Date:         Thu, 10 May 2001 22:11:23 -0500
Reply-To:     Dan Eggert <deggert@new.rr.com>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dan Eggert <deggert@new.rr.com>
Subject:      Daily Drivers
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

Hello Again,
I thought I would share with everyone the story of my two Vanagons.  I have an 81 and an 83.  The 81' has bed and dresser built into the back and the 83 is a seven seater.  About four years ago, my friend traded the vanagon for my Honda Civic, Great little car!  The Civic was on the downslide and I needed a vehicle to move me out to OR.  When I got it, I thought it should have been in a junkyard, but my friend had just put a lot of work into it with new pistons and rings.  I spent about $300 to fix it up and off I went.  It made the trip from Appleton WI all the way to Portland OR fully weighted down with all my belongings (probably the most weight that I had in it) Had no problems with it until I was on my way back to Portland from Lake Tahoe when my points failed on me.  It took me awhile to get it running because I didn't know the first thing about points at that time (now I am an expert with them ;)  but needless to say, I was back on the road in very little time.  I had to replace the front brake system because it was worn out and in bad shape, grooved rotors and the whole bit.  I regretfully moved back to Wisconsin and it made it back to Sconi without any problems until I got about twenty miles from home when the points failed on me again.  It was my daily driver for three years and I put on 50k on it. I even drove it through the harsh winters we have here, without heat!   Oh yeah, I had a CV boot rip open so I had to change that.  It now sits in a field awaiting its new owner to pick it up.  It has 198,000 miles on it and with some tlc, I'm sure that it will run for much longer.  I just remembered that I had 15 people in it at one time, so that is probably the most weight that I had in it at one time!

The VW Gods had recently shined upon me with my 83' Vanagon.  I was in a local junkyard with a friend looking for parts for his car when I stumbled across my new beauty.  It was sitting there in the yard, complete without the wheels on it.  91,200 miles on it and it looked beautiful.  It turned out that they had just put it in the yard a few days prior and they had not processed the title yet so they sold it to me as is.  Got it home and threw a battery in it and it started right up.  It was not running smooth at all, but it ran.  Turns out that the motor needed a complete rebuild because the bearings were shot and it would have kept popping the oil seals out. Once again the gods showed me the way to a motor that a guy had sitting around for ten years.  It turned out that he had just done a bunch of work on it for a guy and then the gas tank started leaking on the van it was from.  The owner gave the van to the guy for all the money that he owed him for the motor work and there it sat for ten years.  We changed all the oil seals and replaced the injectors with the ones from the old motor, put it in and she fired up right away. We checked everything else out and it looks like whoever had it before the yard, just replaced everything.  We had to change the clutch disk because the old one was coated with oil when the old motor blew, but the clutch looked like it was almost brand new.  That was it for the major work.   I tore the old motor apart and I think he had just put some work into it because the pistons and heads do not look like they have 91k on them.  So far I had to put in a new cold start valve and then new brake light switches.  There is a few small problems, but nothing I can't handle with a little time spent.  It has only been on the road for about two months and I have only put about 800 miles on it so I don't fully trust the motor yet, got to get it out on the open road for a few long camping trips, hopefully this weekend!  My 81' is sitting because it has a leaky gas tank now and I am trading it to my cousin who is a body shop freak.  He is going to fix up the few body problems that it has and then give it a new paint job.  It looks pretty good now, but I can't wait for it to sparkle!  It has been my daily driver since it got back on the road and I plan on driving it until winter, or at least until I move to a warmer climate for the winter!
I love my vanagons!  

Eggz 


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