At 9:11 AM -0600 6/1/00, Phil Walker wrote:
>I found a 89 Westy in my same town. I took it for a test drive last
>night. The van is in really good condition...
>
>... there is a small bubbling of paint behind and below the gas cap
>on the right hand side in the seam.

Seam rust.  Check carefully to see if it has been repainted.  If so,
given the rust, run away.  The "clean" van with nice paint may be
hiding a nightmare underneath.

Easy checks for repainting include overspray along edges of window
gaskets, wasker nozzles, filler pipe, basically anything that would
have been taped over in a repaint.  Also look for overspray/colour
differences inside the door jambs, along door gaskets, rear deck
(engine compartment) floor, etc.  Drips or sags are also signs.

T.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tobin Copley   Bowen Island, BC, Canada              tobin.copley@ubc.ca

'82 westy 1.6L NA diesel ("Stinky")
'97 son Russell                                   =============
'99 daughter Margaret                            /_| |__| |__|:| clatter
1995: 'Round US, Mexico, Canada 15,000 mi       O|.           .| clatter!
1996: Vancouver to Inuvik, NWT   7,400 km        ~-()-==----()-~
Previous buses: '76 westy deluxe (Daisy), '76 westy standard (Mango)
http://www.sfu.ca/~tcopley/vw/