No kidding.

Thanks Jim for keeping it real. Your thoughtful and knowledgeable posts are
always interesting reading.

On 6/23/07, Jim Akiba <syncrolist@bostig.com> wrote:
>
> The thread started with a question as to the in-place difficulty of
> changing
> a subie timing belt. A labor time contrary to that stated in a previous
> post
> was reported, it was questioned, then the thread-a-splode.
>
> With regard to someone trying to find a low point, bad point... good. They
> should. They should be grilling, challenging, and questioning everything
> anyone says about something where others stand to make money like an
> engine
> conversion.  All too often people take the first thing they can either
> identify with, or that makes sense to them, and incorporate it into their
> belief system on some form of faith, usually in the person that said it in
> a
> position of "expertise"... hence the similarity to religion that we are
> all
> familiar with. It's not ideal, but it's reality. There is quite a bit of
> material and concepts to cover, and if someone hears something from
> someone
> they already consider in a position of expertise, they will usually
> believe
> it instead of committing to all the extra work that would be required
> outside of their normal amount of evaluation work to satisfy a given
> question in *their* area of expertise.  SO that's where the value of the
> list lies. The things that people say on the list are not JUST considered
> by
> a single person's own internal evaluation, but those of many people.
> Sometimes this leads to a real mess, but it can protect the "airwaves"
> from
> pollution as well, because if something is said, chances are better with
> the
> group that someone else will know something on the matter and protest if
> they feel something is incorrect. I like that. Combined expertise and
> opinion available at your finger tips is awesome.
>
>
> Jim Akiba
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: benoit [mailto:huotb@VIDEOTRON.CA]
> Sent: 2007-06-23 9:28 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Timing Chains, Belts, Gears, etc
>
> Interesting post.
>
> One thing got me this morning, 80-90% of you guys are driving a vehicle
> equiped with a T-Belt.
>
> So what is the point of that thread about T-Belt and Subi????
>
> I feel that some are just trying to find a "low/bad point/reason" in
> that type of conversion?
>
> Some people (Bostig, Vanaru, Ticco) are working hard to do very good and
> reliable conversion for our aging vans...
>
> Let's applaud them!
>
> I have arguments with Jim, but it's fun, i hope he think the same, i
> almost got one of his conversion, but things went the other way because
> Hans is a friend, i'm sure the ZTEC is an amazing conversion, i can see
> all the work they have put there, i'm eager to try one one day. I also
> have some customers with VW TD and 2.0L VW engine, they loved them, they
> are mostly trouble free. So bravo to you all. There is also a guy call
> B-Bob who work hard to build reliable wasser, well, thank you Bob.
>
> Frank C. went all around Mexico last year with a B.Bob engine, again,
> bravo.
>
> And you know what, i have built also an engine for a 62 yo lady that
> went all around Mexico last winter (remember the radiator thread), she
> did 14,000k,  so Bravo to me!
>
> GoWesty, Van-cafe, Busdepot, Vanagain and some other sell good hard
> parts to find, so Bravo to them.
>
> There is no perfect world, but i think we are going the right way.
>
> Ben
>
> Dvdclarksn@aol.com wrote:
>
> > Yes they certainly will break. It happened to me with my 82 diesel
> > Westy. The Stooge that installed my engine (was sold as "new" but was
> > a polished junk yard relic-won't go there now) neglected to replace
> > the timing belt cover. When I asked him why he said that I really
> > didn't want that on there because  a rock could get caught inside of
> > it and break the belt?! Well just the opposite happened. A rock spun
> > up and broke the belt, bent valves and resulted in replacing the
> > entire cylinder head to the tune of $1600.00. Granted this was not
> > death by natural causes but more of a freak accident that left me
> > madder than hell anyway. I was young dumb and ignorant and learned an
> > expensive lesson. I work in the service dept. of a Honda dealership
> > and we replace most timing belts at 7 yrs. or 105, 000 miles per
> > Honda's recommendation. We usually don't see many break unless they
> > get to about 175,000 miles or more. Honda realized this and saw that
> > many people were dismissing this as Honda's attempt to generate more
> > business in the service dept. before it was really needed. What I have
> > seen now is that the timing belts on the new Honda v6 engines are
> > thinner and narrower than the ones that were used on the early 80's
> > Civics!  Maybe they are made of a stronger rubber compound or maybe
> > they will truly fail around the end of their predicted life span.
> > Timing belts will fail, not often but it does happen and when it does
> > an interference engine will require big bucks for valve replacement
> > and head work. It can be an expensive gamble.
> >
> > David Clarkson
> > 90 Westy (240k)
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > See what's free at AOL.com
> > <http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503>.
>

--
Jake
1984 Vanagon GL
1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
www.crescentbeachguitar.com