Stan, you are most correct.  When I bought my '84 in May '97, I paid $500 +
30 sales tax.  I have spent over $5K over the past 5 years getting it in
shape, and I still have a paint job to do.  Of course, I have driven it
to/from work most of the time that I have had the van.

John Lauterbach
Macon, GA
'84 7-passenger

----- Original Message -----
From: "Stan Wilder" <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, May 27, 2002 11:31 PM
Subject: Re: True Grit---

> It was not my intention to strike fear in the hearts of every Vanagon and
> Westy owner with my statement about spending your purchase price again
> within a year of buying your vehicle.
> I've never purchased an Air Cooled Vanagon and Westy from a list member
> and most of the people that sell the vans are just members of the general
> public and are not list members.
> I've found that the sellers have just reached their maximum level of
> endurance for keeping their vehicle running.
> In many cases of Westies I've purchased to resurrect or Vanagons I
> purchased for an economical parts source the vehicles have had extensive
> and expensive repairs and maintenance done on them by local and even
> authorized VW dealers.
> I find one new head or often a VW Factory rebuilt engine and all kinds of
> signs of recent new fuel pumps, ignition systems, brakes and every other
> potential repair.
> The glove box often has a good supply of repair tickets and parts
> receipts.
> Along with the stack of receipts I find many potential reasons for the
> engine failure, this list is lengthy but I'll list a few; Engine Seal
> Missing, Muffler Heat Shield Missing, Dropped Valve Seats, Hammered out
> Valve seats, leaking cylinders, over tightened lifters, jumpers on the
> full throttle switch, massive vacuum leaks everywhere, wrong spark wires
> and wrong spark plugs, running Automatic Transmission Oil with the engine
> oil to quieten lifters, running 10/30 motor oil..
> Since I don't pay retail on these dead units it is very easy to double my
> investment very quickly if I have to buy new parts to bring them back to
> a safe dependable vehicle.
> I quickly doubled my investment on my 83 Westy after I bought it in 1995.
> I'm guilty of driving it like a normal car, pushing the speed,
> overworking the engine and just in general making those miles without
> really knowing anything about the proper care and maintenance.
> After I blew #3 cylinder and bought a new set of heads in 1996 I started
> getting a little smarter and started taking care of the little things
> before they *stopped me in my tracks*,
> I managed to get 140K out of the existing, recently rebuilt engine after
> the above repairs over a periods of four years. I nearly wore out the
> roads to the lakes and 500 miles a weekend was never a problem. I managed
> to log a lot of miles going to Vicksburg MS and lots of trips to Houston
> from Dallas.
> I require myself to say this ......... If I had known how a really good
> rebuilt engine would improve the vehicle, I'd have installed one the day
> after I bought the Westy.
> I suffered through about five years with just marginal performance and a
> fair amount of tinkering trying to peak out a marginal engine.
>
> Stan Wilder
> 83 Air Cooled Westfalia
>
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