Troy, if you enjoy the van (and westy lifestyle), go for it.  Say to
yourself "I have a practical vehicle that costs tens of thousands of
dollars less than a new campervan".

It sounds like you know the van well, ANY other van you buy will have
tons of little things to fix....unless you spend $81k for a GoWesty
Syncro Westy :)

Even if your van rusts away you could always transplant the
powerplant into another body down the road.

Hopefully you'll have the van another 7 years, so you are paying
$1000/year for great engine upgrade.

-Paul

>Hi folks:
>
>I've been talking with Hans and John at Vanaru (great folks), and
>I'm about ready to drop nearly $7,000 for a Subaru conversion. The
>question that keeps going through my mind is- is the van is worth
>it?. It's an 89 westy with 107K. I'm sure I will love the increased
>power, reliability, improved gas mileage, etc. I do not, however
>have a pristine, Southern California, perfect everything van. The
>interior is fairly decent, and I have no doubt I can improve the
>interior to my liking. There is a small amount of the interior
>wallpaper that is peeling, and some of the metal parts have rusted.
>It's been a fairly easy job to wire brush the metal pieces and
>repaint. I believe "Go Westy" has the wallpaper available should l
>want to upgrade the wallpaper inside. The poptop canvas should be
>replaced, but is usable.  The door panels have some buckling, but
>those too, I believe I can take care of. Over the last few months
>I've repaired all of the nonworking items,  pulled the dash, and
>replace the climate control cables, heater fan and seals, along with
>a bunch of switches, radio, new speakers, visors, door handles.
>fixed the seats and pwr mirrors. I've added a second battery, a
>power inverter and some other nice extras. It's almost done.
>
>My biggest concern is the exterior and front end.  I am starting to
>see some seam rust, and there's actually some metal missing around
>the rear window seals. There are some paint chips on the pop top,
>and cracking in the paint in various places. There are no large
>areas of visible rust, mostly just the beginnings of seam rust. I
>currently have the fridge out, and do not see any rust on the side
>walls, which I understand it's a common area for rust. There is one
>dent on the driver's side by the utility inlets--pushed in about a
>1/2" at the seam junction of  the center panel and rear panel--no
>rust though.  My question is, if I want to repaint this vehicle and
>repair this seam rust, what kind of cost am I looking at? I'm
>talking about a really pristine job. I would have no trouble
>removing seals, windows, bumpers, trim parts and so forth to save
>money. I should also mention that the van has been painted once, and
>I'm wondering how much that has concealed in terms of hidden rust.
>
>The front end is taking bumps pretty hard, squeaks a lot, but I have
>no ideal as to the extent  of repairs that are needed. At the moment
>there are four passenger tires (under rated) on the vehicle (I have
>a set of Hankook's, but have yet to get them installed) I'm hoping
>that will smooth out the ride, but don't know how much. My mechanic
>has said that only the left tie rod end is bad and the rest of the
>front end looks okay-- I have my doubts.  Could somebody give me a
>worst-case scenario, in terms of repair.
>
>In the end, I am either looking for encouragement to go ahead, or a
>swift kick with a wake up call. When do you call it quits with these
>vans? How much is too much?  Currently I have about 13K into the
>van, without the engine upgrade. So, what you folks think? Would you
>put a new engine in or look for something in better condition? The
>one thing I do like about this van is I know exactly what has been
>done. If I had this to do over again, I would look for a pristine
>body and interior 1st, and good engine second. The amount of time
>spent on details and fixing the non maintained items has been
>incredible. I don't how many hours I've racked up finding used parts
>on the Samba list. Thank god for used!
>
>
>Thanks,
>
>Troy
>
>
>.