I would like to relay my experience with you guys on here with Austin Watts and the Dorchester Mini Centre. I'm writing all of this as I don't want others to go through the same experience as I have. Over a year later and I'm still clearing this mess up. I'll start by apologising for how long this post is but bear with me...
In 2012 I bought my mini 1000, my first car at 17 years old. It ran well for just over a year. Me and my dad kept it going well maintained for this time. Mid 2013 the engine dropped a piston ring, the bores worn and the car did not run. Im a member of the Jurassic coast mini club here in Dorset and knew of an old club member with a 1968 998cc Cooper engine and gearbox for sale. ( he's got the most impressive mini collection I've ever seen consisting of a 1969 Cooper S, a Mini Markos, Mini Convertible among other minis. This engine was in a MK2 998 Cooper he had owned in the past. It was in good condition that had seen little use in the past. I bought the engine from this chap for a very good price on the condition I would put it into a car again so he could see it getting the use it deserved.
I was due to start work very soon as an apprentice working 20 miles from home so transport was a must ( Not ideal for a mini I know but its all I had!) My Gran wanted to help me get the best start to working life so wanted to pay for a local mini specialist Austin Watts of the Dorchester Mini Centre to put the engine I bought into the car.
We dropped the engine at Mr Watts garage and he had the car collected from my house. He explained to me that the gearbox and remote from the 1960s unit would not fit into an 80's car so he advised to put the Cooper block and 295 cylinder head onto the A plus gearbox currently in the car. He also said that the Cooper engine would have to be rebored, So we agreed to have the engine rebuilt. A few days later he told my gran he could only get 0.60 pistons. I thought this strange but we agreed to proceed. I also requested that the wiring be renewed as this was a weak point on the car when I bought it as well as the suspension.
After weeks of delays I finally got the car back, and Mr Watts advised me on how to run the new engine in, I followed his instructions religiously until 500 miles when he replaced the oil in the engine, and then a further 500 miles of running in.
My Gran paid each of his bills immediately, and at this point I had no idea what had been spent.
In the following weeks I had intermittent problems with the car. It would run fine one moment and the next minute would misfire, back fire and burn oil. Each time I had a problem we did not hesitate to return the car to Watts. Each time he would drop the car back whilst I was at work with no mention of what had been done. Just the keys posted through the letterbox. When the problems continued he would say that the car was fine when he had it, even though the car was in an undrivable state. The problems continued throughout the final months of 2013. I also noticed after approximately one month the suspension had collapsed on the passenger side of the car. I checked the invoices and noticed that Mr Watts had replaced ONE rubber suspension cone with a second hand, used part. I discovered after looking at the invoices that Watts had charged my Gran £4500 for the work carried out. Seemingly overpriced for a rebuilt engine, suspension work and wiring work.
After the sixth time of returning the car with no success, the problems persisted, in writing we informed Mr Watts that If he could not fix the problems, trading standards advised us to take the car to another garage for diagnosis. to each letter we received no reply and through phonecalls he denied there was a problem with the work carried out. So we had a company 'Classic Assessments' inspect the car and the work carried out. The engine was not removed nor taken apart, just looked at and all the work inspected with a listen to the engine running. The car at this point was leaking oil as well as burning some too. Classic Assessments wrote a report stating that they questioned the rebuilt engine and the rebore carried out. The suspension , they stated was sagging to one side, saying that one rubber cone should not be replaced but both sides should be replaced. The wiring was in no better state than when the car went to Dorchester Mini Centre and the repair to the drivers side footwell floor pan was a temporary repair and would not last, requiring attention soon. After a very long time battling on the phone, I managed to get Mr Watts to come to my driveway ( he lives about 100 yards away from me) and listen to the car backfire, miss fire etc. to prove there was a major issue. Approximately one week later we recieved the one and only letter from the Dorchester Mini Centre offering to replace the engine with a standard 1000 engine with a fast road cam from MiniSport. I responded to this letter thanking him for the offer but stated if he was to replace the engine it must be a 998 Cooper unit, what I had supplied him with prior to the work due to the rarity and value of the Cooper engine. It seemed that after denying there was anything wrong with the car for months, he had now accepted liability for the poor state of the engine.
We sent a copy of this to Mr Watts but recieved no reply. A few weeks later the head gasket blew. We invited a professional mechanic from the mini club as advised by trading standards to take the cylinder head off of the block and to replace the gasket. As well as to investigate a rattle coming from the timing chain cover. The cylinder head was removed exposing a very poor looking engine. The bores scored and worn, loose fitting pistons and oil filled chambers, the cylinder head choked up. Please see photos provided. The missfiring was diagnosed as inlet valves sticking. Upon closer inspection the valve stem oil seals were hard and perished. Not something to expect on a rebuilt engine. The rattle was caused by the old chain which was taken off the old engine, Watts described the reason for this was to save money. We replaced all of this for less than £30.
I have managed to keep the car running until October 2014. Up until now the engine has burnt and leaked increasing amounts of oil, costing me money to keep topping it up with oil. On a trip to college in Bournemouth the 'rebuilt' engine finally gave up, dropping a piston ring, using up most of its oil supply in less than a 50 mile round trip. I have removed the Cylinder head recently and found that 3 of the 4 pistons are loose in their cylinders, all cylinders are worn and have score marks on them. The cylinder in which the piston ring perished, there is a large crater in the cylinder wall. As suspected the reconditioned Cylinder head I myself replaced approximately two months before was coked up.
When I ask Mr Watts what work he actually carried out on my Mini he will not comment, but blames the state of the cylinders on the spark plugs! When I have asked him on numerous occasions for an invoice from the engineering company that carried out the work, he sends me an ESTIMATE dated months after the work was carried out.
As predicted the repair Mr Watts did to the floor had to be redone failing an MOT on this as well as the high heavy carbons caused by the burning oil, costing me a further £300. After an MOT failure, Mr Watts still insisted his work was of good quality.
Credit where credit is due, Mr Watts did replace a dashboard bulb and an exhaust clamp. I have had no problems with these as of yet but the car does blow a lot of fuses because of the shoddy wiring.
Not only has this been a miserable year for me and my car. It has been a stressful one for my Gran. Its saddening to wonder what all her money was spent on. I think many will agree that £4500 is probably overpriced for an engine rebuild and a few other jobs but she would have been happy if the work was of good quality and that I could have driven much much more than 1500 miles since the work was completed. Especially after she was told by Watts that the rebuilt engine would last a good 15 years! Instead I am now tasked with the job of yet again replacing the engine in my car, but will do it myself this time. We are not sure if the engine I received back from Mr Watts is the Cooper unit I supplied him with initially, as the VIN plate is missing. It's also been dissapointing for the chap I bought the engine from. He will never see his engine running again.
Now for the good news...
I still have the Cooper gearbox and remote I purchased initially, and recently have purchased a 1960's 998 Cooper engine that has never been used, and never started, on standard bores with D pistons. Over the Christmas period I have rebuilt the gearbox and put together a 998 Cooper unit that will be put in the car in the coming months. I will also be replacing the wiring, suspension rubber cones etc.
I have been told that the remote style gear change will in fact fit in the MK 4 shell with no need to change the tunnel, all that is needed is a bit of fettling. If anyone has any advice on this its more than welcome! I'd appreciate all the help I can get! I will be doing this myself with help from friends at the Jurassic Coast Mini club. I think I'll struggle to trust a garage with my Mini again.
Thanks for taking the time to read my incredibly long post. I hope I have not bored you, I just really want to make others aware of the trouble I have had to avoid anything like this happening to other people on this forum.
I have added photographs of the engine and other areas of the car.
Many Thanks
Callum
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Edited by TheFlyingSprout, 03 January 2015 - 06:16 PM.
