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Date:         Thu, 11 Dec 2003 19:16:15 -0800
Reply-To:     pedro dos santos <pedrokrusher@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         pedro dos santos <pedrokrusher@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Passenger van to westy pop top conversion?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hi volks, I'm sorry if you may have seen my message before, because I have tried to send it twice yesterday night, So here I go again with some slight modifications...

Hi Volks

I feel like I have to get involved in this thread, specially in "the not worth the money" part. Do I know what I'm talking about?... Yes, the whole shebang transplant is done on my van. So if you want to hear the experience from somebody that is very happy with it, read on.. If you want to whine about, then delete!

First, I have to say that there is only one way of doing this job and it is the hard way. When it is gonna be time to sell it (hopefully never!), nobody wants a half-ass job. Karl Bloss had a hard time selling his without the top bed...

Which one is the "real" right way? Personnaly i am not sure, but my bodyshop friend said by cutting at the window pillars and transplanted from there. I could not do it this way because the rain gutters from my donor van were very rusty. No cancer on my van! I did it by cutting a hole in the roof and transplant everything, including all the bed stuff. Was it a easy job? A piece of cake to any bodyshop.

Keep in mind that I am trying to compare same year/same options/same well cared van. It is not fair to compare an aircolled 80 vanagon to a 91 full westy. And of course, here where I live (Montreal,Quebec), the westys are worth like gold. I could have imported a multivan from Califormia for cheap. For one I have talked with people that had done the imports and there is a lot of work and money involved. And two, I did not want other peoples problems. You know that it is better to deal with the devils you know than to deal with the ones you dont know. I own my van since 1996, garaged every winter, and done a lot of work on it myself with the help of my dad.

Ok, the money part. I will tell you guys all the true about what I have spent on it. Some will find any kind of excuse to justify that it is not worth it.

OK, of course, I had a dilemma. Sell my loved and cared 91 vanagon GL with Carat interior for lets say 5000$Can. That is the absolute maximum I could get for it here in Montreal, Quebec Canada. And buy a 91 multivan for 12000$Can (at the time there was only that one multivan for sale, today there is another one and the asking price is 16000$Can. Way overboard IMHO). We are NOT talking about full westys, then you would have to calculate all the extra stuff... That I dont want anyway.

Ok, lets do the math together fellas. I sell my van for 5000$Can if I am lucky, and then get from my pocket another 7000$Can???? Am I missing something????

Now the real cost of the transplant. 500$Can for the pop-top donor cut at the window pillars (300$US bought from Chris Turner, thanks!). Plus 400$Can (250$US from busdebot) for a brand new 3 window canvas. Another 100$Can for the pop-top seals. And 2000$Can for the transplant job done by my friends bodyshop (cost include cutting, welding, painting van from gutters up AND paint pop-top fiberglass in matching grey, upper bed installed as original, etc, etc...). Total cost in canadian dollars: 3000$Can. How much did I save to finally have my dream multivan??.... 4000$Can.

So everybody, get to you calculators and tell me that it is not worth it. :-)))))))))))))))))))))

Ok, what it is worth now with the transplant job? I have talked to the bodyshop friend and some other people that have seen my van. They said minimum 10000$Can to be safe. Then more depending on the actual mechanical state. Is it still worth it........ YES.

Pedro dos Santos 91 vanagon GL + carat int + pop-top transplant 85 ddcab project Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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