Hahaha! I spotted that ad a while back and figured that was an engine supplier to avoid. It reminded me a of something that happened a couple of years ago.
A friend of mine, who is notoriously reluctant to spend a buck and who will remain anonymous, was horrified that I'd spent about R24k to build a 1776 engine. He thought I was a fool to spend more on an engine than he would on a whole car.
He called me one day to say he'd found someone selling "rebuilt" turnkey engines for R3,500. I pointed out the cost of the rebuild parts would be more than that, never mind machining and labour. He said I was just being negative and asked me to come and check them out with him, which I reluctantly agreed to do.
So the next evening we travelled to some dodgy area of plots between Soweto and Lenasia and found ourselves waiting in the dark alongside the N12 for our contact to come and fetch us, as his directions were unintelligible. The guy rocked up in a crusty metallic green 67 Beetle which emitted huge flames out the exhaust on overrun and which broke down on the short drive to his plot ...
Whe we eventually got to the plot we could see several scrap Beetles haphazardly parked about the place, half hidden in the long grass. I wasn't keen to get out of the car as I had seen enough to confirm my suspicions about this "engine builder", but my friend was determined to view the merchandise. We were led into a "workshop" containing a hackjob Beetle with an Isuzu engine and most of the body constructed from chicken wire and bodyfiller, with piles of greasy engine parts strewn all over the floor. On the bench was a freshly silver rattlecanned engine that was allegedly newly rebuilt. Among all the trash on the bench and the workshop floor there was no sign of any packaging from all the new parts the guy claimed he'd used in the rebuild. A closer look at the "rebuilt" engine showed it was a 1200 case with 1600 fittings and about 5mm of end float on the crank. By then even my cheap friend was convinced his R3.5k would not be well spent and we departed into the darkness empty handed.
To those who are new to the hobby or who are running an ACVW on a very tight budget, beware of these kinds of offers; there are lots of them on the online classifieds and there's no way their engines are rebuilt with anything more than a coat of paint.
This little story has reminded me of the engine that came in the ice cream kombi I bought a few months back. That engine was a textbook case study in what to look out for when buying an ACVW. I took lots of detail pics of all the bush mechanic horrors on it. I must dig them up and start a new thread to inform newbies.
