Westend Marine Engines - Anyone?

mattnj

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www.red-data.co.uk
Anyone used "Sam" for an engine?

Westend Marine (Batley) Ltd

Seems to have a lot of bad press/review, but he's offering for me to go collect an engine, that's shown running on a test bed, at a good price that's been "refurbished" (hhmmmm i think that means painted) but if it works and starts/runs smoothly then in not that fussed i dont think :-)

as anyone actually had any dealings?
 
There's a long account of one person's experience linked at The Engine Saga....
Thanks... It's odd as I've spoken to the guy and he's straight out told me it's a Perkins with the marinising bits off a Penta added and to come along, take a look, see it run and go from there....it's a very good price.... Maybe these others expected a "new" Volvo..
I'm happy with a cheap running Perkins.... I will update here if I go up there and have a look...

It's a decent size outfit....can't be ripping everyone off? Who knows... I will be fully careful.....i
run a business and some people are literally impossible to please...they come to me wanting things cheap/chopped/2nd hand then moan when it's not as new from factory....

im happy to spend a few hours in car and report my findings :-)
 
I have only had a couple of conversations with him when I was trying to buy a secondhand Volvo, but most of his offerings seem to have something "odd" about them.

Have you tried Marine Enterprises in Dorset. Spent more time with him (Shaun) as they are local to me and visited his premises. His "refurb" is similar - clean up paint and run and if they are not good enough basically he breaks them for spares. Just an engine is easier to get with Volvos as most are attached to saildrives originally and people tend to keep the drive and replace the engine with a Beta. I did not have much luck going this route as I wanted a particular combination of engine and gearbox that rarely comes up used, so went the ne Beta route.
 
So, here's the deal....I went there today and bought an engine... Was it all super easy...no, they could be better ... but in a nutshell I got a clearly brand new Perkins 400 series engine for £3000, complete, shown running with gearbox...

It's the same engine as a new d1-20 and the same ish as the md2020 (it's the newer version but same block layout)

Sam is a bit rough and ready and to be honest we would have probably fallen out if he had delivered it to me on a pallet as it had wrong gearbox (I needed down angle) and mounts....his attention to detail isn't 100%....he just wants to send you a new engine and let you tweak it from there....I get that...it's his business model....by no way did he seem to be a rip off man...he's providing a good product at a low price basically sold without the service....

The guys there are clearly very skilled, they swapped my gearbox/bellhousing/flywheel in about 30mins when I refused to buy as it was as I couldn't be sure it would all fit with my gearbox....no question they know what they are doing.

So is it a genuine new d1-20 with the Volvo stickers and nmea2k interface....no....and to be fair he didn't tell me what it was till I arrived....I asked for a md2020 which is the old one...I've got a new model! :-)

But it is new Perkins engine they have basically marinised using what looks like new parts (raw pump and heat exchanger/elbow) in excellent running order, done well...clean and looks as new, no rounded nuts or shoddy work I can see (and I am a mechanical engineer)...it runs super quiet and has a stop solenoid (yay!)

It needs my loom fitting and connecting up...and job done.... I'm very happy...but I will be honest the customer service needs a bit of work...they are clearly very busy with the trade and the probably can't be bothered with end users rocking up I was annoying him with my demands... :-)

I would never recommend buying from them with it shipped blind but if you are ok with a bit of hassle and checking it yourself then that's a bargain surely? Just don't expect a new Penta for £3k....

My boat is £10k worth....so it makes sense....if I had a £50k boat maybe I'd pay double for the real thing.... I will update again when it's been running for a while...

In a nutshell very good but you need to work hard with him to get what you want and be able to check/question it....
 
The D1 20 is a very different engine from the 2020. Only revs to 3200 rather than 3600, so look carefully at the ratio of the box as you may have to change your propeller or have it repitched.

Sounds like a good deal though and if you can get it to connect up to your control panel successfully you have avoided the worst bit of the D1 series - the MDI interface with the electronic panel.
 
The D1 20 is a very different engine from the 2020. Only revs to 3200 rather than 3600, so look carefully at the ratio of the box as you may have to change your propeller or have it repitched.

Sounds like a good deal though and if you can get it to connect up to your control panel successfully you have avoided the worst bit of the D1 series - the MDI interface with the electronic panel.

Its a 3600rpm max engine (says on it)
And the electrics are simple simple...
 
Its a 3600rpm max engine (says on it)
And the electrics are simple simple...
OK, but you still need to check your ratios as the 2020 boxes have a reduction of around 2.4 and the D1 20 2.2 to keep the shaft speed more or less the same at around 1500rpm. so if you fit the later box (assuming it is a Volvo box) your shaft speed will go up by about 150 rpm.
 
OK, but you still need to check your ratios as the 2020 boxes have a reduction of around 2.4 and the D1 20 2.2 to keep the shaft speed more or less the same at around 1500rpm. so if you fit the later box (assuming it is a Volvo box) your shaft speed will go up by about 150 rpm.

I'm using original gearbox as mine is down angle
 
You get down angle with either type of reduction, but if it is the original box fitted to your 2020 then it will be OK
 
Thanks... It's odd as I've spoken to the guy and he's straight out told me it's a Perkins with the marinising bits off a Penta added and to come along, take a look, see it run and go from there....it's a very good price.... Maybe these others expected a "new" Volvo..
I'm happy with a cheap running Perkins.... I will update here if I go up there and have a look...

It's a decent size outfit....can't be ripping everyone off? Who knows... I will be fully careful.....i
run a business and some people are literally impossible to please...they come to me wanting things cheap/chopped/2nd hand then moan when it's not as new from factory....

im happy to spend a few hours in car and report my findings :)
Well, good you had a reasonable experience with them but like you noted, the experience is shoddy.

That link was from my boat build, where Sam offered 2 x brand new D2-55s. What was delivered was completely different (refurbished tractor engines, ground off serial numbers, incorrect gearboxes) that the local marine engineer refused to fit on safety grounds - and also as he couldn’t verify that they weren’t stolen. I ended up having to take Sam to small claims over the matter and eventually went down a different engine route.
 
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