Date:         Sun, 5 Mar 1995 19:47:51 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Johnson <sjohnson@pcocd2.intel.com>
Subject:      question about van shopping

So Jill Schmidt says:
> 
> 1) I can spend $5000 including tax. Do you think I'll be able to find a 
> van that feels new to me, is an '86 or newer, and has <100 K miles?

Welcome to the list Jill.  Don't be in too much of a hurry to get a van.
You should take as much time as possible and look at as many vans as
possible to get a real feel for the van and how much the asking prices
vary.   In other words, don't buy the first one you see.  

> 2) Would it be better to buy one with a rebuilt engine or at least the 
> heads redone, assuming that it usually needs to be done somewhere around 
> 100.000 miles?  Or if it has had this work done is it a sign the little 
> pup has been driven too hot and other things will go wrong?

This is a tough one because even though a rebuild has been done, you
don't know how good of a job it was.  If you find a seller that tells
you that it's been rebuilt in the recent past, be sure to ask for the
paperwork so you can see who did it.  At least that way, you know which
shop did it.  You can decide whether or not you want to do the leg work
of checking out the shop or not.  If the seller doesn't have the paper
work or anything that shows it's been rebuilt, I'd just walk away from
it unless the price was maybe $2000 or less and the body was in good
shape.  That way, you still have the money left over to get a decent
rebuild done.  That's really the only other good option, buying a 
vanagon that has a good interor/exterior for a low price and using
the rest of the money saved for fixing the mechanicals.

> 3) I heard there is no "Idiots Guide" for the Vanagon-is this true? I had 
> one for a Rabbit and for a Toyota truck and I saved myself big bucks with 
> the easy instructions.  

Well, yes and no.  The instructions in the Idiots Guide are good for the
early air-cooled ones but the later "Wasserboxers" are not included except
for the one year that had the rabbit engine.  The rest, well, it's some
what similar but really, the lack of an Idiots Guide is probably one 
major reason this list got started.  Many of us had previous air-cooled
vans and migrated to the water-cooled van and are left without a decent
manual to work with other than the expensive 'heavy-duty' Bentley manaual
which is pretty vague on many procedures or has no procedures at all.

But, fear not!  This list has accumulated alot of information from the
likes of Joel and others and can help you with most of your needs.  Yahoo!  
So, you really need to have a look-see at the FAQ as well as chew the fat 
(or grits in Joel's case ;) ) with the members to find out what you need to 
do in your specific case.  

I don't have the address for the FAQ handy, but I'm sure someone else can
provide you with that info. soon.  If not, Joel will post it on Weakly
Status and Possom Cuisine List.  ;)

Cheers!

Steven Johnson  

sjohnson@pcocd2.intel.com