Does anybody have any negative thing to say about Vintage Jag Works in Blackfoot, Idaho. With the Mike and Cheryl Cummins fiasco in mind, I thought I would check with club members before I have VJW rebuild my 4.2 engine. BBB gives them an ÔÇ£AÔÇØ rating.

Submitted by jamesws1@minds… on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 11:49

Miklos,
Bill Terry has over 30 years experience in building jag engines and many jag racing engines. He has done work for me and I am very pleased. He is one of the best in
my opinion. He is located in Benton, IL.

Submitted by SC38-21185J on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 21:11

Miklos: I simply don't see any reason for you to go to such lengths as to ship a very heavy engine halfway across the USA. Rebuilding an E-Type engine is not very complicated or difficult. I'm doing a 4.2 right now for a friend.

I would advise your keeping it at least in Illinois as I'm sure some expert could certainly use the work right now. I did a Google search for Jaguar engine rebuilding in Illinois, and came up with at least 2 alternatives:

http://www.terrysjag.com/engine.html

http://www.sportandspecialty.com/jaguar.html

Terry's Jaguar has been around for a VERY long time, and no doubt has tons of engine rebuilding experience. You can visit each of these two shops and see some photos...though I'm not too crazy about some of the manifold colors I see.

If it were mine, I would not want the engine to be so far away that I can't drop by and check on progress, or worse, the lack thereof. I would personally visit the shops to see how they are run and if I like the work areas. Talk to the owners to get an idea as to a timeline and projected cost.

Of course, they will rightly say that they don't know what the engine will need, and cannot really give you a quote. This is partially true as they don't know if you have a cracked block or warped heads. I would count on replacing nearly everything: pistons, valves, springs, timing chain, sprockets, valve guides, etc. You do NOT want to have to remove and open up the engine again.

I have heard 10 grand being tossed around as a rebuild cost, but that sounds very high to me. But again, don't send an engine to someone just by Internet reputation. You should personally visit the shop. Also, do not turn over an engine for rebuild with some written parameters in place. If they don't want to sign a contract or agreement in regards to when the engine will be completed and for about how much, then I wouldn't do business with them. You don't want to walk into an open-ended contract.

You can keep costs down by ordering the parts needed and sending them to the shop, otherwise they will mark up what they order. They may or may not do business that way, and perhaps you don't want to go to the hassle. I would also put a checkpoint or two in the timeline. For example, you might want to see the block before pistons are put back in, or before the head is installed. Yes, they should be able to furnish you with photos along the way.

So to wrap this up, take the time to visit one or two of these shops.
But if you HAVE to send it out of state, I would recommend Jeff's Resurrections in Porter, Texas. Completetly ethical, trustworthy, and super-experienced.

Feel free to contact me off forum if you have any questions. mcloadatgmail.com

Patrick McLoad
http://jagxke.wordpress.com/