Date:         Wed, 12 May 1999 11:52:25 -0400
Reply-To:     Bill Knight <bill@NS.ESC.STATE.NC.US>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Bill Knight <bill@NS.ESC.STATE.NC.US>
Subject:      Re: Rebuilds, was: Mechanic Horror Stories
In-Reply-To:  <8625676F.0052AF72.00@ramilwsmtp01.ra.rockwell.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

You must not have searched hard enough through the archives for negative
experiences with Boston Bob.  I bought a 1.9L rebuild from him and after
shipping it back four times (we split the shipping), I ended up
dis-assembling what he sent me and rebuilt it myself.  All was well for
about 14 months and 15K miles until one of his heads developed a crack in
the water jacket in a spot that looks like it was accidentally hit with a
grinder which made a weak spot on the outside of the head.  By the way the
first engine he shipped me had a shop rag left in the crankcase.  It ran for
about 10 minutes until the rag got completely chopped up and clogged the oil
pickup.  Later engines had about 90 psi compression, which I just could not
be satisfied with.

He never compensated me for more than the core charge.  I was hoping he
would at least help pay for the additional machine shop work and parts that
I needed to redo the engine.  I've given up on him and just had to eat the
expenses.  I spent over 500 bucks in shipping costs alone.  Of course he
paid his share of the shipping too, and he complained about that, but I'm
the customer.  There were so many miscellaneous expenses that I incurred
such as the gallons of coolant I went through and of course my labor of
re-installing the engine five times.

So the whole experience was very negative but I must say that Bob tried to
be helpful.  But in the end he just dropped me.

Bill


-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of Alan Bosch
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 1999 11:03 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Rebuilds, was: Mechanic Horror Stories


<<<snip>>>If you have head gasket problems they tell you to replace the
motor
with a nice rebuilt one from VW (junk!)<<<snip>>>.

Ken's comments got me ta thinkin' about engine rebuilds and rebuilt engines.
Let's face it, there's a good chance that somewhere along the life of our
buses,
a rebuilt engine MAY be necessary, for whatever reason.  While that's a
prospect
I personally would rather face later rather than sooner, knowing where to
turn
for a good rebuilt would certainly lessen any anxiety, when and if that time
comes.  Via this list, there have been more than a few dissatisfied
customers of
what I consider to be the Big Three rebuilders - AVP, GEX, and VW.  Ken's
remark
notwithstanding, I always thought a VW rebuild was the was to go - the
lesser of
the evils with an established network of dealer support in the event that
something went asunder.  The only rebuilder I have not heard anything
negative
about is Boston Bob.  That's not to say there is nothing negative, it's just
I've never read it here.  So, where to turn, should unfortunate
circumstances
require a rebuilt motor?  Are there others out there that rebuild motors?
Aside
from Parts Place, whom do we avoid like the plague?

Just curious...

Alan Bosch
Phred ('88 Wolfsburg)