Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 11:21:56 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Reservation fees? Wish I'd thought of that. - now 1.9 wbxr
head job
In-Reply-To: <d1ea9acf0707230625g66070826l55bb7db2b0faaf6b@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Wow Craig, bummer man !
Yup,....i recently spend considerable time drilling and taping on exhaust or
engine block broken off studs...
That's the ONE THING you dare not let happen, break off a drill bit in a
hole.
The 'easy thing' is get another head. I have LOTS of them, btw.
As a professional vanagon repair specialist.....I'd say the shop should come
up with a good used head for you to replace the one they broke a drill bit
of in.
Not your extra expense- it's kind on them. Basically the damaged a part of
yours by making this mistake in workmanship. It's not that big a deal
either.... a used 1.9 wbxr head doesn't have to cost that much ....
Don't know what kind of shop they are.......but some vanagon shops would
have several used heads around.
I have 1.9 wbxr core engines around I sell by the pound as scrap, almost.
Ask them to get a good used head, a machine shop should go through it , give
it a simple valve job at least.
No big deal. It's on them though, they owe you a good used unit to replace
the one of yours they damaged, or at least it's 75 % on them.
About making 1.9's run right ....was it running fine but had a head gasket
problem ? ....or exhaust problem ? ....or did it not run right either ?
I have spent some considerable time getting them to run just right a few
times.......they can be glitchey .....I've spent 8 hours testing things,
trying known-good parts on them etc.
I probably don't charge full rate for all that time. I want it to be fair
for them too.
If someone had a running but 'not right' 1.9 wbxr vanagon ....and they told
me they only had say 100 bucks to spend on it ......well......I'd work real
hard for a couple hours, even 3 trying to get them a result.....but at some
point I'd have to say , if I didn't get the result....that a hundred bucks
just wouldn't pull it off here.
And I hate to ever be in a situation where I have time in it, and no result.
I'd hate to send it away saying ," well, still didn't find what's not right,
spend X hours on it, pay me....but it's still not fixed." Don't want to be
there at all.
So they kinda need to be able to 'do what it takes' .....if that's 500
dollars say, that's what the van really needs.....that's what it needs.
Anyway.....ask them to buy a good used head and get it checked out, and put
that on there.
Unless they can get real creative with a torch or something....to get out a
broken drill bit , it's time for a different head on that engine.
I'm even moving away from 1.9 wbxr engines.....I'll keep fixing those that
are still alive, but basically .....
The 2.1 waterboxer is about the minimum pretty-half-decent engine for a
vanagon .....
Otherwise Subaru or something, anything besides the 1.9 waterpuker .....
Sort of feel about them like I feel about air-cooled vw engines ....just did
too many of them......
Burnt out on them, plus I get disgusted after a while about vw's lameness
here and there.....
Time to move up to a more viable engine !
But ask them to find you a good used head and clean it up, get that on
there.
Some types of drill bit are more brittle than others. A normal metal drill
bit is called 'high speed steel' ....they're ok, but get dull semi-easily.
Next up is cobalt, and titanium. A cobalt drill bit really works nicely
new.....
Really cuts nicely, BUT is more brittle than a 'plain old' Hi Speed Steel
one.
And yeah, it's purely 'oh shit' when a drill bit breaks off right in front
of you , especially if it's in the cylinder head - you just can not let that
happen. Wouldn't surprise me if they were using a sharper, but more
brittle type of drill bit. I call doing that repair 'dental work.'
There are tricks to do it 'just right.' Very easy to get off center, easy to
bust off a drill bit if you have the wrong type drill or are careless, etc.
Yeah, ask them to get you a head.
Scott
www.turbovans.com <http://www.turbovans.com/>
-----Original Message-----
From: craig cowan [mailto:phishman068@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 6:25 AM
To: Scott Daniel - Shazam
Subject: Re: Reservation fees? Wish I'd thought of that.
Ha. Thats a good question. I bought my van a year ago and it ran well. For
about 2 months. Then it all died at once and its been an uphill battle since
then. I just put it in at a mechanics for the first time, as i am extremely
limited on funds and dont have experience with removing rusty exaust bolts.
In the process of replacing a manifold gasket at the head, my mechanic
managed to break a drill bit inside the head. This was about a week ago, and
now im in even more of a predicament as theres nothing i can do, little they
can do, and my bill grows like a dandelion. I guess i never really got to
exerience even a well running WBX engine, but i sure do hope to get it to at
least a "running" state so i cna enjoy the van again. Then my hopes of
subaru can come into lite. At this point i'm just a kid with a dream.
I hope your day goes well.
-Craig
On 7/23/07, Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@turbovans.com
<mailto:scottdaniel@turbovans.com> > wrote:
Hi craig, that's very much for the great note !
I do enjoy it, quite bit !
You're lacking a running engine ? or just really good running engine ?
Scott
-----Original Message-----
From: craig cowan [mailto:phishman068@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 6:23 PM
To: Scott Daniel - Shazam
Subject: Re: Reservation fees? Wish I'd thought of that.
Thanks man. Thank you for your time! I have spent plenty of time on your
website and i have observed the subaru list for a while and noticed you seem
to be a wealth of knowledge. But most importantly, thanks for the time your
spending to help pioneer a better and more economically friendly, well
established engine conversion (or a few!!!). Your time is worth alot to me,
and i appreciate it. I'm glad to see your working on more vans and im
naturally assuming your enjoying it. I love my van to death and hope to put
a "working" engine in it someday when i find the funds. It is people like
you that keep my dream alive, and i am grateful. Just thought you should
know.
Keep up the good work.
-Craig Cowan
1985GL Camperized
