On Mon, 24 Jul 2000 13:01:30 EDT Vicki Derrer  writes:
>This plea is from a friend who recently purchased an 87 Vanagon (with
>pop-top).  He is trying to subscribe to the list but in the
>meantime...He needs a new muffler. He can get one from The Bus Depot
>for about $106 and put it on himself, or he can have The Guy At the
>Muffler Shop put on a "universal muffler" for $55 (not VW of course).
>Since my friend is a college student, he wants to know why he should
>not go the less expensive route. Will it affect the performance of
>the vehicle?

If he chooses to use the muffler shop, warn him that if they use some
system to hang it other than the stock brackets, then he should make
sure he keeps the old brackets, even if somewhat rusted.  If he ever
decides to go back to a stock muffler, then he will need the brackets.
Replacements are $50 each and there are two of them.