About 10 years ago I was in baja with my diesel westy. The van had a dealer rebuilt engine in it which was bad when I left ( I know), and got much worse by the time I got to Mulege. It was burning large amounts of oil. I decided I would re-ring it in Mexico. I was able to buy all the parts and tools (rings, ring compressor, hone, rod bearings, head gasket, timing belt etc.) in La Paz, and Cabo. In the end I didn't do it and just drove it home. But I could have done it. On another trip I bought and replaced the front shocks on a vanagon in Loreto. On another trip we just came out of the jungle on the road from Flores (Tikal), Guatemala in a mitsubishi station wagon. These vehicles were only sold in Canada, not in the US or central america. The front struts were completely kaput, having leaked and pumped out all of the shock oil on the very rough road. The car was undrivable due to vibration and no steering control. In the small village where we stopped, I bought a large pipe wrench from a roadside vendor. I unscrewed the tops on the struts, while they were still in the car as well. I was lucky caps were not welded on. I refilled the struts with motor oil and went on our way, eventually back to los angeles. The point of this silly story is that you can get things you would not expect to in the weirdest places. I'm sure the WBX is a different situation though. Gary http://www.telusplanet.net/public/gary2a/rack/vanagonrack.htm |
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