Date:         Wed, 11 Oct 2000 21:29:53 MDT
Reply-To:     greg rich <greg4vwparts@USA.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         greg rich <greg4vwparts@USA.NET>
Subject:      buy a FORD?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

This really makes me happy coming what I thought was the leading vangon
supplier around, telling his customers to buy a domestic vehicle if they do
not like his products.... was he a VW service advisor before at a dealer,

sounds like something a dealer would say when you bring in your vehicle for
warranty.
(and I thought only volkswagen treated their customers like this)

The Bus Depot <ron@NETCARRIER.COM> wrote:
> > we ship maybe one kit every day.
> > Of all of those shipped, I have had three complaints _ever_
> >about a  pipe that wouldn't fit.

> As a business owner you should realize that not everyone who is unhappy

> complains.


Yes, so read the next sentence!!  My _very next sentence_ after the one you
quoted, said that undoubtedly far more than three people had difficulty
installing the pipes, but that many of them probably realized (correctly)

that difficult exhaust fit is not unusual on this vehicle.

This is a rear-engined vehicle with a unique exhaust system, and like some
other VW bus years, the exhaust simply does not go together as easily as on
a front-engined car with a straight-line exhaust system.  Instead you have a
convoluted piping system (designed just for us lucky US folk who need a cat
converter by the way; the European setup is infinately simpler), not to
mention a somewhat inadequate bracing system that promotes stress cracking
due to vibration.  If you look at the VW and the Dansk pipes side by side,
the bends are exactly the same.  If you try to install a Dansk header pipe,
you may get lucky and it will slip right on, but far more likely you will

have to bang on it and curse at it for a while.  If you buy a genuine VW
header pipe, you will have exactly the same odds (but a significantly
lighter wallet).  I know it sucks, but you can't blame the parts vendor for
the eccentricities of the vehicle.  Don't like it?  Buy a F*rd. :-)

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  http://www.busdepot.com
  (215) 234-VWVW


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