Hi all,

I wanted to send some thanks out for all the help I've received over the
last year. In March of 2002 I bought a 1982 diesel Westy. After some initial
problems, I decided to convert it to a 1.8 gas motor. Ward Smith, on this
list, sold me an 86 golf motor, and very nicely dropped the whole car off,
let me take everything I needed, and then picked up the rest. I received
lots of help on the list - things like injection lines, pulling injectors,
etc... Mark Drillock took me to the local Ecology junk yard and showed me
some of the ropes. Most recently Eric (vw4x4) helped me figure out a vacuum
problem.

But Mike Johnson, who lives near me in San Diego, has given up many a
weekend to help me get my beast in shape. He's helped me find and install a
gas tranny, redo my clutch and CVs, install new front rotors, and recently
spent a day making a custom exhaust. (and lots else!)So I just wanted to
send a shout out to everyone and in particular Mike. I'm defending my
dissertation on June 20th and moving soon afterwards to Amsterdam. Working
on the van has helped me relax when I needed to get away from the writing -
I feel like I've been productive twice over this year - both in writing the
diss. and in fixing the van. (I also highly recommend the westfalia for any
writers out there - nothing better than driving to some secluded spot,
popping the top, pulling a cold one out of the fridge, and getting down to
it.)

thanks to all,

Matt
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Matt Ratto
Ph.D. Candidate
University of California, San Diego
mratto@ucsd.edu
http://communication.ucsd.edu/mratto
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