Jake Raby Testimonial
After having three unsuccessful rebuilds for my 79 Westfalia, I finally heard about Jake through friends at autocross meets and vw shows that expressed there happiness with his engines as far as reliability, power and drivability. I began researching Jake more and more and started chatting with him on the Shoptalk forums. I had built a few engines prior to this and honestly have a very strong passion for mechanics and really wanted to do the building myself as I had had so many bad experiences before that I wanted to put all the love into this engine. Right from the get go Jake persuaded me to build my engine after some through conversations which immediately showed me that he was so confident in the parts that I would receive, that I could get the engine that I was looking for and build it myself. Well what was I looking for? My wife and I have owned many buses and have always strived for a bit more power, as bus drivers know can be somewhat frustrating when out on the freeway. I told Jake that I would be doing a lot of long trips out on the freeway at speeds of 75mph in a fully loaded camper. Jake immediately had a configuration which was more then perfect for my situation. The engine reccomended was a version of Jakes Camper Special paired with a set of Len Hoffman 7424 Heads, Len I must give credit where it is due, those heads are pieces of art, I hated having to bolt them onto the engine. I will admit at first I was blown away by the prices that I was going to have to put down for this engine, but I had a good feeling after talking with Jake on the phone many times and via email, I knew he was in this game to make me satisfied and enjoy my engine. As parts started arriving I could not believe the attention to detail that Jake had put into the parts as to what I had previously seen. I will admit I am hard to please but, I was in awl with the attention to detail. Well I got the engine built in a few months and had it back in the car. I installed and entirely new L-jet fuel system, Mallory Unilite, Thunderbird Ceramic coated exhaust and stock bus heater boxes. The engine performs way beyond my expectations. I never see oil temps above180 and they usually hover around 155-160, my CHT’s max at 330 screaming up a hill and it drives 80 mph and I can barely hear the engine running. I find that the bus now feels more like a modern car and I am not constantly being pushed off the road, I actually am doing the passing. There is nothing like driving down the beltway doing 70, slamming the pedal and passing people with ease. I must say that I have never met a person that is so helpful throughout the entire process. Jake never ignored my emails or phone calls, and he was always ready to solve whatever problems or provide knowledge. Even months after my engine completion Jake is always ready to help and make sure that I am happy. Recently I had a distributor problem I sent it to Jake and he sent back within one day fixed. For anyone that is searching for a Type IV engine builder Jake Raby is the guy. I plan on building many more Type IV’s and they will all be Raby powered.
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