new r5 engine?

[rikki GT]

hello,

when i bought my r5 last year off a non member, he advertized it as having a brand new engine.
when i went to look at the car i asked him when the engine had been re-built and he was adament that it was not a re-built engine but a new unused one...
i took this with a pinch of salt when buying and bought the car on the grounds that it looked pretty solid and had all the extras i would like to add already fitted, samco's/oil cooler/double alloy intercooler/coilovers etc...

but since having it i have started to wonder if it could be genuine, after going to scoffs rr day with phil and josh, they had a quick look at the car and pointed out that under the rocker cap the head/rocker gear is very clean, in that there is no oil build up at all.
outside the head is very clean and the block has black paint visable with a little surface rust. the head and block have round yellow sticker on them that looks like a temp indicating sticker, it has VEGE, i think, at the top? does anyone know who vege are? the engine does run very smooth but i guess that doesn't mean too much.
i'm not to fussed either way but if it's a genuine new engine i may have to take running in into acount when i get it on the road!

cheers, rik

[gtmatt]

hello,

when i bought my r5 last year off a non member, he advertized it as having a brand new engine.
when i went to look at the car i asked him when the engine had been re-built and he was adament that it was not a re-built engine but a new unused one...
i took this with a pinch of salt when buying and bought the car on the grounds that it looked pretty solid and had all the extras i would like to add already fitted, samco's/oil cooler/double alloy intercooler/coilovers etc...

but since having it i have started to wonder if it could be genuine, after going to scoffs rr day with phil and josh, they had a quick look at the car and pointed out that under the rocker cap the head/rocker gear is very clean, in that there is no oil build up at all.
outside the head is very clean and the block has black paint visable with a little surface rust. the head and block have round yellow sticker on them that looks like a temp indicating sticker, it has VEGE, i think, at the top? does anyone know who vege are? the engine does run very smooth but i guess that doesn't mean too much.
i'm not to fussed either way but if it's a genuine new engine i may have to take running in into acount when i get it on the road!

cheers, rik

http://www.vege.nl/index2.php?portalID=17

[rikki GT]

thats the logo, so what du recon that means? rebuild?

[GTphil]

It's hard to say really without any proof, but like you have already pointed out above under the rocker cover is literally like bran new, I have never seen rocker gear so clean, it's literally like bran new with zero oil staining.

From the looks of the website that matt posted the are specialists in building engines/gearboxes/turbos to origional factory specifications, they don't appear to be the kind of outfit that just any Joe blogs could walk into and get and engine built.

My guess is that maybe at some point Renault used them as contractor for building lumps, supplied them with all the parts and they bolted it toghether.

Maybe someone else can confirm, I'm sure that back in the 1990's/early 2000's that you could buy a replacement full engine from Renault, for not a lot of cash.

It may even be a case of it wasn't Renault as a whole that used them but maybe just some dealerships had dealings with them.

Like I said, hard to say without proof, either way it appears to be a minty fresh lump, so get it on the road and get some use out of it

[Bigfoot]

Vege are an aftermarket company which supply most engines, our company buy our replacement engines from them as well as Ivor Searle.

[Pete@Backyard Racing]

I recall Renault selling reconditioned c1j engines for £1k, so I'd say this is what u have in your car rikki.

[Big Steve - Raider]

Vege are an aftermarket company which supply most engines, our company buy our replacement engines from them as well as Ivor Searle.

You should ask them Bigfoot if you've got a contact

[Slammed 66]

Vege do reconditioned aircooled vw engines. They are very well respected in vw circles for standard motors.

My first phase 1 had a brand new engine from renault some 13 years ago now and at the time I was told it was one of the very last 'brand new' engines that would come to Britain so I'd guess yours is a vege recon.

Very high quality usually.

Ross

[Sparkie]

GSF certainly used to buy their engines from VEGE, -good quality.

[GT Josh]

I just ran onto your drive and pooed in your filer cap