Howdy folks-

I am an 89 westy owner and have little experience with the engine-up-front
Eurovan (other than to know that I have better ground clearance!).  I've got
some friends thinking of buying a 1993 Eurovan with the westy poptop (not a
full camper) and told them I'd throw this to the list to seek some help for
them.

The van has the inline 5-cylinder, with the 5 speed and has 190k miles.  Our
friends had our local Euro specialty shop do a thurough pre-sale once-over
on it and he found the first gear making some noise and thinks that the
tranny could either be "good for another 80k or could bust next week."  He
claims the motor to be solid with no computer codes popping up, and at
first, upon hearing the asking price of $4k, thought it was a steal.  then
he said, "Hey, I' don't think we've ever done a full tranny R&R on one of
these--I wonder what a rebuild goes for."  He is gonna let them know
tomorrow AM what sort of $$ they might be up against if it all goes bad, but
I thought I would throw this out to the list:

How are the manual tranny's on the early Eurovans?  What are 93s like?  How
is that inline 5 cyl??  Any hidden traps to check for?

Overall, the van has a few cosmetic dings and ascraped bumper, but overall
is a nice looker.  Is $4k good?, fair?, or a roll of the dice given the
prognosis on the tranny?

Thanks!!

Eric