well went for a ride today and had a complete disaster happen.have a few questions and wanted to see what you think.i had gotten this motor from a bug shop and when i brought it home and started it the guy never set the deck hieght on the #1 cylinder and it topped out against my head,hit it so hard that it left the impression of the piston in the head and on the piston it was marked also.so i took it back,then after a total of 3 months of traveling 1.5hrs 1 way back and forth trying to get it done i get it and its 3 days before the halloween climbs at d&k so i put the motor on cruise up the road a total of about 15 mins run time and break all the valve springs,so pull it home take the heads off and run to another local shop and have high rev valve springs put in it put the heads on and since that time i have ridden it pretty easy and have really not gotten on it,i have rode sevral weekends but with the bad weather we have ridden only road trails and not the bad stuff just cruising mostly,last weekend i climbed what i consider a fair hill playing in the snow and opened it up on the way home and broke the valve springs agian.got it home fixed them agian and today me and my boy went out for a cruise and i opened it up what i would say was the first time i had really got on it on a hill and it let go all at once,thought it was the 3 rib exploding finally but as soon as it started off the hill backwards i knew it was the motor.towed it home pulled the head and it was the #1 cylinder the same one that smacked the head and after 1 hard climb it lets go on the same piston.the rod cap is in the bottom of the motor the cam is broke the lifters are busted out of the block on the inside its a pile of junk now.is this a failure due to the previous incident or what should i do about it. i beleive that still it was not fixed back properly and should be fixed agian but would you all feel the same way,thought id get some opinions about it before i call tommorow.thanks for any input guys.chad

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NOW GAS IT!!!!!

chad im by far a engine guy but i hate to see tis happen to you ! i hope all goes well with this ! jason

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Theirs no replacement for displacement !

im just guesing here but it wouldnt suprise me if the crank or rod was damaged by the 1st malfunction and as far as the valve springs go im not sure unless the pushrods were to long or improper ratio of rocker arms for the cam that was used and other than that itmust have had something to do with geometry of the setup and i know just enough about that to be dangerous or it could have just been a quality of parts issue

i sure do hate to see this happen to anybody, hope youre able to get this sqared away soon and get back on the trails

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Just Stand On It!!!!

Chris

Again just guesses. I'd guess improperly sized main bearings, (at least centre main). No problem at low RPM but crank flexing at higher RPM. Or conecting rod cap not tourqed on #1 as deck hieght has to be the same as the #2 or cylinders would be different hieghts and head would not form a seal. Crank would have had to be rotated during assembly a few times. But it did n't hit then or the builder would have known to look for a problem. Did the other rod caps need a wrench to remove? Looked like H beam rods with ARP bolts. those have to be well torqued. those caps are doweled and feel tight just when pushed on.

i only pulled this jug and all that stuff was inside the piston when pulled the only thing i pulled out of the block was the rod,the cap is in peices inside still.it was h beam rods,82mm crank,fk7 cam,1.4 rockers.the heads was stock with bigger valves installed so i feel they was just coil binding and thats what happened there but i feel this is a problem due to assembly on the rod and piston to cause this failure.jmo but thinks for your input guys going to call later and see what happens,should have not traded for this and just bought odyknucks and been done with it and not had this drama lol.but if not for bad luck i would have no luck at all.chad

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NOW GAS IT!!!!!

well just got off the phone and said there is no warranty after it starts so,going to calm down and call back later after work but looks bad for now.im pissed.chad

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NOW GAS IT!!!!!

That sucks to hear about what happened, I hope you get it all resolved and back up running again and can't wait to ride with you on them beautiful West Virginia mountains!

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"Loud pipes saves lives"

Id be waiting at this guys house.When i built my first motor,it was a 2276 and the first ride out i was drag racing a Banschee and the gland nut came loose at about 5000 and i didn't destroy it nearly as bad as that motor looks.Not trying to rub it in,but i aint never seen anything like that,looks like he put a longer rod on that side than the rest.

was the engine ever checked for coil bind after the first set of springs ? man that sucks. most would think it from the first malfuction but i beleive you had more than one problem going on there. what kind of h beams and what brand are the bolts in them.

i've done this to 3 motors... in less than 2 years... if that makes you feel any better. Hope you get it fixed up gasman i want to ride wtih you again this year!

Some one should pay a visit to this engine builders place of busines, and put him out of busines as he does not know VW engines. I still believe a non torqued rod, (they just don't let go). Coil bind, singles or duels? As spring seats have to be machined diferently. Multiple problems, like the guy just took all the parts and assembled them with out checking any fitments. Just put the pieces together. AKA, a grenade. VW's are simple but very fussy! Must be done right. Next time you see the guy, check and see if he even owns a torque wrench. Sorry, but I'd be going nuts. I could n't afford to do a 2nd engine. So if some one was n't willing to stand behind their workmanship, they'd be covering the cost one way or an other.

My first thought was a mismatched set of rods or the block was cut at that cylinder & allowed it to seat too deep. I think the destruction came from not torqing that rod cap though. Im by no means an engine guru but I can say the builder of that engine had his head up his rear end though.

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i would take the motor put it on the end of my foot and kick it up his ass thats a pile of shit who built the motor so i or any of us go to him

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sit down!!!!! hold on!!!! and scream!! cuz we're going
1915 counter cRank, mofoco 042 maule 94's vz15 and 5 rib built to the max!!!

YAP YOUR PISSED,YOU NEVER FINISH A POST WITH OUT MR GREEN.

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Air cooled forever,i hate rusty tools!!!!!!!

well was told once it starts it belongs to me,if there had never been a problem to begin with then thats one thing shit happens,but to have had the problems i had and for it to be on the same cylinder then an honest repectful buisness person should owe up to doing a piss poor job and hold account for it,but said he doesnt have the money to replace it,well neither do i.then tried to tell me hed build another for me if i paid for it.yea right.i have spent alot of money at this shop and have sent him buisness of people who has spent thousands of dollars and they have said the same thing,will not go back.alot of people know this guy and he always seemed like a good guy but who failed to do a good job for me and is letting me eat the cost.if things dont change like this week because i know is hearing if not reading this then i will post his name and shop on here and he will lose buisness from it because who would want to be done this way,im trying to be as nice about this as i can to try and get it resolved.chad :

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NOW GAS IT!!!!!

It's up to you to tell the world who did this to you, but like you said, I would'nt go back to the builder for nothing and I would feel the same way too.

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"Loud pipes saves lives"

Chad, this is an unfortunate situation for you. The builder should own up to his mistakes, however that is unlikly to happen. He has allready made his stand and your options are to take him to court or move on. Unless there is a written Warranty and you can prove with out a dought it was his error then you would be better off Investing the Attorny dollars into another motor. Lack of personal Integrity has made this country what it is today and that really SUCKS!

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Water cooled Dry Sumped Subaru Powered Turbo Charged Fuel Injected 2500CC Tank. Oh Rah! He who dies with the most Toys not only wins, He also wears them out!

I hate to say it but this is the truth. If theres nothing in writing a court will dismiss it. Been there, done that. Even if the jerk wont stand by his work Id see if you can get some parts for the new build as compensation. The threat of being outed may be enough to get him to come off some parts.

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Did you get an honest apology, or a sappass apology? Whats this guys name?

It is a bad situation for you. But most motor builders do not give warranty's with their builds. I spent a lot of money on my motor and knew from the start once it fired up it was mine. One of my customers run late model dirt cars their motors cost $39,000.00 this year they blew 4 motors in 2 weekends. (they have 4 dirt cars) It cost them a lot, but once their motors fired up it was theirs.

I agree Bruce, but the scenario lies that the builder admitted that he was at fault for not checking the deck height correctly, he should have turned the engine over by hand to check for any clearance issues, if he did not do that at all or just being plain lazy not to check it, that is wrong, if his motor blows up and the crank broke in 2 pieces, it is nobody's fault, just a defected crank. There's always something gonna happen when an engine gets put together no matter what, somethings gonna give over time, maybe after 2 rides or even after 15 years of riding, somethings gonna wear out or show signs of fatigue. The key on a good running, reliable engine is to run good parts and good oil, if the owner wants to run a 30 year old crank and a set of 40 year old rods, that is their choice and they should know that may be at risk of blowing up unless it is a good set, I mean getting checked for balance, fatigue, etc. I lost an engine about 3 years ago and it was my fault because I was experimenting it with a 4-barrel carburetor and tried all kinds of different routes to get it to run properly in the woods and every attempt failed, I mean it failed miserably it floods it out everytime and I had to take the plugs out to turn the engine over to blow the gas out the cylinders and some of it seep in to the oil and contaminated it and that's where my main fault lies, I should've changed it right away. I was trail riding at a Poker run when I finally got a set of dual Webers and everytime I go around a corner, my oil light comes on and I thought I was low on oil, I checked it and it was OK and I kept on going ignoring it and that was a painful lesson learned big time and it would'nt fall out of a tree, everytime I shut it off it did not want to start back up due to the low compression. When I took the engine apart, I was running a good crank but did not know the brand and it was gone, all the bearing surfaces were plum ate up and it is ruined, the rods was bone-stock I-beams and a used VZ-15 cam, I can tell by the surface of these parts that the person I got the engine off of lied to me telling me that everything is brand-new inside the case and it has brand new heads and the heads are bone-stock with stock valves looking like it ran for 30 years on a differnt engine. I learned my lesson big time and I never dealt with him again, I have nothing against him, it was just business. That is why I'd rather buy all parts NEW and have it done by a GOOD engine builder that knows what he is doing and I will be able to sleep at night . I ran all CB Performance stuff for 2 years and it looked brand-new inside afterwards and the lifters hardly showed any wear on the surface like it was just put in that engine yesterday and it has been through hell several times mostly at Wellsville last year and it held up.

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"Loud pipes saves lives"

Well if he did not check anything and just bolted it together, that was mistake #1. I do not know who it is that put his motor together. I was just stating that most motor builders in off-road performance will not give a warranty. I hope he gets it taken care of.

I could'nt agree with you more Bruce

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"Loud pipes saves lives"

sorry to hear about your motor. when you said you ran it hard, how hard did you run it, meaning how many rpms, did you have a rev limiter? when i built my first 2276 motor, it only lasted 2 days, i didnt have a rev limiter and one of my rod bolts broke. i was running CB performance H-beam rods with ARP bolts. when i rebuilt the next motor. i used scat H-beam rods with 3/8 rod bolts. i havent had a problem with those yet, but i also do run a rev limiter now. i always build my own motors. that way i can double and triple check everything, and i dont have anybody to blame for a problem but myself.
dave

I build alot of motors here in alabama. When I finish a motor it stays on my run stand for at least 2 hrs. I dont warranty motors either but I give the motors time to break in and show problem if there is one. From my own experience there are a ton of bad parts out there. Three weeks ago my own motor took a crap. After getting it tore down I found one of my cam bolts sheared off. Just the head of the bolt broke and left the threads in the cam. It broke the end of the cam off at the gear and knocked the oil pump out of the motor. So it just goes to show you never know what you getting when you buy parts now days. My motor was together a little over a year.