Jake Lake Engines aka Ken Morgan - Update: Lawsuit

[iceracer]

not me, why???
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86 Syncro Wolfsburg edition
63 Beetle (The Iceracer)

[westfella26]

I am lost for words..I joined this forum to learn more. I am a 28 year old single father of two sons.I took a loan out to replace the engine in my 82 DIESEL vanagon.I lost 2000 dollars and my van.I was broke down in Rock Springs and parked it safely at a tow yard in the desert. I returned to PA to find KEN(JAKE LAKE PARTS)on Ebay. He promised me a 1.9 replacement.for my 1.6 had ran out of oil in a cross country trip and ceased up. First it was 800 bucks,than he wanted to put in a higher gear ratio trans for my style of driving.Eventually in September of 07,I took a loan out for 5000 dollars to have him tow,install, and deliver my van.I got one sad story after another untill he shows up ay my work with a blue vanagon full of engines and transmissions.I gave him 2000 and he towed it out of the desert with a El Camino.
I took him in and shared dinner with him with my sons and he tells me the plan in full detail.^There is something wrong with this man.4 months go by and no results.Just sad stories and frustrated conversations about his problems.
THEN, he shows up again but this time in an orange campervan he claims to be his dead fathers.Again I invite him to dinner in hopes of having my worry and questions answered.
He looked so sincere,,so honest.
All the time feeding me bull.....I worked so hard on that van,,,for 5 years I loved my van and its beautiful 370,000 miles.With the body of a 19 year old dancer.It turned heads and got love notes all the time. I even sent Jake original pictures I expected to get back.
He swore he would have it to me by the end of summer 09.Well needless to say I lost all contact with him sept 09.


I dont know what to do....
I dont care about the money,,,I dont even care if I never see him again and my van is probably in pieces.

But it is a piece of my family who is a P.O.W. I just want to know what happened to my van,,,CLOSURE,,, to have my van back would be the best ending..Running or not...I cant replace her.


I called the storage facility he worked out of from june to sept 08,,,I called the police and got no return calls.Denver PD thinks I should call Wyoming PD.The storage facility gave me numbers that are dissconected,,and Iv called every KEN MORGAN in the Denver area.
CAN ANYONE HELP ME????
She was Tan and Peach and the last picture he sent me she was missing the bumpers...If anyone has seen her there is a 1000 dollar reward for her recovery.running or not.I would fly to Denver the next day.


Please if you can help me,,,,,I havnt had peace in 2 years,,and im getting worse.

[iceracer]

Man o Man, this is crazy stuff. I had my dealings with him too but changed my mind before any monies were sent. wow. Someone needs to hire a PI and nail this guy down. PM me your Vin# and I can run a Carfax on the van to see if it has been registered and where. It won't tell much but it may give you an idea where he or it is.

THis has got to stop with JAKE LAKE MORGAN KEN or whatever his name is.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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86 Syncro Wolfsburg edition
63 Beetle (The Iceracer)

[onwardtothestars]

Was noticing Jake Lakes recent eBay postings, saw that he has a website and did a whois....

WHOIS results for jlpengines.com


Registrant:

Kenneth Morgan
<removed>
Denver, CO 80239
US
Phone: +1.720495xxx
Email: [email protected]
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lots of VW's

[westfella26]

Thank you all for your help with the information.I have gotten everything about KEN but his shoe size. I have halted my search for justice for a short while. I called JLparts and JAKE called back to tell me he lost my van months ago due to unpain storage.He is willing to refund my money in payments,and I am satisfied with that. I may be a fool but I believe we can all have hard times. I am willing to look at this as a lesson learned if he realy does pay me back. I will post my future experience with JAKE. and if anyone leads me to my PEACH, 82 Diesel,Vanagon with a sunroof.I still have that reward...

[veloseller1]

ANYONE WHO TRUSTS KEN MORGAN JAKE LAKE IS CRAZY!

KEN WILL BURN YOU.

I PROMISE YOU THIS.

HE WILL NOT PAY YOU BACK. I GUARANTEE THIS!

YOU WILL BE LUCKY TO GET MORE THAN 1 PAYMENT IF THAT AND THE
1 PAYMENT WILL SIMPLY BE DAMAGE CONTROL FOR KEN SO HE CAN SHOW THE COPS IF NEED BE HE ENTERED INTO A REPAYMENT PLAN.

I HAVE SPOKEN WITH OTHER PEOPLE WHO KEN BURNED AND SAID HE WOULD REPAY THEM AND HE NEVER DID.

***YA KEN IS A GREAT GUY ON THE SURFACE......THAT IS UNTIL HE BURNS YOU AND ALMOST ALL PEOPLE WHO DEAL WITH KEN GET BURNED.....EITHER BY PROMISING HE WILL HAVE THE JOB DONE IN A WEEK IF YOU PREPAY HIM AND THEN ACTUALLY DOING THE JOB 3 OR 4 MONTHS LATER IF YOU ARE LUCKY HE DOES IT AT ALL. OR HE WILL SIMPLY TAKE YOUR MONEY AND NEVER DO THE JOB!

HAVENT YOU READ ALL ABOUT HIM?

YOU ARE SIMPLY ENABLING HIM TO NOT GET ARRESTED AND BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR HIS BULLSHIT SO MORE VICTIMS LIKE YOU AND I WILL BE BURNED



***THIS MAKES ME SO MAD***

BOTH THAT YOU ARE TRUSTING THIS KNOWN FRAUDSTER AND THE FACT KEN BURNED YOU AND LOST YOUR VAN.

WHAT A LOSER! LOST VAN? MORE LIKELY HE SOLD YOUR VAN!
MAYBE PARTED IT OUT? HE HAS DONE THIS BEFORE.

AND IF HE LOST IT IT IS BECAUSE HE IS A LOSER AND DOES NOT OAY HIS BILLS.

THIS MAN OWNS A CONDO WITH HIS WIFE! HE SHOULD BE TOTALLY ABLE TO PAY YOU IN FULL NOW.

I AM STILL WAITING TO BE REPAID FOR THE AAZ ENGINE I PREPAID HIM FOR THAT HE NEVER DELIVERED AFTER LYING TO MY FACE FOR MONTHS ABOUT IT.

AFTER THAT EXPERIENCE OF GETTING BURNED BY KEN I HAVE HAD SO MANY PEOPLE CONTACT ME ABOUT GETTING RIPPED OF BY KEN IT MAKES ME SICK!





GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!





KEN IS BEYOND BEING UNDERSTANDING.


HE IS A PROFESSIONAL LIER AND CON ARTIST.


HE SHOULD BE ARRESTED AND PUT IN JAIL. HIS CRIME SPREE OVER THE YEARS IS REAL AND I AM SURE IT IS IN THE 6 -7 FIGURES RANGE.

[southboundexplorers]

Wow, ive read many of the threads and i wish i knew more when i bought a Jake Lake motor 2 years ago. I contacted him through his ebay listing. he had rebuilt engines for sale for under a grand so we chatted (very nice and sincere sounding guy) and we decided on some upgrades for the 2.1 id be expecting in 3 weeks time. several tense months of excuses went by and there were many excuses made, but in the end he delivered and i recieved my engine as agreed upon just in time to install it and head off on my south american adventure. Well its been 55,000kms and the engine has run great for me. im at a loss for why this man seems to have so many faces. how can he rip off some customers and then deliver a superb product to others. reading the negative posts im quite susprized that he ever did send me the motor, after all i was in vancouver canada and he was a thousand miles away. does anyone know where he is and what he is up to? has anyone dealt with him lately?

who is this mysrtery man?

anyone interested in checking out my site please visit

www.southboundexplorers.com

[veloseller1]

Hello VW People,

I just want to clarify and update the VW community that Ken Morgan / Jake Lake of JLP Parts / Engines made good with me today 12/16/2009 and paid me back in full today for the VW AAZ Engine prior issue from the past.

It appears that some misunderstandings and temporary hardships created the situation but I am happy to say that Jake / Ken and I met today, shook hands and he happily paid me back in full for the prior issue.

I respect Ken / Jake for doing this and this is really great news for me on a personal level as I am happy to have this issue over with.

It appears that Ken / Jake is really on the right track.


Happy Holidays

Regards
Veloseller1

Jeff

[81greenpickup]

Wow. lots of bad mouthing. I have worked with jake on multiple occasions. pretty much my whole vehicle is at a prime condition, almost completely thanks to Jake. I've purchased a pre rebuilt 1.6 d engine for my pickup... he sihpped it out quickly, gave me pages of information, phoned continually and was nothing other than helpful & very knowledgeable. Most recently I've had him build me a transmission Which he painted green to my specifications and works quickly within reason.. he was about 3 days behind due to the weather being well below Zero. I put him under the gun on time to get it made and he did everything possible to make me happy... shipped out the item as a faster delivery time, covered a portion of this shipping, and on top of that he stoped me for the extra cash in doing a quicker shipping... I could not be more pleased with his survice & the quality of his products... I'm currently considering finding a new project Vanagon since Jakes help me complete my rabbit pickup dream ride...., only thing left on my end for my truck is figuring out how to get my black/green racing seats in it. as well as middle seat/arm rest... I need to figure out how to rig a diifferent Ebrake in it that doesn't go between the seats... sumthing more like a old tacoma pull e brake, or one you step on near the clutch...


I hope my post might help to clear his name, what ever it may be.

[81greenpickup]

I meant to say "he spotted me for the cash to ship out the item as a next day"

[southboundexplorers]

I managed to finally get in touch with Jake. All these nasty threads got me to thinking more and more about my experience with him. In the last few weeks Jake has provided me with superb tech support, I should mention here I'm traveling in the middle of nowhere in Bolivia and Peru. My van is practically falling apart around a perfect and sturdy JLP engine thats never given me trouble in 60,000kms of terrible conditions. I could not be happier with my engine and would no only recommend one to anyone who wants an expert who is passionate almost to a fault about VWs, but I'd just as soon buy another one from Jake; however I dont expect anything to kill my engine for a long time.

In life it seems that bad news always travels faster, reproduces and mutates into something worse and almost unbelievable, while good news flies under the radar because its just not that interesting. Just have a look at the news. Well my story is a good news story and Im happy to share it. I only wish more of Jakes satisfied customers would take the time to give credit where its due.

on another note to veloseller1. i see you and Jake/Ken have resolved your past problem. I think its great that you have made this information public, but imagine you are in the business of building and selling VW engines and someone has basically made it a personal mission to post a huge amount of very harsh and negative text about you on a forum that is practically the bible to anyone interested in VWs. Now imagine that you have resolved your issue with the person posting these threads, but their very negative words are still inscribed on the VW bible. I would hope you can see how this kind of text might be quite damaging to your ability to do business. Wouldnt you want the old texts to be retracted? Im sure Jake does and I think many people would agree that if you two have come to terms on your issue you should follow up on your last thread and perhaps delete your older threads which make Jake out to be a demon of sorts. Just a thoutht.

[EverettB]

Moderator note:
I do allow the originator of a complaint to fully retract everything and I will remove it at their request. Feedback posts cannot be edited or removed after a short time period so only I can do it.
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[jd944]

I just wanted to take a moment to inform the community of my experience with Jake Lake. In march of '09 I purchased a rebuilt 2.1 WBX engine from him. There was a delay in delivery and the engine arrived in late May. Very shortly after installation, the oil light came on at idle. I contacted Jake and he spent a considerable amount of time on the phone diagnosing the problem. It became apparent that the engine had an oiling problem and needed to be taken down. Jake agreed to send me a replacement engine. When the replacement did not arrive in a timely fashon I contacted Jake and he promised to refund my money. He was honest about his cash flow problems and he said he would not be able to send the entire amount in a lump sum. I agreed to work with him and allow him to make the refund in payments. It has taken some time but I'm happy to say that Jake has refunded every penny of my money.

Obviously this was not an experience that I'd like to repeat and I'm not endorsing Jake Lake/Ken Morgan/JLP engine, etc. The point is that at least in my case, Jake made good on his pronmises.

[Tomudell]

I have just dealt with Jake / Ken this past 2 weeks, I was going to have him do a rebuild for me, but was vary mixed cause my original plan was to do the subi conversion, a day after putting a large deposit on the motor I felt that I really should stick with my original plan. I also found this post and kinda got a little worried. I talked to him that day and he completely understood and told me him self that he was not going to be able to do the engine for me for several weeks. He gladly said he would refund the deposit, with in 1 day I had an email and phone calls from him that it was being reversed and as today, 4 days later my credit card was refunded. I had a completely satisfactory interaction with him, he was quite pleasant and he did what he said. I believe that anybody can turn over a new leaf, many don't but I sure hope for the my dealings are how his new business practices will go.

[boonville]

i have been taken by ken too. if anyone knows were he has his shop is now, please let me know. i though it was on hwy 224 but i can not find it. he needs to be stop. a man that is as dishonest as he is does not pay his fed. or state taxes, has no busness license, and runs a repair shop in stroage units is breaking many laws. i am going to be calling fed., state, fire, and city dept. to put him out of busness. i know he will start up again in six months again, but i am going to keep after him.

[mattcfish]

Just to be fair I thought I'd relay my experience with Ken.
In the summer of 2006 I had Ken build me a 2.1 motor for my 1.9 GL. I was very strapped fro time back then and the Vanagon 1.9 was on it's way out fast.
Northwest Connecting Rod, my favorite and trusted builder in Seattle was quoting me over $3000, but Ken said he could do it for $1400 with AMC heads... no core required. I had bought some parts from Ken on eBay and had been pleased with the service and communication I got from him. When he said he could build me a motor for $1400 I felt like I could trust him.
It took 2 month longer than he had agreed on, but I'm used to this from busy mechanics, plus he said his Mother had been very sick. When the engine arrived it was as he said it would be and he had even included a new waterpump and some extra exhaust bits that I had mensioned I needed, no extra charge.
He said he had business in Seattle and offered to come up to Bellingham and help me install it for nothing. I declined this, I prefer to work alone. When I installed the motor I had a major problem. Just 10 minutes after I started the engine it seized for no aparent reason. Temp and pressure were fine.
After the motor and I cooled down, I was able to get the engine to turn again after working the crank back and forth. I was able to start it, but I knew damage had been done. I called Jake (Ken). He said he would send me a replacement as soon as he got one built. I couldn't wait for this so I told him I would tare down the top end and find the problem and we would go from there. It turned out that he didn't get one of the circlips in all the way on the #2 piston. It popped out and got wedged petween the piston and the cylinder wall. The piston and cylinder were toast.
I had been researching Vanagon upgrades while I was waiting for my rebuilt motor. I had been wishing I had gotten some GoWesty 2.2L pistons
so I offered this settlement to ken. If he sent me a gasket set and the price of a new whole set of Cofap pistons I would do the labor myself and buy the GW upgrade. Ken sent me a gasket set that week and PayPal'd me the cost of Brazilian pistons.
I wasn't happy about all the time and labor that I had to deal with and I wish I would have gone for the more expensive NWCR rebuild or better yet have done it myself, but I can't say I was unhappy with Ken, especially for the price. I came out of it with a heck of alot more knowledge about Wasserboxers and a nice set of GW pistons to go along with it. I'm Ok with the way things turned out.
Realizing that the metal flakes that I found in my oil could have shortened the life of my bearings and oil pump I have begun to rebuild my old 1.9 on my own. The 2.2 runs strong, although it idles like the cam has too much overlap (Jake had it ground special, but doesn't remember the specs that Delta Cam ground it too). This has caused me much diagnostic frustration over the years (I know what ISN'T causing the issue), but it doesn't effect power over 2000 RPM and MPG is 22...not bad.
I don't believe Ken is dishonest, just a "not so perfect" business man who takes on way too much at a time.
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71 Bay Window
75 BMW 2002
76 BMW R90S
85 Vanagon with 2.2L upgrade

[fessirts]

[myes10]

I've owned my 88 Westy for many years. When the engine finally blew-up I searched for engine replacement options. After speaking with Ken Morgan, owner of JLP engines in Denver I was convinced that he knew what he was talking about. I took a chance last November and ordered his 2.2 litre upgraded engine. Jake had very reasonable shipping rates, but we worked out a deal that would allow him to personally deliver the motor & do the Install. I live over 1,000 miles from Denver & it took several tries before we could find dates that worked out.

In short, "Jake" Ken Morgan and his son arrived, installed the engine, did a bumper to bumper check of the Vanagon & taught me a ton.

I couldn't be happier with the transaction. If you're flexible and patient with your timeframes, you can't find better value than Jake. He fixed my Vanagon, sold me a quiet & surprisingly powerful engine & I made new friends to boot.

Jake is in this because he loves what he does & he comes with decades of VW specific experience. For me--I'm very happy & passing people on the highway occasionally.

[gonzocycle]

Ken worked on an 87 syncro of mine back in 97-2001. For many years he did simple maintainance on the van, built my trust, seemed kind and sincere. He always had a sad story, seemed to be robbing peter to pay paul. I felt sorry for him and liked the guy-a lot. Eventually he rebuilt the tranny, which took longer than promised and more $ than quoted and lasted about 8 months before getting fubar'd. When I went to find him, he was gone.

It is my opinion that all of the good and bad stories are the truth of Ken Morgan, he is all of these things. If you do business with him you take a risk. The guy has an illness that needs treatment.

if you need vanagon work, go to Verners Automotive in Boulder, Verner IS the real deal.

names he has done business under:

Ken Morgan, eurocars, jake lake, vanagoncentral, jlp

[gonzocycle]

found this for those that need it:

JLP Engines Inc.

3551 So. Monaco Pkwy. Unit #230

Denver, Colorado 80237

Phone: 303-475-8637