Sneaking up behind you
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:12 pm Post subject: |
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Terry Cloyd wrote: |
welcomewagen wrote: |
Thanks Glenn! Anyone else have any experiences with Bernie's engines? |
If, Berinie or his son builds your motor you have no problems. |
Then who built the one I saw?
Must be some unnamed builder employed by the named shop.
But the check that paid for it was made out to Bernie Bergmann. _________________ Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"
Member #1009
#BlueSquare |
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Eric_S Samba Member
Joined: August 12, 2007 Posts: 862 Location: Sparks (think Reno) NV
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:17 pm Post subject: |
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I've seen his 2500cc last 5 years in a bay window. It was run very hard and didn't leak a drop when it was pulled. It had a Porsche style fan shroud on it. I hear more bad than good but still I am impressed with this one particular unit. _________________ --
Eric_S
What are all these extra parts? |
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vwracerdave Samba Member
Joined: November 11, 2004 Posts: 15278 Location: Deep in the 405
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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Glenn
Was that engine built when his shop was still in California or after he moved to Oklahoma? _________________ 2017 Street Comp Champion - Thunder Valley Raceway Park - Noble, OK
2010 Sportsman ET Champion - Mid-America Dragway - Arkansas City, KS
1997 Sportsman ET Champion - Thunder Valley Raceway Park - Noble ,OK
Featured in Dec. 2001 HOT VW's Magazine page 63
Watch my racing video's http://www.youtube.com/user/okvwracer/videos |
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Terry Cloyd Banned
Joined: March 23, 2004 Posts: 2218 Location: Valley Center "SO CAL"
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:23 pm Post subject: |
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Glenn wrote: |
Terry Cloyd wrote: |
welcomewagen wrote: |
Thanks Glenn! Anyone else have any experiences with Bernie's engines? |
If, Berinie or his son builds your motor you have no problems. |
Then who built the one I saw?
Must be some unnamed builder employed by the named shop.
But the check that paid for it was made out to Bernie Bergmann. |
Glenn do you think Don Pauter builds VW motors?
I don't think Bernie's built a motor since 1980. |
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Eric_S Samba Member
Joined: August 12, 2007 Posts: 862 Location: Sparks (think Reno) NV
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:24 pm Post subject: |
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Calif. And it has the CB Fill-star valve covers. _________________ --
Eric_S
What are all these extra parts? |
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Glenn Mr. 010
Joined: December 25, 2001 Posts: 76761 Location: Sneaking up behind you
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:25 pm Post subject: |
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vwracerdave wrote: |
Glenn
Was that engine built when his shop was still in California or after he moved to Oklahoma? |
Not sure... it was 5 years ago. The engine failed and the customer purchased a Serrano engine.
Terry Cloyd wrote: |
Glenn wrote: |
Terry Cloyd wrote: |
welcomewagen wrote: |
Thanks Glenn! Anyone else have any experiences with Bernie's engines? |
If, Berinie or his son builds your motor you have no problems. |
Then who built the one I saw?
Must be some unnamed builder employed by the named shop.
But the check that paid for it was made out to Bernie Bergmann. |
Glenn do you think Don Pauter builds VW motors?
I don't think Bernie's built a motor since 1980. |
Terry, last year I had a engine built at Aircooled Engineering and I doubt Art Thraen did the final assemble. But i know for a fact that he inspected it all along the way. And if I have a problem related to the build quality, Art will not blame some "unnamed builder".
It dosn't matter if Bernie didn't personally build it, the engine came from his shop and he should be ashamed that he sold it. It was a HACK job.
But now that doesn't matter since Bernie doesn't own the business anymore. _________________ Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"
Member #1009
#BlueSquare |
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Eric_S Samba Member
Joined: August 12, 2007 Posts: 862 Location: Sparks (think Reno) NV
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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Glenn wrote: |
But now that doesn't matter since Bernie doesn't own the business anymore. |
He still answers the phone himself. _________________ --
Eric_S
What are all these extra parts? |
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Glenn Mr. 010
Joined: December 25, 2001 Posts: 76761 Location: Sneaking up behind you
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:37 pm Post subject: |
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Eric_S wrote: |
Glenn wrote: |
But now that doesn't matter since Bernie doesn't own the business anymore. |
He still answers the phone himself. |
Then I stand corrected. I thought I read that the business was sold and a new owner took over. _________________ Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"
Member #1009
#BlueSquare |
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vwracerdave Samba Member
Joined: November 11, 2004 Posts: 15278 Location: Deep in the 405
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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I stopped by his shop last year for a quick 10 min. tour. He told me when he was in Cali doing cranks, trannies, engines, and everything else he had 15 or so employees. He sold the crank buisness when he moved to Okla. He now only builds engines and only has 1 employee. When I was there I personally saw him working on an engine. _________________ 2017 Street Comp Champion - Thunder Valley Raceway Park - Noble, OK
2010 Sportsman ET Champion - Mid-America Dragway - Arkansas City, KS
1997 Sportsman ET Champion - Thunder Valley Raceway Park - Noble ,OK
Featured in Dec. 2001 HOT VW's Magazine page 63
Watch my racing video's http://www.youtube.com/user/okvwracer/videos |
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Terry Cloyd Banned
Joined: March 23, 2004 Posts: 2218 Location: Valley Center "SO CAL"
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:18 pm Post subject: |
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Glenn and Dave........Bernie has built more race VW motors than anyone in the world. He will pass Berg about the knowledge in the VW motor.
I have know him over 40 years. |
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clearsurf2001 Samba Vaccinator
Joined: February 26, 2004 Posts: 1671 Location: Dave-AKA-fortyeye-Oceanside, Ca
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:16 pm Post subject: |
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I might as well chime in here. When Bernie had his shop in San Marcos he was a force to be reckoned with. Along with the move to Hale St. in Escondido came the ads, sales, etc. He didn't manage his business with the same passion and a lot of poorly assembled engines came out of that shop. The time frame Glenn refers to leads me to believe that the engine he looked at was one of those. I haven't known Bernie quite as long as Terry, but Bernie did serious damage to his reputation during that period of time. Selling part of his name to that knothead in San Diego (cranks, rods and such) and then having said knothead go greasy side up didn't help things. I hope that the move to OK, and as Dave said, taking a personal approach to his engines again means that his quality is back where it once was. Time will tell. _________________ Get ready for the injection
EverettB wrote: |
Make sure it is coherent. Rodney |
mharney wrote: |
I think Glenn has an EMPI crank in his engine. |
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werka Samba Member
Joined: August 25, 2006 Posts: 1110 Location: Huntsville, AL
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:25 pm Post subject: |
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I believe my 2110 with a turbo came came from him originally. When I was in high school my dad bought a ghia with this motor - the owner was pissed off and on his 3rd tranny rebuild and we got a steal of a deal on the car - 4k as is. Anyhow,we did some engine swaps - and it now sits in a kit car. I now have the car, and have unfortunately only put MAYBE 1000 miles on it since high school. Motor still runs like hell when I drove it last (had to tear down some of the engine to find an electrical problem resulting from lots of heat from the turbo). Anyhow between my dad and I we have had the engine since 1992. My local vw shop was told it was a bergmann motor so that is all I have to go with, but it is a very stout motor and pulls like all hell. |
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74 Thing Samba Member
Joined: September 02, 2004 Posts: 7369
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:02 pm Post subject: |
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I got screwed over with a Bernie Bergmann engine when I was young. He is a hell of a salesman on the telephone and will tell you what you want to hear to sell his parts and increase his bottom line, but when it is time to deliver he falls short. I purchased from him when he was in Escondido and he gave me the sales pitch-buy this, buy that it will run great just what you want. I was young and uninformed at the time and not well versed in high performance VW's and certainly got ripped off. I paid for ported heads, solid rocker shafts, dual springs, cromoly pushrods-none of which I received. Upon tear down there were 4 flywheel shims, a crank that was cut so many times that it was garbage and a cam that was equivelant to an Engle 100 (so much for the high performance camshaft). This is not even the worse part. The worse part is that I lived some 1000 miles away and everytime I called to check on the status of my engine I was given some excuse and then a promise that it would be ready tomorrow. Well this went on for 2 months and this was my daily driver. I was held hostage since I lived some 700 miles away. I was at my end and I wanted to somehow hitch a ride down there and show up on his front door step and demand what was promised, but the unfortunate thing was I had spent all my money on this over hyped engine. A few more weeks of long distance calls and I finally received my POS engine. I am suprised I stuck with VW's after being bent over so bad.
I often wonder why he moved his business out of state-probably had a bunch of complaints against him from the BBB or running from something.
All I know is do not get lured in by the advertising. There are plenty of shops that will build you something you want and are ethical and reputable. Timms, DRD, Art Thraen, Aircooled.net, VW Paradise to name a few. They won't tell you what you wnat they will tell you what will work and how it will actually perform so you don't get ripped off and these guys will provide a dyno read out of your engine if you want as well-it is kind of hard to feed you a line of bs when there is proof like that.
Buyer beware! |
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74 Thing Samba Member
Joined: September 02, 2004 Posts: 7369
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 11:19 pm Post subject: |
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The ole' bait and switch. I got burned and ended up with a 1914-guess what I wanted a 1776 too, kind of funny Glenn hit the nail on the head. The funny thing is that the current 1600 I have in runs better and stronger then the 1914-go figure-good parts go a long way! |
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Jake Raby Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2003 Posts: 7433 Location: Aircooled Heaven USA
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 11:23 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: |
current 1600 I have in runs better and stronger then the 1914-go figure |
Its all in the combo.
That 1914 has the capability to run both cooler and smoother than the 1600 while making over double the HP. _________________ Jake Raby
Raby Engine Development
www.rabyenginedevelopment.com
"I've never given anyone Hell, I just told them the truth and they thought it was Hell" |
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CJG Samba Member
Joined: November 07, 2005 Posts: 571 Location: Phoenix
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:00 am Post subject: |
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1987 I had a girl friend that had a 1835 built by Bernnie and had a lot of cooling problems? she sent it back to him to fix the problem and he put two of the old permtex oil coolers on the motor one behind the fan shroud and the other under the transmission. We lived in Palm springs in 110 degrees in the sumer time. She drove it maybe a 500 miles before the melt down. He gave her money back and told her to find another builder, which was Indio dune buggy. Don't buy a Berrnie engine, I think the shrouds are good though. |
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