Benny, Mark & Greg;

I found a lot to agree with on all three perspectives.

But volks ... Remember these three amigos are some of the most
mechanically knowledgeable people in our community.

Perhaps not everyone has the ability to fashion a Alternator
Bracket out of scrap metal and bubble gum like Ben did for me
In Florida :)

For a point of view from a "Vanagon Maintence for Dummies" persepctive,
Here'a my comments; 

1) Original Engine ... Ran OK but was a little tired (160K miles).

In retrospect I should have replaced it with a stock 2.1 Boston 
Engine or North West Connecting Rod engine.

* Benny Boy you are right on.

- Ticco, Subie, TDI fans ... Please "No Flames". I still feel that 
a trip of such proportions, where you are often in the middle of 
no-where .. is best served by a stock 2.1L Waterboxer engine that 
is easier to get serviced.

- If I wasn't headed off on such an extended trip I would have run 
the stock engine to the end or upgraded to a Tiico, Subie, or TDI.

Footnote ..... 

I've spent most of my career working in High Tech Manufacturing. 
In those environments if a machine goes done it can cost you hundreds 
of thousands of dollars, or more in revenue loss. One of the keys to 
minimizing "unplanned down time" is "preventative maintence". 
You try and understand the "Mean time to Fail" on all critical 
components. You then put a plan in place to replace those critical 
components just before the fail.

2) Wheel Bearings ... Went thru several sets of bearings on the right 
rear wheel. Turned out to be a "out of round" Situation with the stub 
axle. Took and old air-cooled VW mechanic to finally diagnosis it.

3) Quality of spare parts ... I remember many ago Nader used to rant 
about this. His claim was exactly the same ... He felt parts manufactures 
sorted parts into three quality categories.

- Best , new car build
- Middle, Dealer spare parts
- Lowest, third party parts houses.

Can't prove it, but over the years it sure seems to be that way to me.

So depending on whether a person is planning on heading out for a 60k 
driveabout or staying closer to home base ... I think all these points 
of view are worth considering.

As I have said many times ... If I factor engine issues out the analysis
of my trip ... There were really very few breakdowns.

I firmly believe "Preventive Maintenance" was the right approach for
such a long trip by someone with very limited mechanical ability and with
a goal not to carry large numbers of spare parts.

But then ... I'm an idiot ... What do I know :)

larry chase
Roadhaus.com

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From:    Greg Potts <Greg@POTTSFAMILY.CA>

Hi Mark,
What your email is telling me is that the original parts are much 
higher quality than most of what's available in the aftermarket.
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Mark drillock wrote:

 I'm not sure he needed a new engine in the first place. Why was it 
 done?  There were other breakdowns that occurred all too soon after he had 
 replaced parts. Wheel bearings come to mind. 
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 Benny boy wrote:

 He did one thing wrong, and he knows about it! Wrong choice of 
 engine....but look now, he as an broken AVP after 9k miles...
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