Date:         Mon, 29 Aug 94 18:13:07 EDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "William R. Kennedy, NJIT CIAT, 201-596-5648" <kennedy@admin.njit.edu>
Subject:      broken diesels etc.

A couple of thoughts springing from the recent thread on what to do with a
diesel Vanagon with a big broken part where the engine was.  First a reminder
that engine conversions are not the fast track to getting a daily driver back
on the street, no matter how cheap a deal your brother can give you on this
great Subaru engine.  Especially if you have to pay people to do the conver-
sion, rather than doing it yourself for "fun", I would think that fixing it
back the way VW made would be cheapest, followed by parting it out and getting
a different one.  Third cheapest would be replacement with a different engine
with the same cooling, and fourth and most expensive would be a different en-
gine across the [A]-[W] boundary.  And cheapest is measured in time as well as
dollars.  

Now that I've talked you out of engine conversions, does everyone in the NY
area know that my Vanagon's 2.2 liter Porsche 6 is for sale?  2.7 liter FI
engine is getting close to ready and the 2.2 will probably sell best while it
can still be driven.

My other question is where do Vanagons go to be parted out?  In the Porsche
world there are acknowledged "best" sources of used parts.  Is there such a 
thing for Vanagons yet?  I'd love to find a straight front bumper, an untorn
back seat, late windows with the black anodized trim, headrests for the back
seats, ... list is endless, unlike my paycheck.

B.
201-596-5648
kennedy@admin.njit.edu