Date:         Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:20:58 -0400
Reply-To:     BJ Feddish <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         BJ Feddish <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET>
Subject:      Re: body work vs. mechanical work
In-Reply-To:  <47D5D531.4070309@comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Ken is right for 90% of us out there.  There is a local Vanagon owner around
here that I met 2 years ago who said he put in his Subaru engine for $1800,
$1500 for the KEP kit and Misc. parts plus $300 for the engine.  And I hear
stories from list members who put them in for $2500 or less but these are
all people who either are 1) very mechanically inclined or 2) have ALLOT of
time on their hands.  For those that are mechanically inclined, buying a KEP
kit and throwing in a cheap motor is an easy upgrade. They would not think
twice about throwing in some EJ22 with 150K miles on it since they could
turn right around and do it again if need be. For the rest of us this really
isn't an option. My time is valuable, there is no way I want to spend 6
months out there in the garage splicing wires and fabricating exhaust
systems and that's probably a conservative estimate.  The really cost
effective thing for me to do would either buy a turnkey from Vanaru or
Bostig or at least purchase their do-it-yourself kits. But buying a turn-key
or a kit is still going to put you over the cost of having someone (or you)
putting in a new Boston Bob engine.  And besides, a low mileage used Subaru
engine is pretty darn expensive these days. I know if I were going to go the
Subaru route there is no way I'd put some engine in there that already had
150K miles on it.

Bryan