Ian Hulley wrote:But I have seen an engine with less than 250 miles on the clock but 5 years since 'a Vege engine was fitted' with the receipt for £1000 just for the engine and the thing was a disaster area (the elderly owner had died and his widow couldn't force herself to part with the van until it had decayed away on the drive). In the end a friend and I stripped the engine and on one bank it said 'Good Side' on the barrels and pistonsThe whole of that side was made up with blue silicone and spaghetti-like strands of it were right throughout the cooling system. Both heads had been painted silver and there were several very poor stud bodges possibly done by the Buxton garage who had 'fitted' the engine.
Was it actually a Vege engine, or did the garage do their own "recon", which somewhere down the line got translated into Vege - either by the garage being shysters or by somebody who thought "Vege" was some kind of generic?
Vege's actual remanufacturing plants are in NL and Tunisia - so I doubt they'd write "Good side" (in English) inside...
http://www.vegeuk.com/uk_en/vege_facts_and_figures.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I like the sound of this from Vege's site...
Customers Own Units (COU) – A Bespoke Service
The VEGE sales team are specialists at what they do and if they can’t offer you a fully remanufactured product from stock, they may be able to arrange for your damaged/broken unit to be rebuilt within a few days.
This service, we believe is unique to VEGE and draws on our vast European network of trusted suppliers. Every VEGE Branch relies on smaller local rebuilders to help them supplement the VEGE standard range of remanufactured products.
There are no set prices, every engine is different. First we ask you to tell us the damage to your engine, at this point we try to provide you with a ‘guide price’ subject to inspection. Once the price is accepted in principle; we arrange for the collection of your unit by our carriers. When the factory has had the opportunity to inspect your unit we are able to confirm the cost of the remanufacture and gain your approval before proceeding. A few days later the rebuilt engine is delivered back to you for refitting , the unit carries the same Pan-European 12 month warranty you would expect from a VEGE product.
But, if you're going to get 'em to do that rather than an off-the-shelf, might as well get a local expert to actually rebuild it for you.
. I suppose the cheaper option from T25 Direct (mrcheese) may not have as many reconditioned and replacement parts, I'll have to ask and find out. Trouble is, there's always going to be someone who's had a bad experience and it's impossible to know what's gone on inside that sealed up chunk of metal!