TheSamba.com :: View topic - Waterboxer.com

Fri Aug 05, 2011 11:08 am

I am thinking of purchasing a 2.1 from Waterboxer.com. Has anyone gone with one of these engines? Are the reputable?

Thanks

Fri Aug 05, 2011 11:22 am

spaine wrote: Are the reputable?

Thanks

Definitely not. Do a search for Jake Lake/Ken Morgan in the vendor feedback area here. That is who is behind the wasserboxer.com website.

Someone on here had a Jake Lake engine that had a wrist pin circlip fall out and ruin the piston and cylinder set on his engine. He then put a new set of GoWesty pistons and cylinders on the Jake Lake engine and a year or so later the engine threw a rod through the case and ruined everything. That's certainly not the only scary story to be associated with Jake Lake. Do a search.

You've got to be very careful when it comes to rebuilt wasserboxers. Wasserboxer rebuids can go wrong for four reasons:

1. Some worn out parts were re-used.

2. Improperly rebuilt parts were used.

3. Cheap/substandard new parts were used.

4. The engine was assembled carelessly.

Any or all of these will result in a Wasserboxer disaster. Just the parts to properly rebuild a Wasserboxer amount to more than $2000, so I would be very wary of any rebuilds in the $2000-$3000 range.

In fact I would only buy a rebuilt WBX from these three sources:

1. Tencentlife
2. GoWesty
3. Rocky Jennings

There are no bargains to be had in the rebuilt wasserboxer arena. A good engine is expensive. A poor one is cheap.

David

Fri Aug 05, 2011 11:33 am

D Clymer wrote: There are no bargains to be had in the rebuilt wasserboxer arena. A good engine is expensive. A poor one is cheap.

David

No truer words than this. 8)

Fri Aug 05, 2011 11:35 am

thank you both for the quick responses.

What about the one from BusDepot?
http://busdepot.com/details.jsp?partnumber=025100771

Fri Aug 05, 2011 1:31 pm

spaine wrote: thank you both for the quick responses.

What about the one from BusDepot?
http://busdepot.com/details.jsp?partnumber=025100771

I don't know who is building those for Bus Depot. I thought it was AVP, but I just checked their website and their factory direct price is quite a bit more than what Bus Depot is charging - so unless they are giving Bus Depot one heck of a good jobber price, they aren't the builders of the Bus Depot engines.

Aside from the skill level of the engine builder, I would be especially cautious with four things on the engine Bus Depot is selling. You should call them and get a clear answer on all of these.

1. They are using rebuilt heads. Generally, rebuilt heads on a Wasserboxer is not a good idea - especially if they are starting with VW castings rather than AMC castings. What brand of heads did they use for cores? VW OEM or AMC?

2. What pistons are they using? If they are AA Performance or Cofap brand, what have they done to correct for the 1mm low deck height of both of these pistons? If they haven't done anything about this the engine will have a low compression ratio and be a complete dog.

3. Have the rods been rebuilt? Did they use the early style rod bolts to avoid failure down the road?

4. Is the crank reground, and were the journal bearing tolerances checked with Plastigauge prior to assembly?

These are all critical details. I think the best way to get an engine where these details were handled correctly is to get an engine from someone who definitely has the experience with this design and understands the critical aspects.

David

Fri Aug 05, 2011 9:52 pm

Didn't somebody take over Boston Bob's as well?

Sat Aug 06, 2011 4:49 am

Californio wrote: Didn't somebody take over Boston Bob's as well?

http://www.suburbanengine.com/index.htm

Sat Aug 06, 2011 10:01 pm

If cost is an issue keeping you from getting one of the better engines, in mho you would be better off finding a used one rather than buying one of the cheap 'rebuilts' out there. Although I did use a couple of heads a few years ago from AVP (recon VW's) that worked well for about 35000 miles before I did a subie swap. Some people have not had the same level of luck.