Joe Maruschak, USA

A few months ago I contacted LPE Power about creating a custom built engine for me.  I wanted to get an inline 4 built in yellow to power a bulldozer model I was building.  I could not have been happier with the results.   At first, I was a little hesitant about the cost, but after receiving my engine, I can assure you that it was well worth the money.

Here is why I think that the value I received from the engine justified the cost.

first, I have built my own LPEs. I started off using the old nicjanso plans, and then took to copying the LPE power engines (just by looking at the photos) with success.  I add this information into the testimonial, to make a point.  I can make LPEs on my own.  It is not an inability to make a working engine that led me to purchase one from LPE power, it was the desire to have an engine that was produced with a quality that was beyond what I could produce.  It is not that I consider my own work 'low quality'; my engines worked ok, but there were always issues that bothered me with them.  One, the cylinders and switches were never truly consistent.  I suppose the pressure imbalances and minor differences in the switches make for a more realisitc sound.. if you have an old beater of a car.  I grew tired of my engines shaking themselves apart at high revs and generallly running rough. 

I started drilling my own cylinders and switches, and after destroying more switches and cylinders than I can count (ok.. I counted.. 5 switchs and 6 cylinders) I got the hang of at least boring the cylinders.  I never succeeded in making a good working switch.  Once I went to take it apart, it was pretty much headed to the trash heap.  I did learn not what to do.  Drilling out the cylinders helped, but I still wanted something more, and was growing tired of the frustration of every other attempt leading to a half working cylinder, and I still never acheived the consistency that would allow for a smooth running engine.

So, I bit the bullet and contacted LPE power.  I told them what I wanted, got quoted a price, I committed to the build, and the fun began.  And this is where I really got excited.  I was dealing mostly with Ivan on the build, and as it was a custom job, there was a lot of back and forth about what I wanted in terms of height and width, color, how I wanted it tuned.  I was included in every step of the build, and Ivan would send me occasional screenshots of the engine and posted videos for me to see.  It was a lot of fun.  I felt like I was a participant in the creation of the engine.  It was not just 'send a check and get a engine in a box'.  The experience of being in communication with LPE power was worth the price.

and, then the engine arrived, and I was stunned.  The engine is tight.  And by tight, I swear that these guys must have sorted through piles of brand new Legos to find special beams that were jut a hair tighter than the others or heated them with hairdryers or did some other magic to make the parts fit better.  I am not sure how it is done, all I know is that the result is awesome.  The smoothness of the action on the switches and cylinders is similarly awesome.  I am pretty sure that they cook the engine in butter for a week after assembly, and I cannot think of any other way to get the engine to run as smooth as it does.

So, after thinking about the cost of parts (not cheap).. the cost of the destruction of parts at my own hand until I got working modded parts (not cheap), the cost of frustration of destroying a part.. and the agony of waiting for yet another bricklink order of pneumatic parts to arrive in the mail.   the LPE power engines don't seem expensive at all even if you just look at it from a pure cost of materials perspective.

The experience of working with the folks at LPE Power, which was awesome, and the final results, which was more awesome than I expected, turned what I consdiered to be a good value propostion into a no-brainer decision.