Last night my wife and I decided to hop into Mellow Yellow, our 84
Westy, and have a sunset dinner at the beach. We drove a few miles south
on Highway 1 parked on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and ate
while watching the sunset. We had pelicans, we had surfers, I had a nice
bottle of Porter ale from the Stone Brewing Company.

We talked about how much we love camping in Mellow Yellow. We talked
about the disappointing fact that the the engine has developed the
famous coolant leak at the head. And we decided that our choices were to
get rid of her or fix the problem. We want to fix the problem.

Though I have replaced my 71 bus's engine myself, I just don't feel like
tackling the considerably harder job of pulling the engine to do the JB
Weld fix on the heads, or anything like that. I've got a full-time job,
I'm a student and a father, yada yada yada, and the bottom line is that
I just don't have the inclination to do the work myself.

I can take it to Brad's Foreign Auto, in Encinitas (California), nearby.
A list member recommended them, and they did some brake work on my 71
bus -- they do seem to know what they are doing.

But I need a plan before I give them Mellow Yellow. Find a good rebuilt
1.9l WBX? Are there such things? Hand them a printout of how the JB Weld
the cracks and ask them to do it? Find a Subaru Legacy engine, buy a
conversion kit and say, "Here, do this"?

Though I'd like them to do the work, I just don't know what work I want
them to do.

Folks - what's the reasonably-priced approach here that won't make a
shop crazy?

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: "Mellow Yellow (The Electrical Banana)"
KG6RCR