My take on that is it's always cheaper, and better, to fix a good
body/interior van with new hardware rather than to do body and interior work
on a good mechanical van, or any other vehicle for that matter.

YMMV

Mike

On 1/14/05 3:19 AM, "Ken Wilford" <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET> wrote:

> Thanks for all of those who helped me attempt to troubleshoot my 83
> diesel Vanagon no start issue.  As you may remember for the last post (a
> few months ago) I traced the problem to low compression in the engine.
> Therefore I had to replace the engine.  I looked around and you know it
> is difficult to find a known good diesel rabbit engine today.  There
> just aren't a lot of rabbits around like there were even 7 years ago.
> After checking here and there I thought of calling a friend of mine.  He
> bought my brother's old diesel rabbit and then a couple of years ago I
> had gone over the engine with a new head gasket, water pump, etc.  The
> car always ran excellent.  I bought the car for $500 and proceeded to
> swap the engine.
>
> Over the course of the past month and a half we have finally completed
> the work.  It was a project that got time only when we were between
> other things (that pay).  The van looked great when I bought it and the
> person I bought it from (they know who they are) really talked it up.  I
> was sold a van that "just wouldn't start".  What I ended up buying was a
> van that looked nice on the surface but was really in need of almost a
> complete mechanical restoration.  That's life.  Sometimes you're the
> windshield sometimes you're the bug.  Anyway it is finally up and
> running well now and after replacing almost every hydraulic unit on the
> vehicle, the brakes and clutch are working well (yippee!) and after
> rebuilding the shifter the 5 speed transmission is working well.  Now it
> is ready for the next owner.
>
> Thanks again for all the help.  You folks are a great resource and you
> are always there for me when I need you.
>
> Ken Wilford
> John 3:16
> www.vanagain.com
>
>