Aircooled engine

[jonavan]

Advice please... I need a new 2l Aircooled engine and am going to see one tomorrow (thurs)
Its a turnkey engine with carbs and up for £800, still in van and can hear it running
My question(s) is.... Is this an ok price?
.....What should I look out for/ listen for?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated as its about all I can afford and I dont know much about engines
Cheers

[vanisveryrusty]

Surely someone can help here ?

[mark]

1st question why are they selling it?
2nd what sort of service history? check the oil black and thin no buyey
3rd what mileage has it covered?
4th how much oil is leaking out of it? more than nowt = no buyey
5th is there any end float? = no buyey
6th are the exhaust and heat exchangers sound and leak free? expensive

a couple of years ago I bought a turn key b code air-cooled with twin kadron carbs, 1641cc, that looked and sounded great, pulled like train. little did I know that he'd put an engine flush through it and it promptly died.
£500 down the drain. well I got about £200 back for bits and put the carbs on my old engine and put that back in. so £300 for a set of kadrons

mark

[BOXY]

A few engines have gone on e-bay in the last couple of months for around the £300 mark. Without pulling an engine apart you'll never really know what condition it will be in. My engine was less than 40k old when I bought the van and it has needed one new head, new crank seal, and almost dropped a valve when a collet grove sheared. What's wrong with your engine that would cost more than £800 to fix?

[jonavan]

Thank you for your replys, had to get the new engine due to old one overheating... pistons, barrels and little end shot. Having a bit of a mare though, new (turnkey) engine sounded good when I went to see it (out of a van that needed too much bodywork doing than owner was prepared to take on for mot). So got it £750, and 2 months later still in the garage, its in my van but in order to start it you need to advance the timing, then retard once it's running. My local garage has been helpful but i think they are getting a bit annoyed and dont know what to try next, any ideas?

[BOXY]

to start it you need to advance the timing, then retard once it's running.

That would be the wrong way around. The timing should be retarded for starting and then advances as the RPM increases. I would take it to a garage that knows how to connect the dizzie up. You can disconnect both the advance & retard vac tubes, set the timing to around 6-7' BTDC and just run the van on mechanical advance only. The retard was only designed in to lower the emissions, and the vac advance just gives you a bit better mpg.

[jonavan]

I will print that off and see if they can set up the dizzy correctly, if not try another garage with a bit more Aircooled experience..Thank you for your time and advice

[BOXY]

If they disconnect the vac lines they'll need to blank them off to stop the mixture getting weaken. Where abouts are you, maybe someone can recommend a local garage?

[jonavan]

Stirchley south Birmingham, I have tried to find an Aircooled specialist in the area but no luck so far, any reccomendations would be greatly appreciated.