Very good thought Mike. If you replace body/interior parts on any vehicle
you can get squeeks and groans. If you replace/repair an engine you should
get a quieter and more powerful vehicle.

Mike what is YMMV?

Tim

> 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
>>
>>
>
>