Hey
Gang,
Not long back I purchased an '83 Rabbit, with a stock 1.6L turbo diesel.
Man, am I impressed with it! Economy, performance, reliability all wrapped
up in a neat little bundle. The more I work on the engine, the more I like
it, and this started me to thinkin' that maybe I should convert all our family
vehicles to diesels. I like the idea that I can work on them and keep the
auto mechanics greedy fingers out of my pocket. I also like the idea of
'bio-diesel', and will likely start expirimenting with that.
Well, now I'm in the market to buy a vanagon for my wife to double as both her
daily driver and the family camping rig. I want it to have a 1.9L turbo
diesel (I know they're rare!). And I want to customize the interior to be
able to tote our two children around town and still have the creature comforts
of a Westy. Is this do-able? I found an '82 Vanagon with the engine
I want for $3500. The engine is only 10K miles old, and the van is in
great shape. I'm still talking to the owner to get all the details about
it. He seems to be quite a decent fellow, and I have a good feeling about
buying from him. A big drawback is that I'm Dallas and he's in
Conneticut, which means I would have to fly out there and drive it back, without
even the courtesy of a test drive!
What's the likelyhood of the air conditioning still working in this van?
I'm in Dallas, and a/c is a requirement for a soccer mom! If it doesn't
work, how hard is it to work on? What about installing some aftermarket
a/c system? Any thoughts on that?
I've been doin' quite a bit of researchin' and have learned a lot about
Vanagon's, Westy's and Syncro's. But I would really appreciate any tips
you could give me about what to look for, buying expiriences you've had, and
anything else you think I ought to know. Thanks in
advance!
==================
Pillard
Keeper
of the Code
Macromedia, FreeHand
"What the web can
be"
==================