Angry, Annoyed, Gutted (updated)

Guys,

Need some good advice please.

16 months ago I took delivery of my Airspeed built 1776, I think by now you have all heard that the company has gone into liquidation. I purchased my engine when this company was relatively new and was impressed by the 3 year warrantly that came with the new engine.

Since delivery I've run the engine up once to make sure it was okay, then I've left it alone till I'd finished off all my other jobs on the bus. Now, during this period numerous posts have floated round VZI and SSVC slating Airpseed built engines, with owners loosing out big time, poorly built engines, substandards parts etc... (these are everyone elses opinions, not mine) It has to be said though that some customers have been very happy.

I'm in a difficult situation now, is my engine one of the unlucky ones or is it fine? I have already noticed one problem in that the full flow adaptor fouls the moustache bar (although Gene Berg have a solution) perhaps this should have been detected during the engine build!

I've called a couple fo reputable companies and a rebuild at this stage will cost £1000 minimum, this will give me peace of mind or do I just run with it and hope for the best?

Des

Have you looked at the wording of the warranty i.e is it offerred by Airspeed or is it backed by an insurance company.

Having said that, if you called upon the warranty now they would only make good the issue you've already discovered rather than checking the whole engine over so would you be any better off?

I'd hope for the best.....

I've read quite a bit about the airspeed threads on VZi and to be totally honest i think its mainly 1 or 2 people with the issues and the rest have jumped on the bandwagon. The main concern with airspeed is how its been put together and not the parts used. If your that unsure i would by a decent gasket set and have a go yourself,
Theres a few of us on here currently undergoing build / rebuilds so should be plenty of help if you get stuck.

You've not ran the thing yet........you wont know untill you have it fitted and trialed under load conditions, the cost for a new barb to clear the moustache bar isnt worth the aggro of submittitting a claim through insurance/airspeed.....

fit it, run it, then make your own mind up you've 20 months left to worry about it....

if the warranty is insured then contact the insurance company and give yourself some piece of mind.

Its not worth the conjecture, fretting over what might be because someone once dropped a valve blah blah ......

warrenty was through them not insurance backed so your on your own

I havent jumped on the wagon, I have been a disapointed customer and have been at other garages when other owners of airspeed engines have been there crying as they been told they have a pup, i have been less than impressed with the engine and its cost me alot of money, 1000's more than orgionaly quoted.

Mine was delivered ready to go i stupidly thought it was ready to go fired it up and found there was metal in the cyls the valve gaps were miles out and other problems..

Im in he same situation mate. most ppl i spoke to regarding a rebuild wont touch a airspeed one. My lesson is not to trust it, as a minimum take the heads off check out the top end, check the dizzy if he installed it, make sure there are shims in there, check out the oil pump as mine and a few others have been sub standard.

Just err on side of caution i would say, I know not of many of them that have been 100% good first time. most of the parts are ok in my experience just need some quality control.

It sucks big time, im gutted too, there doesnt seem to be any help from the liquidators unles he actually owes u money...

good luck, geniunly hope your one of the few that have a good one he cant be all bad

froggy there are plenty of real cases,, vzi seems to bread the band wagon mentality thugh. same as it devalues real cases. the majority of people like me rather than vent it on vzi take legal action though rather than there. bit of both id say

If it aint broke...

Humphrey said:

If it aint broke...

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... you havent started it up yet lmao :lol: sorry u just gotta laff or you'll just cry

I`d have the dissy out, heads off and just have a real good nose around it including the pump. I wouldn`t want to run it and break it and then think,, `If only I`d looked' . If it`s out then great, if it`s not out, that`s another hours or so. I`d look on it as a damage limitation exercise, if you have a poke around and it`s all good, which I`d hope it is then you`ve wasted some oil and some gaskets, but if you run it for a bit and it goes Pete Tong, we`ll all know what you`ll be thinking and it won`t be nice :evil: . Pop the heads off and take it from there

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,, Safe than sorry :mrgreen:

Have you tried Laurie Pettit? I can't see he'd be that much? if not there's a few engine builders on Vzi I'd trust 63ragtop [John], Fredster to name a couple that would check your engine. Whats the spec ie is it all new parts - new case, new crank, new etc etc....that'll make a difference if some of the parts are 'used' then the tolerances might not be where they should be and thats' when things can get ugly.

I'm not sure where you are - I'm building a 1600 up for my Uncle right now but happily check yours over for not much more than beer money, these engines are quite simplistic and as long as the tolerances are observed and well within they do last and provide good service...get things too slack or too tight and they complain...I've only got 4 or 5 under my belt but they are all still running!

ozziedog said:

I`d have the dissy out, heads off and just have a real good nose around it including the pump. I wouldn`t want to run it and break it and then think,, `If only I`d looked' . If it`s out then great, if it`s not out, that`s another hours or so. I`d look on it as a damage limitation exercise, if you have a poke around and it`s all good, which I`d hope it is then you`ve wasted some oil and some gaskets, but if you run it for a bit and it goes Pete Tong, we`ll all know what you`ll be thinking and it won`t be nice :evil: . Pop the heads off and take it from there

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,, Safe than sorry :mrgreen:

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Blimey, either I'm getting used to reading Ozzie or that was a stunningly coherent Ozziedog post :lol:

Either way, reckon it's sound advice. Start by taking a peek at the easy stuff (dizzy out, rocker covers off) and see how it goes. There's a few other easy checks without stripping it. Does it turn over nice and evenly by hand or are there tight spots? Is the end float and the rocker geometry set right? Don't know what other faults have been found with Airspeed engines but those are usually good indicators of whether an engine's been slapped together or done properly.

ozziedog and me have just posted near identical checks.. think thats confirmation on stuff to check.. dont forget to do tappets, clearances and fill it with oil! you will be fine.

btw my new oil pump has just arrived.. ill blueprint that tonight ill hopefully have somethign close to a good engine one day too

six said:

ozziedog and me have just posted near identical checks.. think thats confirmation on stuff to check.. dont forget to do tappets, clearances and fill it with oil! you will be fine.



Blimey, either I'm getting used to reading Ozzie or that was a stunningly coherent Ozziedog post :lol:

Either way, reckon it's sound advice. Start by taking a peek at the easy stuff (dizzy out, rocker covers off) and see how it goes. There's a few other easy checks without stripping it. Does it turn over nice and evenly by hand or are there tight spots? Is the end float and the rocker geometry set right? Don't know what other faults have been found with Airspeed engines but those are usually good indicators of whether an engine's been slapped together or done properly.

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Yeah,, like I`m real sorry about that you guys :lol: I promise I`ll never ever ever let it happen again, (A) To actually agree with anyone, :shock: And (B) Coherent,,, To me , that`s almost a four letter word . :lol:

Pissing about to one side ,,,, I think the smart cookie syndrome has got to be have a little poke about and look !! BUT,,, LOOK REAL GOOD. If you`re not 100% certain on your capabilities,, let some one else look, even for a bit more than beer dosh, and if there is any doubt,, PAY someone proper dosh just to diagnose and strip it down and then you`ll know exactly what `s what before any damage is done. Hopefully you`re gonna waste a few quid for someone to tell you
" It seems within the tolerances " and that is all you can do.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,, An aquired taste maybe ???

Thank you for all the advice guys.

I've decided the best course of action is to get the engine stripped down and the tollerences checked, my skills at putting together an engine are nil. I also appreciate the offer there dubduz.

I'll be leaving it in the capable hands of Mark at Autotechniks. Will also get him to replace the fuel pump cover for a proper one that actually clears the M bar and will also get him to bed in the cam for me. At the end of the day the whole engine will be rubber stamped by a reputable company, should have got them to build it in the first place

After this I should have piece of mind but a lighter wallet.

Des

Humphrey said:

If it aint broke...

Click to expand...

I agree. If you're already run it up the first thing I would do is drain the oil and check for swarf. I certainly wouldn't be buggering about taking heads off etc just yet - you might end up with a giant jigsaw and no means to get it back together. Just give it a good service, valves timing etc and run it. (With new oil in, obvs)

The motor could be fine and you might be worrying for no reason.

5erge said:

Thank you for all the advice guys.

I've decided the best course of action is to get the engine stripped down and the tollerences checked, my skills at putting together an engine are nil. I also appreciate the offer there dubduz.

I'll be leaving it in the capable hands of Mark at Autotechniks. Will also get him to replace the fuel pump cover for a proper one that actually clears the M bar and will also get him to bed in the cam for me. At the end of the day the whole engine will be rubber stamped by a reputable company, should have got them to build it in the first place

After this I should have piece of mind but a lighter wallet.

Des

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Ah ok, ignore my previous post then! :lol:

Slammed said:

Ah ok, ignore my previous post then! :lol:

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:lol: No I understand, everyone's probably thinking whats this retard worrying about, now he's splashing money out on a rebuild on a new engine :?

I just want the piece of mind I thought I was buying when I had 3 years warranty. I have thought about this for weeks anyway and the company going under was the last straw.

Des

At least you know you're in excellent hands with Mark. Good luck. 8)

i can only suggest overkill from my own expense.. bought engine.. left it in shelf for nearly 9 months as by time it was actually ready, I was on contract and busy.. by that time some of the crap on the company came out. i was told to do those checks.. I dont the very basic, check timings oil etc, fired it up and bang there was metal in a cyl..

after i found a report by someone else who also had metal in cyl from the same company.. then engine was delivered to my turnkey and ready to go btw it was stored in a sealed crate and run up ouside of the van im very confident that there was no way i introduced the metal after all i would remember un doing the carb filter and poping in a few washers or something..

long story short we agreed he would do the labor i paid for parts, i was the best outcome i could acieve at the time. i have the 765£ bill

thats my experience and justifcation to assume nothing, after all the builder of my engine wasnt as careful as you would expect of a builder..

The engine has been back to them 4 times, every time something else, the case above was the most serious, but initial delivery swarf was clearly visable in ports and gaps. it always came back without holes pluged nuts loose tappets loose and other basic checks missed,, every time it was "turnkey" and ready to run.

I think your idea to get to stripped would be a good idea, id be intrested to know cost btw, certainly piece of mind its all good and has had some degree of care would be worth it.

5erge said:

Thank you for all the advice guys.

I've decided the best course of action is to get the engine stripped down and the tollerences checked, my skills at putting together an engine are nil. I also appreciate the offer there dubduz.

I'll be leaving it in the capable hands of Mark at Autotechniks. Will also get him to replace the fuel pump cover for a proper one that actually clears the M bar and will also get him to bed in the cam for me. At the end of the day the whole engine will be rubber stamped by a reputable company, should have got them to build it in the first place

After this I should have piece of mind but a lighter wallet.

Des

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Mark and Matt are the daddies IMO. I had an engine built by them over the winter. Not knocking other people but I wanted one stop shop, build engine and install it. My thinking being if there's any issues then there's single point responsibility. I couldn't bearthe thought of something going wrong and fingers starting to point in different directions. Also, luckily for me they're only 6 miles from home, this had a bearing too.

It's early days but so far the engine has performed fantastically and they're good guys too. Not cheap, but as my chinese mate used to say cheap cheap no good, good good no cheap.

Good luck

Al