Hi All, First, I wanted to thank everyone for all the suggestions about how to deal with my 85 Westy with the blown engine. After considering the whole range of options (from selling it, to putting in a used motor from a donor van, to putting in a TDI) I decided on having a rebuilt 2.1 installed. Total cost was a little under $4000, and the shop turned it around in about 4 days. So far so good. The repair included some unusual items (motor mounts, bad distributor and a failed ECU, and a requested transmission service) that bumped the price up a bit. Would have been closer to $3300 had I got a stock 1.9 installed instead of the 2.1 and not had all the extra broken parts. Questions about the break-in procedure: As I understand it, one should run regular (non-synthetic) oil, and try to avoid driving at the same RPMs, to help the rings seat in better. Can anyone explain the theory here? Is it really just RPMs you want to vary? Or do you want to have a range of RPMs, loads, temperatures, etc? What are the critical DOs and DONTs? For example, would it better to do a bunch of short, in town trips? Or maybe a mix of in-town trips with some longer highway driving? Or, if I was on the freeway, should I go steady, or occasionally speed up & put it in neutral and coast for a bit (i have an auto tranny). -mike |
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