Robert:
Thanks for your input on the questions.
While I have done many of your recommendations with my own sons, I am unsure
of the Dad's ability to influence his nearly grown step son.
Personalities, time available and the young man's mother would probably have
a lot to do with many of your suggestions.
Thanks again.
--
Stephen
Chillicothe OH

on 2/25/07 3:05 PM, Robert Keezer at warmerwagen@YAHOO.COM wrote:

> Steve,
>
> Tell him to :
>
> 1. Buy the boy a good metric toolbox.
> 2. Several good books on auto mechanics and VW
> shop manual for vehicle .
> 3. Send him off to the local VW shop when he
> needs service and pay the bill.
>
> First evaluate if the boy has a mechanical
> aptitude by having him  remove and clean and
> regrease the bearings in his bicycle!
>
>
> I'd get him an '80's early '90s Golf or Jetta,
> not a type 2 bus. They are cheap to buy, popular
> with youth, and reliable.New parts are available.
>
> If the boy is really adept then go for the one
> that grabs you.
>
> I went for the busses back in the '80's because I
> could'nt afford the Vanagons.
>
> I knew a VW shop owner that had one blown
> air-cooled engine after another in his shop, bus
> and vanagon.
> When I was shopping for a vanagon, I considered
> the leaking head gasket of the water boxer versus
> the sunken valve seats of the air-cooled gutless
> wonder.
>
> I settled on the Vanagon Diesel and put a Jetta
> gas motor in it's place. The most recent motor
> put in was in 1999, and it's still going strong
> with over 200,000 miles on it.
>
> In my 27 years of VW ownership, this 2.0 liter
> Jetta motor from a 1995 Jetta has been the best.
> None of my air-cooled's ever went seven years and
> counting.
> No, most of them burned up after less than 50,000
> miles.
>
> And I read every Idiot book, did all the regular
> maintenance, changed oil often, etc.
>
>
> I think the air-cooled engine is OK in a Beetle.
> In the heavy bus, you are headed to rod city.
>
> In just 5 years between 1990-1995, I went thru
> three engines, all new rebuilt .
>
> You have been forewarned.
> Sure my experience is stepping on the toes of the
> air-cooled religious.
> They must all have the ZEN.
> I must not have the ZEN.
>
> All I know is tht with this four-banger Jetta
> engine in my Westfalia, I have asked more if it I
> thought possible, like towing Vanagons.
>
> I don't tow them anymore, I want to baby the
> engine now over 200,000.
>
> And someone told me recently that VW's have the
> higher maintenance than all cars on the market
> today.
> Really? Is that a bad or a good thing?
>
> I would think that the rest  low-maintenance -no
> maintenance vehicles all end up geting crushed
> someday because they are maintained.
>
> That's especially true of the older ones.
> Older VW's are still around because maintenance
> made it happen.
>
> One the pre-80's you have to grease fittings,
> adjust brakes , adjust valves  (except
> hydraulic), and adjust your attitude.
>
> I sold my old bus to someone and they resold it
> after 1 month. The lady begged me to sell it to
> her against my advice that it was slow.
>
> She told me she wanted her money back, that she
> could not keep up with commuting traffic.
>
> If you live where you don't have to get into
> heavy trafic- fine- they are great to putt around
> in.
> But for long distance trips, you can pretty much
> plan the number of trips or years you can travel
> before it's overhaul time.
>
> Everyone touts the Subaru conversion. fine.
> there are however some good VW engine choices.
>
> My plug here is for the inline four- these are
> the best engines VW built and they typically
> outlast the car.
>
> SUre , you can beef up the aircooled with a lot
> of money. If money is no object, go for it.
>
> I have alwyas been my own mechanic because my
> service is affordable.
>
> Teach the young man mechanics and he's doomed to
> a life of fixing his own cars.
> Don't and he's doomed t paying someone else lots
> of money to do it.
>
> At least VW's were designed to last and to work
> on.
> Vanagons have better brakes and suspension than
> the Type 2, and the wiring diagrams ae easier to
> read. Having work on busses and vanagons,
> Vanagons ae easier .
>
> I have aquired a 1970 Aircooled Bug recently. if
> you are going to get a young person started on a
> VW, this is a good place to start. I converted my
> 1962 Bug into a camper and drove across the US .
> The Bug is a fun car. That was one of my best
> adventures. I took out the passenger seat and
> made that side a bed.
>
> The bug makes a cheap camper, and,
> they are  easier to push.
>
> Robert
>
> 1982 Westfalia 2.0 Jetta Powered