The key is a reality check. Can you keep the van running for a total
cost of ~$.50/mile? Include insurance and fuel. If so, you are probably
doing better than a new car. If not, then you need to ask what the
additional advantages of keeping the Vanagon are. Are you doing your own
work? That makes a big difference. Do you need perfection? Can a used
engine buy time? If the van is running, then there is less desire for
the SO to see it go. What went wrong to cause the engine to die with
only 150 k on it? Even new cars break down. With low cast financing,
repairing old cars usually does not make sense. It becomes an emotional
or commitment thing. An $8,000 engine conversion is a heck of a down
payment or $400/month for 2 years. I would probably patch the engine or
find a good used one and invest the money saved (if I had it) and use
the earnings for the next event.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Michael Diehr
Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 11:29 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Those dreaded 9 words...

"Honey, I think we should consider selling the Vanagon?"

Pardon?   "Shelving" the vanagon?  No honey, it's got shelves in it
already.   And besides, why would we want to work on the interior
when the engine is dead....the engine...the engine is dead....it's
dead.  Uh oh. That's not what you said, is it?  What did you say
exactly?

It could happen to you.  The fear.  Those words...echoing in your head.

How do I convince my sig.other that spending $4k to $8k on a engine
rebuild/fix/swap actually is a good idea.   This is, after all, a 20
year old car with 150k miles on it.     I think she's still mad over
the 24 hours spent broken down in the middle of nowhere on our last
vacation.   She's also concerned about global warming.    And
societal breakdown.    So I'm thinking maybe start with the TDI
conversion running biodiesel (reliable and good for the environment)
and then negotiate from there?   Maybe the idea that the vanagon
could be up-armored a lot easier than a Camry, and we'd probably look
silly driving a Camry with mohawks and crossbows?

Help me out here!

:-)