FAQ

What does the remanufacturing process involve?
The process can differ from engine to engine but generally consists of the following:

Stripdown, inspect, measure & pricing of job. Hot alkali washing of engine components. Parts are immersed in a Pro-Scale rust dipping treatment. Crankshaft crack tested & checked for size, straightness, reground & micro polished. Cylinder block checked for size, rebored & honed to finished size. Cylinder block refaced. Conrods are checked for size, straightness, twist & big end housings resized, ARP bolt fitting & resizing is quoted for as required, as are any small end bushes. All reused internal parts are hand cleaned, inspected & dried before assembly. All external parts are hand cleaned, inspected & dried before prepping & spraying. Camshaft & followers are replaced if required due to wear or due to a performance upgrade. Timing chains & sprockets are generally replaced depending on budget & availability. Cylinder head studs, nuts, washers & bolts are replaced as required on older engines or as required. Oil pumps are either remanufactured or replaced depending on the type, budget, condition & rarity. Camshaft bearings will be replaced & honed to finished size if required. Cylinder head work generally consists of pressure test, decarburisation, check/replace valve guides, recut valves, recut seats, reface, rebuild & reset tappets. Lighten & balance of crankshaft, conrods & piston assemblies if required. Any bolts, hoses, fixings, helicoils or fasteners are checked during stripdown & as required during the build.

What new parts are fitted to the engine?

This can differ from engine to engine but generally consists of at least the following parts:

Mains bearings, big end bearings, thrust washers, pistons, piston rings, gudgeon pins, conversion set, (bottom end gasket set) headset, (top end gasket set) head gasket, head bolts, timing belt kit, timing chain kit & water pump. Other items that are not listed are replaced as required such as camshaft, followers, spigot bush, any damaged fasteners such as nuts, washers, bolts & oil pump etc.

Do I keep the same engine?

Yes, we would remanufacture your original unit, this involves getting your engine removed by a competent garage, removing the ancillary components & then getting the engine over to us, we can arrange collection & delivery once the engine is palletised, or you may bring the engine to us in person if you like.

What do you charge?

It depends on your engine and exactly what work is necessary. A vintage Bentley will be very different to an Aston Martin or an MG or Riley as we are sure you will appreciate. Two identical engines can have very different wear and require different machining and parts. So it is a difficult question to answer however we do provide a best estimate by  e-mail or letter. When the engine is stripped & inspected we can be more precise.

Do you charge VAT?
Yes, all our prices are plus VAT.
How long does it take?
As a rule of thumb white metalling takes 4 – 6 weeks.   General machining 2 weeks and full rebuilds 2 – 6 months.
Can I supply my own parts?

This is sometimes possible but we advise against it unless necessary as we like to be in control of the quality of aftermarket components. There are some sub-standard parts out there and we only use top quality parts so that we may honour our warranty.

Is there a warranty?

Yes. 12 months except for race engines or  where you have chosen not to follow our advice regarding specifics we recommend for the build.  Regardless of the warranty we aim to look after our customers should they need our help.

Can I visit your workshop?

Yes, of course in fact we encourage customers to come and visit and be involved during the build so that they can witness our efforts first hand. You can meet our friendly staff and have any questions answered.

Do you remove and fit engines?

We don't at the moment but have several trusted garages very nearby who can quote for this plus storage of your vehicle.

Do you offer machining services?

Yes, we can do as much or little work as you require from white metalling, honing, re-bores, re-facing heads etc to short engines and full rebuilds.

Do you time the engines?

Yes we do whether belts, chains or gears.

Do you rebuild carburettors?

Yes we do.

Do I send you the engine complete?

In theory the customer can send the engine complete but we prefer to have all ancillaries removed, this is not essential as we can remove them for the customer if they wish at extra cost, if they are being removed by the customer we would ask them to remove such things as the alternator assembly, power steering assembly, exhaust manifolds & sometimes inlet manifolds. However we ask that flywheels, front pulleys, cam covers, fuel pumps, water pumps etc are left on the engine. We also rebuild “projects” that arrive fully stripped.

What is Supersonic metal spray?

Cold Spray (gas dynamic cold spray or supersonic metal spray) is a coating deposition method where solid powders mainly of metal are accelerated in a supersonic gas jet stream to velocities up to 1000 m/s. During impact with the substrate, the metal particles undergo plastic deformation and adhere to the surface. The kinetic energy of the particles is converted to plastic deformation energy during bonding. Unlike other techniques, the powders are not melted during the spraying process. The big advantage can be no distortion due to heat in the piece under repair and a wide choice of metal powders which allow us to rescue otherwise irreparable components. To-date we have used it to repair such things as pitted and damaged cylinder head sealing faces, the parent bores of Aluminium blocks like Aston Martin and we are now experimenting and finding new applications to help keep old motors on the road.