I thought I would share with everyone = the story of my two Vanagons. I have an 81 and an 83. The 81' has bed and = dresser built into the back and the 83 is a seven seater. About four years = ago, my friend traded the vanagon for my Honda Civic, Great little car! = The Civic was on the downslide and I needed a vehicle to move me out to OR. = When I got it, I thought it should have been in a junkyard, but my friend had = just put a lot of work into it with new pistons and rings. I spent about = $300 to fix it up and off I went. It made the trip from Appleton WI all = the way to Portland OR fully weighted down with all my belongings (probably the = most weight that I had in it) Had no problems with it until I was on my way back to = Portland from Lake Tahoe when my points failed on me. It took me awhile to = get it running because I didn't know the first thing about points at that time = (now I am an expert with them ;) but needless to say, I was back on the = road in very little time. I had to replace the front brake system because = it was worn out and in bad shape, grooved rotors and the whole bit. I = regretfully moved back to Wisconsin and it made it back to Sconi without any = problems until I got about twenty miles from home when the points failed on me = again. It was my daily driver for three years and I put on 50k on it. I even = drove it through the harsh winters we have here, without heat! Oh = yeah, I had a CV boot rip open so I had to change that. It now sits in a field = awaiting its new owner to pick it up. It has 198,000 miles on it = and with some tlc, I'm sure that it will run for much longer. I just = remembered that I had 15 people in it at one time, so that is probably the most = weight that I had in it at one time!

The VW Gods had recently shined upon me = with my 83' Vanagon. I was in a local junkyard with a friend looking for parts = for his car when I stumbled across my new beauty. It was sitting there in = the yard, complete without the wheels on it. 91,200 miles on it and it = looked beautiful. It turned out that they had just put it in the yard a = few days prior and they had not processed the title yet so they sold it to = me as is. Got it home and threw a battery in it and it started right = up. It was not running smooth at all, but it ran. Turns out that the = motor needed a complete rebuild because the bearings were shot and it would = have kept popping the oil seals out. Once again the gods showed me the way to = a motor that a guy had sitting around for ten years. It turned out that he = had just done a bunch of work on it for a guy and then the gas tank started = leaking on the van it was from. The owner gave the van to the guy for all = the money that he owed him for the motor work and there it sat for ten = years. We changed all the oil seals and replaced the injectors with the ones = from the old motor, put it in and she fired up right away. We checked = everything else out and it looks like whoever had it before the yard, just replaced = everything. We had to change the clutch disk because the old one = was coated with oil when the old motor blew, but the clutch looked like it = was almost brand new. That was it for the major work. = I tore the old motor apart and I think he had just put some work into it = because the pistons and heads do not look like they have 91k on them. So far I had to put in a new cold start valve and then new brake light = switches. There is a few small problems, but nothing I can't = handle with a little time spent. It has only been on the road = for about two months and I have only put about 800 miles on it so I don't = fully trust the motor yet, got to get it out on the open road for a few long camping = trips, hopefully this weekend! My 81' is sitting because it has a leaky = gas tank now and I am trading it to my cousin who is a body shop = freak. He is going to fix up the few body problems that it has and then give it a new paint job. It looks pretty good now, but I can't = wait for it to sparkle! It has been my daily driver since it got back on the = road and I plan on driving it until winter, or at least until I move to a warmer = climate for the winter!