Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 15:16:53 -0400
Reply-To: Bulley <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Bulley <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Subject: Are the new tanks metal or poly??: BusDepot Fuel Tank,
have you installed one?
Are the replacement tanks steel or poly? I vastly prefer the poly tank like
Jetta/Golfs have. Smart. Light. No rust. Malleable, but snaps back. Does
the South Afrikan Van have a poly or steel tank?
If Ron's aren't polyethylene, does anyone know of an aftermarket poly tank
manufacturer that would make an injection mold for our beloved??
G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett
Corporate Communications Counselors
www.bulley-hewlett.com
Mount Olive, NC USA
877.658.1278 tollfree
"I, the undersigned, shall forfeit all rights, privileges, and licenses
herein and herein contained, et cetera, et cetera . . . fax mentis
incendium gloria culpum, et cetera, et cetera . . . memo bis punitor
delicatum!" It's all there, black and white, clear as crystal! -Wonka
-----Original Message-----
From: Tobin Copley [SMTP:tobin.copley@UBC.CA]
Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2000 2:47 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: BusDepot Fuel Tank, have you installed one?
At 9:45 AM -0700 5/9/00, Doktor Tim wrote:
>Will the stock part function as intended if properly installed? Yes!!
>Will the aftermarket item function as designed? Maybe yes, maybe no??
I just did a fuel tank replacement using an aftermarket tank from
California Imports up here in the Vancouver, BC area. Their source
may or may not be the same as Ron's so my experience may or may not
relate. But, FWIW, while I had expected a tank to be a tank to be a
tank, I discovered that the aftermarket tank lacks the baffles
present in the OEM tank, allowing fuel to slosh from side to side.
Not that big a deal usually, except when making right hand turns or
parking on a left-leaning slope on anything less than 1/4 tank. Then
the fuel pump is starved for fuel and the engine quits, and it won't
run again until the bus is stopped or levelled enough to let fuel
slosh over the fuel outlet again. This is pretty inconvenient,
especially in heavy traffic, on a bridge, during rush hour, trying to
make a ferry, with wife and two kids and a 1/2 cord of wood in the
back--not that I'd know anything about that...
>Will the stock part fit? Yes!!
>Will the aftermarket item fit? Maybe yes, maybe no??
Mine fit perfectly.
>Will the stock part last as long as the original? Yes!!
>Will the aftermarket item last as long as the genuine article? Rarely!!
>Will you save time/money over the long haul with Genuine parts? Yes!!
>Will you save time/money over the long haul with wannabe parts? Rarely!!
Hard to say. The tank I got was about 20% the dealer's price--and
the aftermarket tank wasn't exactly dirt cheap, either. If you can
keep the tank above 1/4 full, you'd be happy.
>The answer to your question will be hard to come by, 'cause no one who
went
>the cheap route and had poor results will want to admit same. They will go
>to great lenghts to justify the wisdom of their compromises. Any problems
>that develop will surely be blamed on something/someone else.
The good Dr. correctly identifies a source of population sampling and
response bias, but here I am, giving an honest assessment. And you
know what? Even though pulling the tank is a bear, I'm going to try
to return the baffle-less tank to CaliImports, and have my old OEM
tank renewed (I had the foresight to hold on to it). So am I eating
crow about aftermarket parts? Maybe, at least as far as tanks are
concerned. At least I know what to look for if I ever replace a tank
again. I may buy another aftermarket tank, but without the baffles,
I'm not buying.
I've used aftermarket part for years on all the vehicles I've owned,
and very seldom have i had a problem with them. The fine Dr. makes a
very good point regarding the hassle of replacing inferior parts, and
looking back, my willingness to use aftermarket parts is inversely
proportional to the difficulty in doing the part replacement. An
aftermarket muffler is one thing, but do you really want to scrimp
on, say, timing belts? If the part gives out quick, cost of
replacing the *part* is the least of your worries.
If I lived closer to Ron (where shipping a tank would be practical),
and his tanks had baffles, I think I'd order an aftermarket from him.
I'd like to support list vendors more, but a combination of shipping
costs, customs hassles, and the exchange rate make it pretty
difficult for this west coast Canadian much of the time.
Just my CDN$0.02...
T.
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tobin Copley Bowen Island, BC, Canada tobin.copley@ubc.ca
'82 westy 1.6L NA diesel ("Stinky")
'97 son Russell =============
'99 daughter Margaret /_| |__| |__|:| clatter
1995: 'Round US, Mexico, Canada 15,000 mi O|. .| clatter!
1996: Vancouver to Inuvik, NWT 7,400 km ~-()-==----()-~
Previous buses: '76 westy deluxe (Daisy), '76 westy standard (Mango)
| 
