Date:         Fri, 16 Dec 2005 09:17:41 -0500
Reply-To:     John Reddick <SVYOLO@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Reddick <SVYOLO@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Those dreaded 9 words...

I think the key to keeping an old vehicle reliably on the road for a
reasonable price is to throw money at it. By that I mean when you fix
something, replace everything around it.  When you do the brakes, put new
wheel bearings and rebuild/replace the calipers.  The cheapest route, by
far, is to put a SA brake kit on.  While you are in there you might as well
put in new ball joints, and think about tie rod ends.  If you just replace
the rotors or the wheel bearings, you could end up doing a brake job 3-4
times.  Horrifically expensive if you pay someone else to do it.  Your
mechanic will love you and ask about your wife and kids every time he sees
you (weekly).
    Syncro's, despite their expensive rep to repair, are probably the
cheapest AWD vehicle in the world to rebuild the drivetrain.  1800 for a
tranny rebuld, 1100 for a new VC, and 400-800 to rebuild the driveshaft.  If
you replace all at the same time, you pay to do the job 1 time.  If you do
them separately, you will pay 3 times as much.
    The killer for Vanagons right now, I think, is the WBX.  The engine
cases are getting old, and the rebuild parts are of very dubious quality.
Throwing money at a WBX to have it rebuilt is questionable at best.
Hopefully a few of  the vendors (BB, Gwesty, Busdepot, etc) take great car
in their rebuilds and their parts, but the engine cases are still getting
old and tired.
    Luckily their are numerous choices for better engines than VW ever
dreamed of sticking in a vanagon.  A do it yourselfer can put a VW I-4 or
Subaru (my choice) for less than the more expensive WBX rebulds.
    Fixing everything once and correctly is the only economical way to own
an older vehicle.  If you don't, you will be nickel and dimed till you get
tired of it and dump the vehicle.
 That is my opinion and it has been working out for me for a long time.  If
you can keep your wife in a newer car you can just tell her that she gets
the nice car and you "Choose to pay to fix an old vehicle instead of making
payments on something that is going down in value."
    So far, my spousal unit has been supportive of my Vanagon "habit".

John
87 Westy SVX
91 GL (subaru conversion in progress)
86 Syncro