Whoo-hoo! The Wonderbus's new engine has landed

Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliot · 2004-08-12T17:56:40+00:00

Just got back from Tijuana. My brother-in-law works there at a company that manufactures steel containers and one of the guys in the office had gone over to the VW dealership and had made arrangements with Anselmo Rodriguiz, the parts manager, to get a new 1600DP engine ordered. It was a typical nice big, clean and well-lit new auto dealership with shiny new cars waiting to be sold to happy new owners.When I got there, Anselmo was totally clued in, we took a look at the engine, which looks just great -- almost no flashing on the heads, spark plugs in place, daubs of paint colors on various bits, tape over all openings. After installing the engine, I need only drive back to the shop where they will inspect it, then stamp the maintenance/warranty book that came with the engine and I get a 6-month warranty (void if run without oil, installed it with violence or great incompetence, etc., the usual stuff). $1049.50 + four hours round trip.(I'm kind of jazzed ...)A note for the archives: this engine, which we would call a "long block" here in the States is called a "media" (half) engine in Mexico.U.S. Immigrations officer at the border looked at it for a couple moments . . . like he had X-ray eyes and could tell that it was not a hollow shell filled with heroin or something. Waved us on through.

C

Chris Perdue 22 years ago

Bill you are correct....we call that a redneck compression test.......but i don't fully agree with you on it...with the weight of the drivetrain the vw can and *will* over-rev when downshifted too early...now "too early" is really an understatement...any performance or track drivers will definitely understand what i mean...i toasted a vw engine once...in a friends car(some friend i am...LOL) by jamming into second instead of hitting fourth gear, which was my "target"...the parts just flew out of the case...we did indeed have some major lockup of the wheels and damn near went the other way....and all this happened so quickly...i estimate mere seconds from the time i let the clutch out till i pushed it back in...too late...

------------------- Chris Perdue

"Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug!"

Remove "PANTS" to e-mail

Vote

S

Shaggie 22 years ago

Dude, how do you miss a shift that's so easy? *tsk tsk* :-)

Vote

C

Chris Perdue 22 years ago

hehe...bite me....my most memorable "missed shift" was on the track...i was on the pole position(in my bmw ministock) started the race in first gear...grabbed second felt a tap from behind, MISSED third, BIG tap that sent me head on into the inside wall and i think damn near everyone on the track hit me before i stopped bouncing around..lesson? careful with those shifts...LOL

------------------- Chris Perdue

"Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug!"

Remove "PANTS" to e-mail

Vote

J

Jay McGraw 22 years ago

Good thing he didn't pull you over and make you disassemble it! :)

Good score!

Jay

Vote

B

Braukuche 22 years ago

For a while BAP was buying Mexican and Brazillian components and assembling them in the US using old German forged cranks and rods, but now, even they use the new cranks out of Mexico. From what I have read the cast cranks are fine for stock applications. I have two of them in my current daily drivers and have had no problem and I had one in my '68 Westy which I drove up to Lake Tahoe in (7k feet) with 50k miles on it and agian no problem. If an engine or cast crank can hold up to that grinding drive in a packed Westy and I mean packed with stuff on top of the luggage rack and all, it can certainly hold up to the load placed by the average Bug.

--Dan E

Vote

J

Jake Raby 22 years ago

I no longer build Type I engines........ Got tired of the bullshit and whining!

We are strictly TIV/356/911 now.

Vote

J

Jake Raby 22 years ago

I have discontinued building Type I engines. Now all we build are Type IV/356 /911/912 engines.

I got tired of the throact cutting going on in the Type I industry, and all the whiners.

Vote

M

Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliot 22 years ago

Isn't anyone buying factory-assembled Mexican VW engines and selling them in the U.S.? It doesn't seem like a major endeavor, tho' there may be some kind of trade duties or outright prohibition put into place by VWoA . . . ?

Vote

B

Braukuche 22 years ago

Quite a few companies do...aircooled.net does, CIP does, too, I think. There are other companies but they all carry a $300 to $500 markup over what you paid for it in TJ. And that does not include shipping or boxing fees. That's why I always say that if you live close to the border it is worth the drive to go to a VW dealership in Mexico and pick one up yourself. Just make sure you call ahead and have one saved for you. Of course the down side is that the factory warranty will not apply unless you go to the dealership and have them inspect the installation and do the initial maintenance, but then I wonder who guarentees the ones sold via mail in the US?

--Dan E

Vote

B

Ben Boyle 22 years ago

Vote

M

Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliot 22 years ago

Could be. CIP is quite coy. I called them and asked if the engines were built in the Puebla factory and the sales rep didn't know and didn't know exactly how to find out. He referred me to the importer (which probably explains the $300 to $500 markup -- each engine gets stepped on twice) who I called. Got an answering machine. Left my question and tele number and never heard back. No surprise there -- he's an importer and doesn't want to deal with we retail customers. Whiners, as Jake puts it.

I dunno what happened w/r/t my investigation into engine provenance with aircooled.net. John's a forthcoming guy . . . did I not call him or something? I dunno, I forget. I don't know if John is importing the engines himself or also using an importer. That's his business, I reckon.

Um . . . nobody?

Vote