Vintage Speedsters - Customer Satisfaction

Sold my pristine 2001 Vintage to John Valerio (soon to be an SOC member). The car performed flawlessly on his 300-400 mile journey until he got from about 20 minutes from his house... The motor joined its heritage & suffered some "South of the Border" indiscretion.
I contacted Kirk for some help,since the car had only logged 1045 miles, unlike my hero Mental Ward's VS (Jim:I REALLY miss not being able to have met you in person at Knotts!!!), even though it's been a few years since I purchased my Speedster.
Kirk contacted John & has offered to not only take care of the problem, upgrade the exhaust & other components, along with transport to & from! The paragon in customer satisfaction!
Thank you Kirk & Mary!~R

What is with these crappy 1776s. I've lost count at the number of 1776s on this forum that have seized, blown etc., in the last few years. Is this an epedemic, or what?
Ron

I think the trick is to give Kirk a list of the brand names of all the parts you want in the engine, not just buy what ever size you want and let someone else determine the quality of the parts that go in your engine. When I did that it definitly got his attention. My engine has 19K miles and no problems, still running like a champ. I had no experience with VW engines, so I went to the best engine builder I could find, and asked him if he were building an engine for his speedster, what features and parts would he use. Make sure to have a pen and paper ready, and there's your list. Eddie

Eddie's right. It works on small engines just the way George did his second big engine. You find out what components compliment one another by way of guys who have done it for a living... Ted @ German Car Clinic suffered with my initial slings and arrows because I wanted major horsepower out of my 1776 but as he explained to me, the more radical I got, the more certain parts wear on one another, etc.
It didn't sound harmonious... long and the short of it, the stock 1776 was taken apart for one reason and rebuilt & fortified with quality parts sort of for other reasons.

The information is out there and the relative cost to improve a basic engine isn't prohibitive. I think that it is easy to be lulled by suppliers and that was what happened to Vintage engine choices for awhile.

The dude is building a ton of cars and to his credit his price point has not taken the dream away... but expediancy under the decklid has dashed more than a few dreams.
jus' my 1776 worth!

I felt pretty sh**y when this happened, as I pampered my Tub better than any of my family members (O: Changed the oil/filter at 300 & 1000 miles & kept it mint condition, two strokes short of Eddie's beautiful black Tub (that's clean!).
I'm just glad Kirk once again stood behind his product, as the new owner is a really good guy & didn't deserve the undue unexpected grief from the onset of what was to be a pleasurable Speedster euphoria.Mostly, I did not want a cloud over my integrity in what I was promoting as a basically new car that has seen the cover more than the road.
When I custom ordered my Speedster in 2001, it was mostly based on what was appealing to my taste (visually) & was extremely naive about the mechanicals, leaving that major decision in the hands of the manufacturer. A few years later & with the knowledge accumulated from the priceless members of SOC, my next one is going to be a different concept all together.
As MM sezzzzz: "Life is good" now.~R

Rick, you are an up-front guy and I would take your word on anything. You also HAD a bitchin speedster. Sorry to see it leave. Kirk stood behind his cars 100% in my experience. Eddie

Eddie,
Thanks! Speedsterless or not, BeerHall invitation is perpetually open to you & lovely wife, if ever passing through my neck of the woods. I'll get MM to come. He does anything for beer.... (O: If we have another NorCal Wine Tour this year, I'll be there riding shotgun with MM, with stand-by underwear....~R

I will say this I know at Knott

Rick, buy another Tub and let me build you a 2776!! You'll gain a Liter and might spank MM... Thats the only way anyone will be touching him!

David,
Don't doubt you for a second & hope John posts here soon giving us a first hand account of his experience.
Jake,
Hang on buddy... I'm stealing GB's soon. Anyone in need of a killer Type 1 for cheap? (O:~R

Beer? Spanking Eddies wife? What?

MM,
Meds first... then post.~R

Oh, OK damn...and hey, McSween has been signing off 'MM' and given it relates sort of strongly with name (stage or otherwise?) it only seems right I relinquish the moniquer. Hence forth I will sign off as 'P' maybe for Paul or maybe for Prozac...a safe bet either way?
Medicine Man out...

How many of those "crappy" 1,776's were modified Mexican hydraulic lifter engines? Who did the engine mods from stock? Answers to those questions might provide some answers...

From my conversations with Kirk, they do their own engine work. They start with new VW crate engines; I suppose they're Mexican.

Kirk also uses an outside engine builder, as my engine was built from the case up from my list. It all depends on what you request, and have the money for. Eddie

But something is wrong when this many 1776s go 'tits-up' so early in their life cycle.
Ron
Paul, I put in the 'tits-up' just for you.

A day without a Mexican? That's a new movie out. More over' that's what happens when you buy a crate motor.
Just a smart ass comment.
MRDS

I think George has it right, Mexican 1776 with poor cases seem to encourage an early death . It's not that a 1776 is a poor combination it's what is within the engine that depicts how long it will run. There also one heck of a lot of good 1776 motors in cars.

Ron,
Being one that proudly understands & appreciates Medicine Man's mad artistry, I too enjoyed "tits-up" (O:

Alan,
The more I research SOC, I NOW feel the 1776's installed in our VS's seem to be a crap shoot. Some were crap & some are still out there...~R

uh, where were the tits posted?

It's okay Paul. At our age it's mostly 'tits down' anyways (and I'm not talking about our own).
Ron

Has anyone had comparable problems with the 1641 engine. I know that most people would say to get a bigger engine than that, but I am just curious as to any problems that people have had with reliability, etc and if anyone has had problems similar to those experienced with the 1776s. Thanks

Jim Bob,

You are indeed the Oklahoma brother of William Least Heat Moon. Right on bro! Great to hear you can replace some of the lost fluids with some Golden Goodness! We were all concerned about you but knew when you mentioned IM, your thoughts were in the right place.

Good news, Bruce

Jim,
Thanks for that post! I sent it along to the new owner. Glad to hear you're "good 2-go" again & welcome back.
It's just sad that something bad is installed in something good, when all this grief could be well avoided, given the more than proven failure record.~R

Hokay guys, I'm out of the clinic after being probed in every fashion possible. Five days in the hospital did me wonders. The swelling is gone, I no longer look like a pop and fresh pillsbury doughboy and the diuretics dropped a full 18 pounds of water off me... I look almost 190 again. The bleeding, well another thread, another post. To those who wrote... thanks, I WILL get back to you.

Man, this thread is like walking down a hall of many doors. In some you see the light, and in some it's still dark as all get out.

To the person above... I hate to say this, but you aren't getting the flick here. It is NOT the 1776 cc engine concept that is bad. It IS the Mexican crate motors that VS has used that are pieces of excrement. In fact, the 1776cc design is arguably the most reliable modified engine out there. Anyone that argues that just hasn't been around VWs much. Case in point;

I bought a VS with the "house" 1776 3 years ago. Six months and 2,000 miles later it cratered as I came up an exit ramp. It wasn't abused, and the maintinance was anal perfect. What happened? The El Cheapo "cast alloy" cam gear sheared from the el cheapo cam, and then the elcheapo valves bounced, and the el cheapo cast crank snapped, and the whole piece of dog doo died right there on the ramp. Why? Because the cast alloy cam bolts/nuts sheared like the cheap azzed parts they are. Ok, Kirk honored the warranty... something that made it a better day.

I replaced that cheap 1776 with another 1776. This one had a new AS41 Case, a counter balanced Scat Crank and Rods, Mahle pistons, Engle Cam, CB heads with SS Valves, Scat Rockers & springs and P&Pd, Weber Carbs, yada... yada... yada. That was 3 years ago and 23,000 miles later. I just drove it 3500 miles RT OKC-LA. and at 75-85 mph all the way there and back... meaning I whipped it on both sides, and brought it out of the chute and kept spurring it all the way down Route 66/I40. Damage? On the last 100 miles I hit some of the worst sections of I40 in the nation, west of OKC... in that 100 miles I busted a muffler (got it and threw it in with me.... lost a speedometer cable at the wheel, and bounced the oil temp sending unit so bad that it has a personality disorder now from the abuse. But! But, that 1776 was still snorting like a big dog when I pulled in the drive. I rode her hard all the way, and put her up wet. Next morning, I changed oil, set the valves, changed plugs, filters, fixed the cable, put a sending unit on, and drove it to get the exhaust fixed, And Today? Today that mouse motor 1776 is ready to go anywhere in the US you can throw a dart to on a map.

Moral? It's not the 1776...... it's the parts. That being said? I'd rather have a sister in a whorehouse than a 1641 vs a 1600 or a 1776. Anddddddd, there are plenty of 2L plus engines (both Type 1 and 4) that run just as reliably as my 1.7. It's all in the builder and parts. If YOU order ANY turn-key from any manufacturer, YOU should pick your engine builder and insist on the best. I love my VS, I am a Kirk fan, and I have no regrets... call the engine thing; a lesson learned. I'm passing it on.

I have spoken. And saw that it was somewhat good.

Jim, a VS fan in OKC