Matt Sheppard

I was just reading an old Excellence tech article on engine break in (shows how board I am at night . . .) and it stated Porsche breaks in their engines in 10 min intervals over an hour period of time. Six diff. intervals at different RPM's and different loads. The load I believe is key and it would require an engine dyno attached to the flywheel to replicate. I have seen cut transmission jigs w/ a starter, battery and a can of gas to run a VW motor at, say, a swap meet to show that it worked, yada, yada. But they were always carbed cars not requiring a DME/KLR and didnt serve to break in the motor, just to show a buyer it ran.

pete944

I saw a few like that at VW shows too. They would have the engine inside a plexiglass box and run it at wide open throttle and very little oil. There would be a contest to see who could guess how long the motor would stay together. I think the one I saw lasted about 2 1/2 minutes.

Mike C.

I hope no one is hinting that AMW is somehow excused from the shafting they gave Dave just because they happened to be 3,000 miles from thier customer. REPUTABLE shops don't take advantage of long distance customers. I don't know about you all but after reading Dave's saga, AMW is squarely planted in the non-reputable side of the field as far as my money's concerned. To those of you who had positive experiences with AMW, I would call you lucky...

User 41221

This probably belongs on a different thread, but for the record, it is pretty easy to set up a remote engine stand that you can start and run it on. I did this a couple of times in the past, and see no reason why it couldn't be done without much fuss for a 944 engine as well.

Regards,

Tom R.

Dave,
ive been thinking about your situation since Rutts. Here are a few scattered thoughts.

The money was paid to one company, and another delivered the damaged product. technically the company that charged your account didnt deliver anything. if you put your complaint in writing you may have recours against john himself too. my buddy owns an audio shop. he had to keep a certain amount in escrow to cover refunds. maybe someone else in retail can add to this.

Small Claims Court: It seems like John abandoned his corporate veil by taking money from you through two companies for one product. If one of the locals out left can send you the papers, you may be able to fill them out here (i can help with the wording) and have a local file them. i would sue both companies and him personally. if you succeed you then have to place a lien on all his personal assets.

Federal Court: im not sure of the procedures, but since he was soliciting on the web, contacted you, etc. he may have subjected himself to jurisdiction in NJ even though he may never have set foot here. I used to be more familiar with i believe the term was nexus for tax purposes, but some of the theory spills over.

My buddy just brought an action against audi for the toasted synchro in his TT. i will try to get some info from him and get it back to you.

Geo

The local race shop I had do the measurements on my SE-R engine rebuild has an engine dyno and they're not a huge shop (at least not that I know of). What they don't have is the adapters for anything but their usual products (Domestic V-8s).

Dave

The Marina I once worked at made it's own test stand (a metal pallet with motor mounts, most Mercruiser and Volvo Penta motors were GM V8s and V6s at the time, we didn't get many 4s). A garden hose supplied enough water to test run an engine for a half hour be fore installation (no load of course), we had a control setup (2 actually, 1 Merc and 1 Volvo) that was nothing more than a plexiglass plate with a tach, oil pressure gauge, voltmeter and water temp gauge, plus ignition and start switches, all attached to the same harness found in a boat's dash. Gut plug this harness into the engine harness and you're running. We could hook this up to an engine on the stand or even use it for an engine that was in a boat as a diagnostic tool to trouble shoot a bad harness or gauges. We even ysed the controls a couple times when we went to pick up a boat for service and the owner had forgotten to leave the key!

Dave

WOW! How did THAT Happen?!? I was typing out that last reply and hit enter to start a new paragraph when my thread submitted itself and 7 copies of it came up! And you thought double posts were a pain in the butt! Anywho,

I just wanted to throw that test stand story out there 'cause it kinda fit. In the case of a shortblock, completing the engine to test run it and then tearing it back down is impractical. We tested new motors (and used/rebuilt) before we installed them so in my case this step would be up to the shop that did the installation. It would have been nice but they aren't a Porsche only shop and the 944 setup is a little more complex than the setup I have described. Even If the shop had done this, it's still AMW's motor that went kerflooey.

I didn't like the way my reply came out yesterday, I saw David Ray's post the night before and the wording rubbed me the wrong way. I held off until morning so that my reply would not be influenced by my iritation but it didn't help.
The word 'thought' just irked me, perhaps it wasn't intended that way but I am bothered by it enough that it is reflected in my reply to him.
In case it wasn't clear enough; I thought I paid for a shortblock that "could be installed in my car for the price given by the installer, in a period of time that would allow me to put some break-in mileage on it before the start of PCA-NNJR's autocross season, so I could (hopefully) rack up the highest season points total for the third consecutive season."
Nothing difficult there, the first autocross was almost 3 months away. The price to install the first engine wasn't the problem either, it went in without a hitch.
Other than being a few months late, I got exactly what I thought I paid for, until we twisted the key.

AndyK

Dave- Even though you told me most of this story at our last Rutt meeting, I still read every word in shock!

I think the worst part of this entire mess is the fact that you are STILL stuck with an engine you are not happy with. If you invested a ton of cash (like Tom R did), and wound up with a perfectly working 944, it would be different (not perfect), but at least with a happy ending.

I like Tom R's idea--SUE! We're talking about a lot of money here (few people have an extra $5k to waste), and I think AMW needs to pay! I also might consider fixing your old motor, then selling the Anderson version to someone. That would get you back into your preferred Auto X class at least.

I commend you (Dave) for being so even-tempered! If you get nothing else from this episode, be comforted in the fact that you'll probably live longer because of your demenor! My blood pressure is higher from just READING all this!

hacker-pschorr

Your story has done some good. My donor short block for my S has been sitting on the opened pallet on the shop floor for over a year. No fault to my mechanic, I put the car on hold to get the 928 running. It needed less work. This year is for the 944. After reading your post, I think I'll take the short block home, buy an engine stand and start the disassembly, cleanup and as much reassembly as I can do. My head has new cams, valve guides, tensioner, chain, and valve job less than 1,000 miles before the bearing blew.

I trust my shop 100% but I'd rather tear down the donor motor now and see its condition instead of paying them to do it.

Good luck with your car.

pete944

I'm with you on this one Hacker.
I was planning to rebuild my S2's motor for a turbo setup in a year or two and I've decided that I'm going to buy a complete used motor to rebuild. That way the car will still run so I can take my time, do it right, and not feel rushed to get the car back together. When the rebuild is done, all I'll have to do is swap motors.
Then I'll have an S2 motor laying around for a possible swap into a 924 for a fun little track monster.

Dave

Good for you, Hacker and Pete, there is no reason we can't do these thing ourselves!
What would you have him say? As far as sugar coating goes, I did leave out a few items that I still don't feel need to be posted in a public forum. I said before that this post is not about trashing AMW and John should know me well enough to know that if I had posted something inaccurate, he need only let me know and it would be edited. The ball was in his court last summer when I faxed him a stack of receipts and again in early December when we last had contact. He had nothing to say then and I don't have any reason to believe otherwise now.

This is not to say that I wouldn't welcome his comments in this thread, I just don't expect them.

pete944

If John does respond, I think it should be privately between him and Dave.
He would just get flamed in this thread anyway and nothing good would come from it. After that it would be up to Dave to update us here as he sees fit.

Dave

Either way (here or privately), but I'm not holding my breath.

Dave

Oh yeah, Tom R., you've got mail!