Date:         Thu, 18 Jul 1996 12:02:19 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         wabbott@mtest.teradyne.com (William Abbott)
Subject:      $150 busses and wannabussers, piston slap...

	Just my $0.02, a $150 bus and a newbe is a recipe for heartbreak,
not a happy camper. OF COURSE its possible for a neophyte to buy a badly
hit vehicle, pound out the dents, install new glass, straighten the
suspension as neccessary and then repair the results of years of non-operation.
(Rust never sleeps). Gee, oil change and filter, points, plugs, condensor,
cap, rotor, belt(s), maybe plug wires, fuel filter, oil filter, oil, 
air filter, new battery, new master cylender and flush/bleed, flush and 
refill the cooling system. Trany oil?> Maybe some slave cylinders/shoes/pads,
rotors/drums, engine sensors, light bulbs, a real spare tire... it never ends.

	I've done  that 'major tuneup w/ master cylinder' list
on every used vehicle I've ever bought... sometimes all at once by plan,
sometimes one at a time as they proved defective... but other people have
been luckier than I, A clean but worn runner has always seemed to me to cost 
less then a fixer-uppper. $500 worth of new CV joints don't make your
vehicle worth $500 more than you paid for it, in my experience.

	So, as I'm beginning to think about T4/EuroVans/Caravelle // whatever,
what exactly is Piston Slap and what was the problem? I'd look in the
archives but I don't know how to- instructions on how to get there will 
be followed from a UNIX workstation will be attempted.

	Bill