Yes, do the rust first to preserve the irreplaceable wonderful vanagon.. The running gear, that's repairable forever. And you might pull off an inexpensive Subaru rebuild if you do everything yourself, including buying the donor car inexpensively, pulling all the stuff etc. 87 is an excellent year vanagon, just keep it and love it. Scott www.turbovans.com <http://www.turbovans.com/>
-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Richards, Andrew Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 2:15 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: body work vs. mechanical work
My vanagon is nearing a crossroads in its life. With 160K on the original engine and transmission, I'm starting to think hard about its future. Its body is pretty darn straight, but seam rust is creeping along and a body shop just quoted me $1500 to fix all the rust (windshield too) and parking lot dents.
What should come first? Body or mechanical issues? I've always understood it's best to attack rust ASAP because it'll only get more expensive to fix. On the other hand, dropping a large chunk of $$$ into body work on a van who's guts are getting on in years may be futile for a guy who's pockets aren't that deep. What would you do? I'm also considering a do-it-yourself Subaru conversion, which could save me 1-2K compared to a pro WBX rebuild.
Thanks,
Andrew
'87 GL
Portland, OR
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