Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:12:30 -0400
Reply-To: W Monk <billmonk@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: W Monk <billmonk@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Your GoWesty Engine...how do you like it?
In-Reply-To: <5ebe10a0910132047w6fb187faw2121a3fe21b9b53a@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
"...they camp rain or shine so they can get their money's worth out of
it...."
While I posted the moneys worth comment I will make sure that for the record
we
love our Westfalia. Our current 87 isn't our first. We have had a baywindow
Westy
a couple other earlier Vanagon Westys and a Passeger Vanagon. The pass van
we owned was a one owner low mile 91 that I put a tiico into. I had
projecttwzo fog lights
E-codes,ect...all the nice upgrades. The only reason we sold it was to get a
Westy again.
I was going to cut it for a poptop but the van was to nice to do that to. In
hindsight I wish
I had. When we went shopping for our current van as it always seems to be
there was not
many decent van available in driving distance. We ended up towing a trailer
14 hours one way to pick up our 87 that was a Arizona van with no rust
anywhere. It has needed some
tlc (also known as money!!). In preperation for a cross country trip we took
last summer
I installed a rebuilt 2.1 from Boston Engine,all new hoses,exhaust,rebuilt
afm,"rebuilt"injectors,new distributer ect...for a trouble free trip. We had
a couple small
issues but nothing that stopped our trip. I did constantly worry about
breaking down
and not being able to find a part in the middle of nowhere. I also missed to
power we had
in the 91. I had the tiico engine upgraded and modded for more power. We are
planning to
take another long trip next summer and this time we want to tow a small
trailer. I have a brand new Zetec motor sitting in the garage and plan to
sell the rebuilt 2.1. I know that I will take a loss on the rebuild and all
its new accesories (over 6,000 was spent),but will enjoy the piece of mind
that the Zetec will provide. My biggest fear is having a hose burst with the
miles of hoses that a stock motor has. The Zetec is like looking at an old
Ford with just
a couple readily avialable hoses. Plus the other parts can be had just about
anywhere. In fact I took a list of Zetec maintance parts and some of the
other parts that could fail with me on my last trip this past summer. I
stopped in several of the autoparts places mostly chain stores like NAPA and
Autozone. Everything on my list was either in stock or could be had
later in the day/next morning. Plus the ability to plug a laptop in,read a
trouble code, and know what you need to replace makes trouble shooting very
easy!! I am not trying to turn this into a debate on conversions as they
all have their pros and cons. I personally find the zetec to fit me the
best. Plus with Jim and Brady only an hour or so away I have been able to
spend some time checking the conversion out. Driving it in various platforms
with different mods done has been a lot of fun. So I am going to spend the
money and make my van reliable,comfortable, and a pleasure to drive. If it
rains while were traveling..out will come the awning and rain gear!!!
B
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