Thinking scooby

Discussion in 'Alternative engine in bus' started by chrisgooner, Sep 15, 2014.

  1. By the way. The reason why I keep my bus (understandably, my wife has fallen out of love) is because when she does work properly, she goes like a bloomin train (the bus, not the wife) and, to this day, I've never had so much fun driving any other vehicle. It's the 2.5 quad cam 200bhp EJ25 engine I have. The extra power is such a hoot (which is why I wish I'd actually gone for the 3.2 911 conversion, however costly - hindsight is a great thing and, who knows, it does remain an option for the future if I can't cure these water-cooled overheating issues once and for all).
     
  2. SO You thought Scooby, You went scooby Wheres the end result!? :)



    :TTIWWP:
     
  3. I've seen it and have pictures. (The Bus as well) ;)
     
  4. Now your just showing off!
     
  5. @Baydreams

    sorry to read of your experience,
    i thought fellow work was top notch,
    thanx for sharing,



    i did try to read your post but it was a bit tricky, so i have cut and pasted it below, with a few breaks for breath, :)


    I've kept my big mouth shut for too long.
    I think it's only fair to others that I report my experiences.
    What do I think about Fellows?
    Well, how would you feel after spending thousands and thousands and pounds in the hope of building an ultra reliable dream bus, to take you wife any tiny kids on camping trips, only to ever make it to 50% of those destinations (4 out of 8).
    That's not to mention the other breakdowns where I've been fortunate enough for the AA to get me going again. With this sort of reliability, imagine what it feels like to get in your bus with your family to set off on a camping trip?

    My dreams are dashed, basically.
    Yesterday's breakdown, 120 miles away from home (typical), was the last straw for me. It kind of keeps taking me back to 2000/01 when I drove 60,000 miles over 2 years around Australia (around twice, up the middle and across-ish), in a 77 bus with standard air-cooled engine.

    I broke down once (a wire came off). I was expecting similar reliability from the Scooby conversion. By mileage comparison, my current Scooby-powered bus would've broken down over 60 times (40 recoveries on the back of trucks with 10 others fixed at the roadside). Pathetic!

    My experiences:

    One engine literally blew up on the M5.
    Later, Fellows forgot to fit the wiring correctly, so it was left rubbing on the draft shaft, which sheered all the wiring, so the bus cut out with zero warning in the middle lane passing trucks on the M6 at a steady 60.

    I was towing my little Eriba at the time. How serious a problem do you think that could be, in the middle land on a busy motorway?
    The bus then wouldn't start at year later, down on the South coast (no power coming through to the front). That's because Fellows hadn't properly fixed the wiring during one of my bus's many stays at their workshop (I can only imagine this was due to their lack of internal communication between staff).
    And I've had loads of (very serious and potential engine-life threatening) overheating issues, as a result of crap workmanship or parts.

    Can I use the word 'crap' on a forum? The most recent breakdown (yesterday) was again from overheating, 120 miles away from home, again due to a Fellows bodge-repair (on a replacement part which they told me was brand new);
    the last straw for me. Other bits, time and time again haven't been done right, meaning visits time and time again to their workshop.
    Now that's not great when you're building a 30 grand dream bus and have her booked into other places to have other bits and bobs done (gas pipes, paint, interior work, etc, etc). You have to keep cancelling these folk, thanks to Fellows.

    My bus still ain't finished, 3 years on. Then there's the constant oil leaks, thanks to Fellows (which have followed ever since I paid them to recondition the engine). Then there's the recon gearbox (which wasn't reconditioned at all and sounded like a bag of wotsits).
    And the length of time they keep your bus. Albeit minor, and Fellows do try to put things right, my bus has suffered paint damage (albeit at a cost to yet more visits and pick-ups, time and time again).
    And I always worry when the bus is in their hands. Which just about says it all. They love their Splits. I feel they don't lavish the same on Bays. Communication (not only from customer-to-Fellows aspect, but also between folk actually working at Fellows) has improved since Rob started there.
    But it's still not brilliant. I've had no reply to the one and only email I sent in September for example (I am not the sort of person who hassles too much), merely asking for the specification of stuff like the fans' power output (in case I have overheating issues next summer and want to try more powerful fans).
    Plus, I also put forward things they could perhaps look into, which might help with the overheating problems. But hang on a minute! Why should I be doing this?

    That's supposed to be their job isn't it? It's as if they tell me nothing, so I can't take it anywhere else to get stuff fixed (correctly).
    I feel that Fellows are nothing more than 'fitters'; absolutely not engineers trained to find solutions, or handle any problem issues.
    And, when you pick up your bus nothing gets explained, if Rob isn't there. For example, picking it up recently after the wiring was allegedly 'fully' repaired (although the clock indicated the battery had only been disconnected for 15 mins):
    no-one knew for sure what had been done. And I needed to know so that I didn't have to drive round no more with the worry of the bus cutting out without any warning. So I sent the one and only email in October simply asking for clarification (by now, I want them to put stuff in writing because all trust and confidence is gone), and politely asked for a reply to my September email. Still no answer.

    If the 15 mins represents the time they spent 'fixing' then clearly they haven't fixed it properly. After all, it was sheered and would surely take more time than that? I don't know. So, currently, I'm driving my bus forever worrying about her overheating, the engine blowing up or her just cutting out without warning. After spending thousands and thousands of pounds. This stuff doesn't come cheap you know. Then there was all the nonsense I had to put up with, as did Baysearcher, over the steering rack conversion. Oh, it just goes on and on. I've had enough.

    Like I said, I have a wife and two little kids, 6 and 2. If you got kids, you know what it must feel like putting them in the bus, having no idea if they're going to be subjected to several hours wait on the side of a motorway.
    Well, that's wrong. Me saying 'have no idea'. I should've said a '50% chance', based on my experience.

    As is everything I now write. My dream was to take the family to South of France in July 2015. That's well and truly off. It will now take me 2 years of breakdown-free traveling in the camper to convince my wife to even cross the Channel. Can't say I blame her.

    And my son too. He's become a fan of the AA. 'Why do we always breakdown and have to call the AA Daddy, every time we go camping?' or 'when will the AA man arrive Daddy?' Or 'look Daddy, at that car on the back of the AA truck; that'll be us in a few hours.'

    You know what, I'm sure there's a couple of breakdowns I've forgotten about in the above list. But I'm sure you get the gist of things. Pants.
     
  6. Give RJES a call his stuff is spot and Rich knows all there is to know about scooby conversions
    Only down side is that he don't do fitting, but i did mine myself in my T25
     
  7. Baysearcher

    Baysearcher [secret moderator]

    It's already done
    :D
     
  8. I wish i had gone for 2.5 quad cam in the 25, think i'll have to keep my eye out for 1, yours must be well rapid
     

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