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jcsvwparts.com - JCS custom built engines?
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bugnut68
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 2:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jays58s wrote:
I have a customers car here with a JSC engine that seized after ONLY 2000 miles! The shop that installed it wouldn't back her up and neither would JSC. They said it was a faulty oil line, really? lol I found a LOT of problems with this engine. Whatever crap they used to seal the engine was all over and blocking oil passages, 3 of the 4 rods were seized to the crank cause they put a cam, big valve heads, and dual carbs but no oil sump, wtf? Apparently they have no idea and the added HP and rpm's that the engine would have would actually create an issue with an engine that only has 3 qts of oil stock. The copper seal sealant they used on everything else was all over the inside of the engine as well and OVERLY used as well. I personally would NOT recommend these guys at all. It cost my customer $5000 total the 1st time and now another $2000 to me for rebuilding it and fixing other issues that were overlooked.


I would bet a dollar to doughnuts that the seizure was something other than "no sump." A deep sump isn't necessary if you're not going to wring the shit out the engine RPM-wise or try to slide the car around corners like an SCCA racer.
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jays58s
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 2:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

bugnut68 wrote:
jays58s wrote:
I have a customers car here with a JSC engine that seized after ONLY 2000 miles! The shop that installed it wouldn't back her up and neither would JSC. They said it was a faulty oil line, really? lol I found a LOT of problems with this engine. Whatever crap they used to seal the engine was all over and blocking oil passages, 3 of the 4 rods were seized to the crank cause they put a cam, big valve heads, and dual carbs but no oil sump, wtf? Apparently they have no idea and the added HP and rpm's that the engine would have would actually create an issue with an engine that only has 3 qts of oil stock. The copper seal sealant they used on everything else was all over the inside of the engine as well and OVERLY used as well. I personally would NOT recommend these guys at all. It cost my customer $5000 total the 1st time and now another $2000 to me for rebuilding it and fixing other issues that were overlooked.


I would bet a dollar to doughnuts that the seizure was something other than "no sump." A deep sump isn't necessary if you're not going to wring the shit out the engine RPM-wise or try to slide the car around corners like an SCCA racer.


I'm not saying it was just the sump, it was a combination of things. The owner is a chick and doesn't hot rod it at all, she babies it.
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bugnut68
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 4:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jays58s wrote:
bugnut68 wrote:
jays58s wrote:
I have a customers car here with a JSC engine that seized after ONLY 2000 miles! The shop that installed it wouldn't back her up and neither would JSC. They said it was a faulty oil line, really? lol I found a LOT of problems with this engine. Whatever crap they used to seal the engine was all over and blocking oil passages, 3 of the 4 rods were seized to the crank cause they put a cam, big valve heads, and dual carbs but no oil sump, wtf? Apparently they have no idea and the added HP and rpm's that the engine would have would actually create an issue with an engine that only has 3 qts of oil stock. The copper seal sealant they used on everything else was all over the inside of the engine as well and OVERLY used as well. I personally would NOT recommend these guys at all. It cost my customer $5000 total the 1st time and now another $2000 to me for rebuilding it and fixing other issues that were overlooked.


I would bet a dollar to doughnuts that the seizure was something other than "no sump." A deep sump isn't necessary if you're not going to wring the shit out the engine RPM-wise or try to slide the car around corners like an SCCA racer.


I'm not saying it was just the sump, it was a combination of things. The owner is a chick and doesn't hot rod it at all, she babies it.


Gotcha... I'd also bet the excess goop played a factor. Lol. I tore apart a 1600 not too long ago that had a veritable second oil pump's worth of orange RTV between the pump body and the outside of the case. So disconcerting.
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jays58s
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 4:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

bugnut68 wrote:
jays58s wrote:
bugnut68 wrote:
jays58s wrote:
I have a customers car here with a JSC engine that seized after ONLY 2000 miles! The shop that installed it wouldn't back her up and neither would JSC. They said it was a faulty oil line, really? lol I found a LOT of problems with this engine. Whatever crap they used to seal the engine was all over and blocking oil passages, 3 of the 4 rods were seized to the crank cause they put a cam, big valve heads, and dual carbs but no oil sump, wtf? Apparently they have no idea and the added HP and rpm's that the engine would have would actually create an issue with an engine that only has 3 qts of oil stock. The copper seal sealant they used on everything else was all over the inside of the engine as well and OVERLY used as well. I personally would NOT recommend these guys at all. It cost my customer $5000 total the 1st time and now another $2000 to me for rebuilding it and fixing other issues that were overlooked.


I would bet a dollar to doughnuts that the seizure was something other than "no sump." A deep sump isn't necessary if you're not going to wring the shit out the engine RPM-wise or try to slide the car around corners like an SCCA racer.


I'm not saying it was just the sump, it was a combination of things. The owner is a chick and doesn't hot rod it at all, she babies it.


Gotcha... I'd also bet the excess goop played a factor. Lol. I tore apart a 1600 not too long ago that had a veritable second oil pump's worth of orange RTV between the pump body and the outside of the case. So disconcerting.


Yeah, you see that a lot. I've always used the permatex 518 anaerobic gasket sealer and it works pretty good and doesn't harden on the inside like most, only on the mating surfaces. Building an engine really isn't that hard, you just have to take your time and double check everything.
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Sicvic5
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 9:25 pm    Post subject: JCS Reply with quote

Anytime you want to find out if a if a company is bad , just type their name and "complaints" with the quotation marks in the search bar. viola!!!
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robshe
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 8:15 am    Post subject: Re: jcsvwparts.com - JCS custom built engines? Reply with quote

Unfortunately, I have had several problems with an engine bought from them. I bought a turn ey 2.0 motor from them. I installed it and connected the ground on the battery and it caught fire. Apparently they forgot to put and insulator on a wire connected to the alternator. I contacted them and they sent me the replacement parts. The engine was supposed to come with electronic ignition but did not, so they sent me that as well. Since then, I have attempted to get crank the engine but it will not crank, just keep backfiring through the carbs. I have sent it to a mechanic who has been trying to get it to run for the past 3 weeks. It will not run more than 30 seconds. They have told me the timing was way off and the valves were overtighten to start. This engine was supposed to be dyno tuned. Apparently not. Jeff is a difficult person to get in touch with. I finally got in touch with Jorge for my mechanic to call concerning the engine. I will never deal with them again. As far as the engine- who knows the next step.
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EV_Porsche914
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 6:16 pm    Post subject: Re: jcsvwparts.com - JCS custom built engines? Reply with quote

With builders extremely limited for my 914, I was wondering if anyone had any recent experience with JC's... They are by no means cheap, but also not in the 10-15000 range for a long block either. Just looking for a stock replacement and was hoping someone had some recent experience with them... thanks!
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co12294
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2022 2:09 am    Post subject: Re: jcsvwparts.com - JCS custom built engines? Reply with quote

My experience is ongoing, but I'll document what it's been like so far.

I purchased a turnkey 2.2L power stroke engine from JCS with a lead time of 14 weeks, and picked it up Aug 22nd, almost exactly 14 weeks. There were easily a dozen engines in front of me on the board, including the exact same build. I basically chose them because they're local and I could pop in, as well as pick up the engine myself to save shipping. The only person I ever spoke with was George, who seems like a genuinely nice guy who wants to provide good engines to people at a lower cost than premier builders.

I'm in at just about $9k at this point. The base cost plus core (my core was unusable), minus a $300 cash discount, plus a $260 clutch set (that I didn't use, my fault), plus $199 for a Pertronix flamethrower dizzy they forgot to mention I'd need. The high-level overview is that it is a 2.2L with 96mm flat pistons and short rods and has "performance crank, cams and lifters", and dual HPMX 44s on EMPI intake manifolds. I'm pretty sure they're making one primary purchase from A.A. for crank/heads/cams/valves/lifters and then the complete base HPMX kit.

I got to see the engine being bench tested, so I know it was running well enough when I picked it up.

The obvious (and some not-as-obvious) bad:

* Everything is painted with rattle cans. Like it REEKS of cheap paint, and it's on everything.

* I'm concerned about shortcuts they may have taken with regards to seals; e.g. when I replaced the taco plate with a billet one from LN Eng, it had a *ton* of sealant gooped all around it on the inner flange, like they didn't have a new o-ring for it and just YOLO'd sealant all over the old o-ring before jamming it home.

* Related to that last one, I may have an oil leak. At the end of my initial 300 mile break-in, it started dripping oil from what looks like it might be the oil pump seals (10w40). I put 20w50 in and now no leaks, but the pressure's definitely too high and temps are up, so I'm going to put the 10w40 back in with a UV dye. So TBD if I'm doing an oil cooler seal job soon.

* The valves didn't seem to be adjusted well initially. When I first ran the engine, the valve train was noisy like a stock engine with collapsed lifters. I checked them at 300 miles and some were pretty far off.

* The thermostat/flaps were deleted without mention of it ahead of time (surprise!)

* The alternator cable is super old and cracked, and half of its length is wrapped in electrical tape. It seems...tired...so I assume it's not rebuilt, but rather just used

* When I went to bolt the AC compressor mount to the fan housing, one of the holes in the housing was pre-stripped for my convenience. When I went to insert a helicoil into it, I realized one of the holes in the case already had an insert in it.

* The oil expansion box had no hose connected, just an open hole that spit up bits of oil.

* The phenolic gaskets they used for the intake manifolds started leaking at ~300-400 miles.

* Basically total lack of build specs of any kind. I had to keep digging and digging to get them, and I'm still fairly sure they intentionally didn't want to be pinned down by my questions like "did these heads come from A.A. ?" That said, George texted back pretty quickly with jet sizes, etc.

* Oil leak at 300-400 miles, very likely the oil cooler seals based on where the oil is.


And the good:

* George works hard to answer questions and resolve issues

* They sent me videos and pics of the build process as it was moving along

* The engine runs, and seems to have good acceleration/torque under WOT

* With a lot of tinkering, swapping in my own bits, and being patient, I have an engine


Still in progress:

* The HPMX linkage is such crap. I'm still trying to resolve knock-on issues from the intake gaskets leaking...basically back to the beginning of syncing the carbs and adjusting idle mixture etc.

* I may still have an oil leak. I just ordered some Brad Penn 15w40, so we'll see if it starts marking its spot again

* I'm still testing the charging system, and might possibly need to replace the alternator to help power my AC system and house battery DC->DC charging setup.


All in all, not the worst experience, but far from a "drop-in" turnkey. I probably have 30 hours wrenching just to get all the little bits swapped.
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1970tealkombi
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 20, 2023 4:34 pm    Post subject: Re: jcsvwparts.com - JCS custom built engines? Reply with quote

@co12294 Hows the Engine doing 1 year later?
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Glenn Premium Member
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 20, 2023 4:44 pm    Post subject: Re: jcsvwparts.com - JCS custom built engines? Reply with quote

1970tealkombi wrote:
@co12294 Hows the Engine doing 1 year later?

They haven't posted in a years and was last seen 10 weeks ago.

You might want to send them a PM, since they might never see your post.
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