Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 22:31:48 -0500
Reply-To: Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Subject: Re: True Grit---
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
It was not my intention to strike fear in the hearts of every Vanagon and
Westy owner with my statement about spending your purchase price again
within a year of buying your vehicle.
I've never purchased an Air Cooled Vanagon and Westy from a list member
and most of the people that sell the vans are just members of the general
public and are not list members.
I've found that the sellers have just reached their maximum level of
endurance for keeping their vehicle running.
In many cases of Westies I've purchased to resurrect or Vanagons I
purchased for an economical parts source the vehicles have had extensive
and expensive repairs and maintenance done on them by local and even
authorized VW dealers.
I find one new head or often a VW Factory rebuilt engine and all kinds of
signs of recent new fuel pumps, ignition systems, brakes and every other
potential repair.
The glove box often has a good supply of repair tickets and parts
receipts.
Along with the stack of receipts I find many potential reasons for the
engine failure, this list is lengthy but I'll list a few; Engine Seal
Missing, Muffler Heat Shield Missing, Dropped Valve Seats, Hammered out
Valve seats, leaking cylinders, over tightened lifters, jumpers on the
full throttle switch, massive vacuum leaks everywhere, wrong spark wires
and wrong spark plugs, running Automatic Transmission Oil with the engine
oil to quieten lifters, running 10/30 motor oil..
Since I don't pay retail on these dead units it is very easy to double my
investment very quickly if I have to buy new parts to bring them back to
a safe dependable vehicle.
I quickly doubled my investment on my 83 Westy after I bought it in 1995.
I'm guilty of driving it like a normal car, pushing the speed,
overworking the engine and just in general making those miles without
really knowing anything about the proper care and maintenance.
After I blew #3 cylinder and bought a new set of heads in 1996 I started
getting a little smarter and started taking care of the little things
before they *stopped me in my tracks*,
I managed to get 140K out of the existing, recently rebuilt engine after
the above repairs over a periods of four years. I nearly wore out the
roads to the lakes and 500 miles a weekend was never a problem. I managed
to log a lot of miles going to Vicksburg MS and lots of trips to Houston
from Dallas.
I require myself to say this ......... If I had known how a really good
rebuilt engine would improve the vehicle, I'd have installed one the day
after I bought the Westy.
I suffered through about five years with just marginal performance and a
fair amount of tinkering trying to peak out a marginal engine.
Stan Wilder
83 Air Cooled Westfalia
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