steve geden

Hi,
After a serious overheating on way back from Goodwood in June last year, my car has been sat on the drive waiting for sufficient funds to be released in case a rebuild is needed. I believe that it had been running hot for a while, but sat in traffic on a hot day the oil temp shot up and pressure shot down followed by a lot of smoke and cut out. It may not need it as no major mechanical noise but I'm prepared for the worst!
Car is a 1990 C2 manual coupe with 110k on the clock. I've owned it for nearly 5 years. My garage for the last two services, GTOne, suspected a faulty thermostat on the front oil cooler. I'm aware that leaving it for so long has not been a great move but circumstances dictated.
My question is, can anyone recommend a specialist in SE England, I live in SE London, to rebuild the engine. If it needs work then I'll go for a full rebuild as car is a keeper. It had some minor oil leaks, but was basically in good condition. It's been used as a second car, no track use yet, I just want a standard rebuild to give me a strong reliable engine. I do intend to increase my usage to include track and some touring.
I have contacted a few specialists with varying responses, as below. I'm looking for someone who has a good reputation in rebuilds for obvious reasons, not least future value. Responses on my initial enquiries as follows:
1. GTOne - good response as always. Get the impression that they don't do many rebuilds though. Am I correct?
2. JZM - enthusiastic response from Steve McHale
3. Parr - enthusiastic response
4. 9E - Good response
5. Jaz - no return to phone messages left with office staff
6. Redtek - slow response to email enquiry via website - straight to junk apparently.
Also looking to upgrade brakes and suspension, will post separately on those!
So, the funds are now 'released' and the time has come to get my pride and joy back on the road. Can anyone in my area recommend a respected specialist to take care of my car?
Below is a pic in days when it moved!



Cheers,
Steve

Mondrian

You should add RPM & Autofarm to your list.

sparkyvw

Go see Rich over at Milestone71
http://www.milestone71.com/

tell him sparky sent you over. Great guy.

BLACK-BETTY

I take my car to GTOne also. However for an engine rebuild I would go to RedTek or Jaz.

RedTek is famous for being slow to answer emails - small outfit. Give him a call, have a chat and book it in. Several of us have had engines rebuilt by Nick and are happy campers.

Cheers,

STUARTQ

No engine re-build experience, but as Frank has said it seems that Redtek do a very good job, there are at least 4 x 964's that have had rebuilds there in the last 12 months and all very happy with the service they received.
I would have no hesitation using them.

boxsey911

As you're going to have to take it somewhere and leave it, don't discount the specialists in the North. Unit 11 in Warrington rebuild at least one a month. Lots of very satisfied customers.

Strega(UK)

As always I would recommend Paul Sage at Jota engineering near Gatwick. Will probably be the cheapest and his work is faultless.

PaulW_964

You could also speak to Paul Stevens at Purely9 in Yateley. He worked for AFN Guildford for about 20 years before starting his own business and I believe he used to do engine builds for GTOne.

I've been using him for a good few years now, very knowledgeable and very well priced.

ALEX P

Neil Bainbridge at BS Motorsport is another name to throw into the hat.

http://www.bsmotorsport.co.uk/contact.asp

FWIW, as important as customer service is, I certainly wouldn't make my choice for who rebuilds my engine based upon their email response.

orp73

well said, communication is key, and is sadly lacking at times

MusicMadMike

Paul Sage. He did my full engine rebuild. I cannot fault his work, attention to detail and encyclopedic knowledge of the 964 engine. There are many great builders of engines out there and most of us will only have experience with one for full rebuild so I would say all the names mentioned in your thread will get you a super boss engine.

steve geden

Gents,
Thank you very much for all the replies, much appreciated.
I spoke to Nick at Redtek today and have booked the car in for 22nd September. He was one of my preferred options when I first started looking, although I did want to keep the faith with GTOne as they looked after the car well on the last two services.
I'll keep you posted on the outcome. Can not wait to get it back on the road!

BLACK-BETTY

Your in safe hands and I totally understand as I'm a big fan of GTOne also. Keep us posted.

VR6-er

You should take RPM off your list. A fellow lister had a very negative experience with a rebuild and I wont say any more than that.

BLACK-BETTY

There are tons of specialists who are spoken of here, there and everywhere, that many of us wouldn't bring our cars too. In fact there are names above that don't take to my fancy.

Point being is that there are two sides to every coin (and I'm not using yours as a point in fact) and this forum would become non operational if everyone chewed on each other.

That being said, it's nice to hear people actually speak up - considering this place is often too tight lipped. Funniest thing is that as soon as 964 guys get together in the real world all the roomers and first hand experiences come flying out.

Back on topic for the OP, it's simple - get first hand feedback from people who have had engines rebuilt by your choice builders and it ain't worth it if your even if you hear just 1 bad review...