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Thu Dec 31, 2009 10:55 am

When I went to grad school, I had to sell my primary vehicle (Audi A3) to fund the move. I figured I wouldn't need a car out there, but inevitably I'm going to.

So I have a hobby Super I've been working on for years. It's effectively a finished car at this point. All I have to do is take it to my mechanic to get everything aligned and adjusted, and bingo, I got me a ride. Here's the problem: a few years back, before I knew any better, I bought a GEX engine on the strength of the Hot VWs ad alone.

That's what's in the car right now, and to make matters worse, it's an 1835, and it's gonna be driven in SoCal (ie: hot). Is there any possibility I can put 50 or so thousand trouble free miles on this car before a rebuild/replacement? Is there any easy way for me or my mechanic to find out if this engine's a dud before putting it into daily driver service?

Are there any cost effective, reliable long block solutions out there if I'm up the creek? When I say cost effective, I mean Ramen Noodles budget cost effective...

Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:10 am

I think the most cost effective thing to do before you install the motor would be to swap the 92s in favor of 90.5s making it a 1776 if it indeed is an 1835. However, I think that 50,000 miles is achievable from an 1835 assuming you have relatively low compression, run a quality dog house style cooler and have all the correct cooling tin in place as well as a good engine compartment seal and run no less than 91 octane premium fuel. As far as making sure its a dud or not without tearing into the motor, make sure the end play is set correctly and if the motor has compression, it should be good to go. How old is the motor?

Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:29 am

chiprodriguez wrote: I think the most cost effective thing to do before you install the motor would be to swap the 92s in favor of 90.5s making it a 1776 if it indeed is an 1835. However, I think that 50,000 miles is achievable from an 1835 assuming you have relatively low compression, run a quality dog house style cooler and have all the correct cooling tin in place as well as a good engine compartment seal and run no less than 91 octane premium fuel. As far as making sure its a dud or not without tearing into the motor, make sure the end play is set correctly and if the motor has compression, it should be good to go. How old is the motor?

The engine itself was purchased a couple years ago, and installed two summers ago (before the car was completely done). It hasn't been run at all yet, no compression checks, nada. I guess I'll have my mechanic give it a run through, and check those things you mentioned, and go from there. Fingers crossed...

Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:30 am

chiprodriguez wrote: I think the most cost effective thing to do before you install the motor would be to swap the 92s in favor of 90.5s making it a 1776 if it indeed is an 1835. However, I think that 50,000 miles is achievable from an 1835 assuming you have relatively low compression, run a quality dog house style cooler and have all the correct cooling tin in place as well as a good engine compartment seal and run no less than 91 octane premium fuel. As far as making sure its a dud or not without tearing into the motor, make sure the end play is set correctly and if the motor has compression, it should be good to go. How old is the motor?

That's incredibly optimistic with a GEX product. You've got a good chance that the engine has mismatched case halves, reused internal parts with god knows what kind of wear or outright damage, missing dowell pins for the crank bearings, yadda yadda yadda.

If it MUST be a very reliable engine, I'd start over. If you've got some wiggle room, sure, drive it and see what happens. But it'll definitely be an exercise in uncertainty. GEX blows huge, huge chunks and should've been out of business years ago. That they're still pumping out their 100% shitty products is a testament to the effectiveness of glossy ads.

Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:33 am

Drive it until it fails, then suck up the loss and buy a good engine.

Pelikan wrote: I bought a GEX engine on the strength of the Hot VWs ad alone.
You know anyone can buy an ad in HVW. All it takes is money.

Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:33 am

Start saving now and pray.

Sorry, but that's the sad truth about GEX engines. I had one back in 1989 and it lasted 1700 miles before the crank broke in 3 places.

You're playing Russian roulette. I've heard of GEX's going 50k, but I've heard of a boatload more grenading before 10k.

Best of luck to you.

Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:59 am

Right, that seems to be the consensus. All the tin and upper end stuff (carbs, etc) are new, though. Couldn't I either buy or build up a longblock, and slap all that stuff on there? If that's possible, what would be the most reliable and cost effective route for a daily driver? It's got dual Weber carbs, IDF 40's if memory serves, so if I were to do a build or a buy, it'd have to be compatible with those.

Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:25 pm

Yes you could build up your own longblock then swap your carbs, tins, ignition, exhaust over to that. That might actually be the best way to go.

Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:28 pm

rustfree1967bug wrote: Yes you could build up your own longblock then swap your carbs, tins, ignition, exhaust over to that. That might actually be the best way to go.
Why not just wait till it fails?

If it runs well, it's foolish to swap in another long block. And what will you do with the old long block? If it runs I doubt you'll toss it in the trash and i hope you won't sell it.

Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:30 pm

Glenn wrote: rustfree1967bug wrote: Yes you could build up your own longblock then swap your carbs, tins, ignition, exhaust over to that. That might actually be the best way to go.
Why not just wait till it fails?

If it runs well, it's foolish to swap in another long block. And what will you do with the old long block? If it runs I doubt you'll toss it in the trash and i hope you won't sell it.

In other words, wait until next Thursday, right?

Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:33 pm

Hey... not everyone fails.. that soon.

I've heard "fish stories" of one lasting many many miles.

Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:36 pm

Glenn wrote: Hey... not everyone fails.. that soon.

I've heard "fish stories" of one lasting many many miles.

And they were usually running the famed '100-mpg Fish carburetor' at the time...

bnc

Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:47 pm

didget69 wrote: Glenn wrote: Hey... not everyone fails.. that soon.

I've heard "fish stories" of one lasting many many miles.

And they were usually running the famed '100-mpg Fish carburetor' at the time...

bnc

Those were just people with senses of humor who had GEX stickers printed up to stick on their fan shrouds. Like the physics guys who get bumper stickers that say "if my headlights are red I'm going too fast."

Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:54 pm

Bart Dunn wrote: didget69 wrote: Glenn wrote: Hey... not everyone fails.. that soon.

I've heard "fish stories" of one lasting many many miles.

And they were usually running the famed '100-mpg Fish carburetor' at the time...

bnc

Those were just people with senses of humor who had GEX stickers printed up to stick on their fan shrouds. Like the physics guys who get bumper stickers that say "if my headlights are red I'm going too fast."

As ScottK's sigline once said, "There are 10 types of people in this world -- those who understand binary, and those who don't".

Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:56 pm

Gary wrote: As ScottK's sigline once said, "There are 10 types of people in this world -- those who understand binary, and those who don't".
Geek.

Thu Dec 31, 2009 1:58 pm

Glenn wrote:
Why not just wait till it fails? If it runs well, it's foolish to swap in another long block. And what will you do with the old long block? If it runs I doubt you'll toss it in the trash and i hope you won't sell it.

I'm agreeing with Glenn on this, try it, see how it does. 1835cc is nothing to be afraid of, and southern California is not nearly as hot as what my 1835cc has seen in Arizona, or crossing the desert to Pacific Coast numerous times. Sure, maybe we'll all do 1776 (90.5mm) next time, but might as well run it and see.

Thu Dec 31, 2009 2:33 pm

OK - I do not have any personal experience with GEX - only what I have seen here and I doubt if EVERY engine that they build is bad, but you do see quite a few nightmare posts here.

Here's a suggestion - if you havent installed it, you could send it back. So you will probably lose the shipping cost. Then start over and find a builder with a good rep.

I had a situation a few years ago with a shop that built a great 1776 for my buggy, and I later bought 2 rebuil trannys - one was great - the other one was good EXCEPT the case was garbage and leaked like a sieve at the axle flange. Then I bought a turn-key 1600 that I was VERY unhappy with. So - I had a 50% success rate.

This shop had a pretty good reputation but it seemed there was some internal issues within the company that I paid the price for. I no longer take a chance ordering from them anymore and have since been building my own engines. So. like Clint Eastwood says - "Do you feel lucky?"

Thu Dec 31, 2009 2:37 pm

andk5591 wrote: Here's a suggestion - if you havent installed it, you could send it back.

You must of missed this:
Pelikan wrote: Here's the problem: a few years back, before I knew any better, I bought a GEX engine on the strength of the Hot VWs ad alone.

Thu Dec 31, 2009 4:37 pm

Glenn wrote: Drive it until it fails, then suck up the loss and buy a good engine.

Pelikan wrote: I bought a GEX engine on the strength of the Hot VWs ad alone.
You know anyone can buy an ad in HVW. All it takes is money.

If it wasn't for this forum, I would have not known. They do have nice ads in Hot VW every month.

Thu Dec 31, 2009 4:55 pm

I talked to my father (the super is at my parents place; they let me use a port in their garage to work on it). He had one of his mechanic buddies come over and run the engine, after I told him what they were saying about GEX on the forums. Apparently it was only running on three cylinders because the spark plug wasn't seated right, or something along those lines. Within a few minutes, a part in the oil pump was sheared off, and it lost oil pressure.

So that's where my GEX is at, after about five minutes of run time. I'm putting some strong thought into salvaging what I can off this engine, and building up a 1776 from new parts, or having a cost effective long block mocked up. I'll probably have about $1000 to work with, so hopefully I can do it for that.