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Date:         Tue, 7 Aug 2007 07:52:35 -0700
Reply-To:     Old Volks Home <oldvolkshome@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Old Volks Home <oldvolkshome@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Inside a GEX 2.0L engine, not pretty.
In-Reply-To:  <080720071103.7353.46B851680009E1B000001CB92216566276C9C9CDCB020E03020100@comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

As Jeff said, GEX did do decent work a very long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Actually they did great work in their Baldwin Park, CA location up until the late 70s when management changes sent their quality into the toilet. I know this from first-hand experience having practically growing up virtually next door to the place in the late 60s to 70s (OK, it was a couple of miles west of my house down Arrow Hwy, then two blocks over on Nubia Street) and using several of their engines in the various VWs I owned and drove.

In those days, they couldn't supply their product fast enough to the local folks, let alone truck shipments to every which way they were headed. And the "defective rate" was so low it was unheard of. But they went cheep on the local inexperienced labor pool (with minimum instruction) to maximize profits, cheep on their engine components and instead of rebuilding the heads in-house, farmed it out to a machine shop outfit that had a questionable rep (later found out to be one of the worst in the So Cal VW scene). It's a shame. -- Jim Thompson 84 GL 1.9 "Gloria" 84 Westfalia 2.1 "Ole Putt" 73 K Ghia Coupe "Denise" 72 411 Station Wagon "Pug" oldvolkshome@gmail.com http://www.oldvolkshome.com *********************************** On 8/7/07, Jeff Stewart <fonman4277@comcast.net> wrote: > > My first Westy, a '76 with a highly bastardized 1.8 that had a single > Weber carb, was a GEX rebuild. If the PO was correct, it had 75K on it when > I bought it. On it's first oil change by me, chunks of what looked like > crumpled aluminum foil came out in the oil! I thought for sure it's days > were numbered. But, I figured what the hell, I'm gonna drive it til it > blows-6K later it was still going strong! Then I sold it to a guy who drove > it 75 miles a day to work and back for a year, then he sold it. That engine > never did quit-as far as I know anyway, I lost track of it after that. It > would have been rebuilt sometime around 1996-1997. I've heard at one time > GEX did do decent work-a long,long time ago. Jeff


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