Club 80-90 Forums

Long post alert, but may be worth reading it

OK, so the Tin-Top is finally back after it's 2 1/4 year restoration (long story ) and now I notice the right hand head to case seal has developed a drip

Now this DG motor was bought about 10,000 miles ago and I am pretty sure from it's provenance and what I observed, that it was a perhaps barely run genuine VW re-con unit then (6 years ago). The seller (a regular on here) got the whole van from an old guy, it was in a state but the old guy told him the engine was new but the entire van had been stored up for years. When I first used the engine it was as clean as a whistle in the rocker covers, like new and over the first 1,000 miles seemed to "run in" (ie got quieter, not just the tappets) and after needing a very occasional top up of oil, then stopped using any.

Then I suffered a blockage in the bleed ring that, coupled with a faulty dalek cap, caused excess pressure to build up. It "blew" two coolant hoses before I sussed it out. At that time it started a slight drip from a head seal. I put this down to the excess pressure damaging it I put some K seal in (this was all 6 years ago) and it worked

Until now

Now I don't "need" a new engine, this one sounds and works fine I simply don't have the facilities to DIY it (I have have the knowledge, but no place to do it).

So, I rang Elite and they said "yes, no problem - we can do that for £300 as long as no studs break" I then asked if I could drive it to them (200+ miles) and have them do it almost "while I wait", I would stay over in the van, or in a B&B, for a night or two, then drive it back. They said yes, that would be fine as long as it was properly booked in before hand (obviously).

Now I know some folk knock Elite, but they, by virtue of what they do, must be very familiar with this job.

What do you reckon folks ?

They get good and bad reviews but my experience has been good.
If you think the price etc is reasonable then do it.
Look at it this way, they do a heck of a lot of these engines and as you would be getting new seal/s (perhaps source them yourself from brickwerks so you know the quality is good enough?) then I would have thought you would be on a safe bet.
Doug.

watching this one.. i have two little neat drips from each corner on mine. will need to be addressed at some point i suppose

I was only commenting on another thread recently by CovKid, showing a youtube of a guy in the States who does this job. I said "It's a shame that no-one in the UK offers this service" then, when I discovered my leak and phoned Elite, I find there is !

I think I will wait until after Bustypes next month before booking it in and driving down.

the 2 micks were very helpful guys . was very happy with my jx recon & there fitting service. 3 weeks ago. even a pick up from the station & a brew when i arrived.

good trip john if you go down this route.
ps. are the new mudflaps on yet?

roy

Hi,

I've had similar quotes for the work, so the price is about right. Depends also what they plan to do - if you limit the replacements to the top 0 ring seal and metal head seal along with the water jacket seals then it would be very easy - are they also doing the bottom 0 ring seal?

The thing that worries me about all this quote and the ones I got is the proviso 'no head studs break'. What is the cost if they do (and how long do you stay in your B&B for!!) I guess that at 10,00 miles you'd gamble on them not snapping, assuming they had been replaced during the reconning.

Have you tried Gassure - they gave me a quote for this, would be a bit closer to home for you?

Cheers,

Alex

royt28 wrote:the 2 micks were very helpful guys . was very happy with my jx recon & there fitting service. 3 weeks ago. even a pick up from the station & a brew when i arrived.

Someone else pm'd me to say they too are happy with them. The "person" has a few T25's and has used them whenever required, not just for full engines, but engine repairs. I only ever considered them as suppliers of "repaired" (;)) engines, nice to know they can do "just" waterjacket repairs as many folk throw there hands in the air when this happens and end up replacing the entire engine (unless they have the facility to DIY it of course).

royt28 wrote:good trip john if you go down this route.

Aye, with luck it will be a bit of an adventure. Not sure if I will be able to stay over in the van whilst they do it, or might have to go to a B&B (or take a tent ). It will be after bustypes anyway. Plus I can get them to fit my new SS "TwinTip" silencer whilst the engine is out.

royt28 wrote:ps. are the new mudflaps on yet?

Not yet Roy

T25Convert wrote:I've had similar quotes for the work, so the price is about right. Depends also what they plan to do - if you limit the replacements to the top 0 ring seal and metal head seal along with the water jacket seals then it would be very easy - are they also doing the bottom 0 ring seal?

Not doing the lower "O" ring, as per that youtube video, if you take the heads off correctly the liners don't move, so no need to touch the lower "O" rings. The (American) garage guy said he never touches them if he is just doing a top seal job. All to do with using a screwdriver on some specially placed lugs to separate the head from the liner (I wish I had known about that when my original engine went this way 7 years ago )

royt28 wrote:The thing that worries me about all this quote and the ones I got is the proviso 'no head studs break'. What is the cost if they do (and how long do you stay in your B&B for!!) I guess that at 10,00 miles you'd gamble on them not snapping, assuming they had been replaced during the reconning.

Aye, worst case scenario is it all goes boobs up (studs, head cracks etc) during the job and I end up getting them to fit one of their engines

royt28 wrote:Have you tried Gassure - they gave me a quote for this, would be a bit closer to home for you?

Sadly Steve and I fell out quite a long time ago . Long story. Shame as I know he and John are very helpful, knowledgeable and experienced guys. Just one of those things. My loss.

im my opinion it crazy not to do the lower seall
you cant guarantee the lner wont move and ir only takes a small amount of dirt to contaminate the seal
removing pistons with barrels is nor a big job once you are that far especially if you are used to this job

i just opened a second hand engine i bought where sombody did this it had a sump full of mayo

Aye, with luck it will be a bit of an adventure. Not sure if I will be able to stay over in the van whilst they do it, or might have to go to a B&B (or take a tent ). It will be after bustypes anyway. Plus I can get them to fit my new SS "TwinTip" silencer whilst the engine is out.


i cant see a problem staying there, you will be extra security as they have a guy sleeping in his t25 there. take your ehu lead as well, good idea about the ss exhaust at the same time.

and by the way these guys work till 10 -11 pm so plenty to watch & take in

ps. i am being quoted for replys not by me. sort it john. lol

itchyfeet wrote:in my opinion it crazy not to do the lower seal, you cant guarantee the liner wont move and it only takes a small amount of dirt to contaminate the seal

I actually agree, but in the youtube clip (in THIS POST) the guy definitely says he never does it

But in my reply I said

"I learnt a few things....

Like using that "lip" with a screwdriver to stop the liners lifting with the head (see note below though)

Note re first "lift" of the head. OK, so after you first lift the head a bit, you can use a screwdriver on that lip to stop the liners coming up with the head. But, the head is usually "stuck" to the liners so when you do that first lift, you have already moved the liner a bit. He says he never bothers with the base "O" ring, but I am surprised that the base "O" ring is not damaged or impaired by that movement. However, he obviously is a man with lots of experience, so I guess he will be right"

I was assuming Elite would not be doing the lower "O" ring, I could be wrong.

I have read in the past on here of folk doing just the seal with the engine still in situ

When you remove liners you can see there is always some corrosion up to the seal and usually under it
The seals are compressed and don't bounce back to their origional shape, they are usually hard
Even if you can get the head off without visually moving the liners there is no longer presure on them and so dirty water can enter
So leaving them may work but it may fail soon after then the £300 was wasted
Id ask if they plan to do them,an elring gasket set comes with it so I would expect any reputable rebuilder to do this

Its not all about the extra cost what if it fails when you are on holiday
I bet you would kick yourself

Another one to check out would be Campershack near Grantham

I have said before that I have fitted an elite recon engine, couple of small issues but nothing that I wasn't able to sort fairly sharpshooter.

As for the seals, I would have thought it best (and would advise if it was something I was doing) to do them while doing the job. It makes sense to do them while your there just as a matter of course, and just in case you lift the liners slightly. Ok so the liners need to come out, a good time to check/hone the bores, check tolerances piston rings to bores etc etc.

Jim

Hi. It's a bit risky, if there's a problem it's a long way to go back. I did it in reverse because Elite couldn't get the van to overheat, I went to Chester and all seemed well. However, the problem didn't go away I had to head back to Chester, breaking down and being taking most of the way on a low loader getting to Chester at about three in the morning. In Chester after Steve had worked on it everything seemed OK on a long and thorough test drive. The same issue arose again when I got back home( although a new rad seems to have sorted thinks for the moment) but it's just too far to keep going back. With Steve on your doorstep wouldn't it be much easier to bury the hatchet. At least Chester is a nice place to stay, Basildon is just a sh*thole!