Scott,

Re: And i'm happy to help people fix and maintain their vanagons too.......

I just bought an '86 Vanagon and it needs a thorough going over
(inspection/maintenance/repair/replace) and I need someone to give me a
crash course in Vanagon maintenance.

Can we schedule a day or so to do it together?

Neil2

On 7/1/08, Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
>
> Regardless of any of that, they are great very versitile, useful,
> fixable vehciles - Vanagons are ............and they get fine mileage
> for what they can carry and do. Whether haouuig stuff, or people, or
> camping in it, or even living it - lot of van , german van
> even.............for what they are.
>
> 84's in particular seem to bring 'nothing almost.'   Except for campers
> of course.
> I got one ..............I was told it was an 86.............and I
> asked............'like what - 300 bucks ? .......and the guy say yes'
> ..........
> I drove by, glanced at it - yep ........looks like an 86 ...........OK,
> fine.
> Running too. No leaking heads either.
>
> I've never done this in my whole life - when the guy arrived with it, I
> just told him where to park it.  I never even listened to it run or
> anything..........
> figured it was well worth it for the parts if nothing else.
>
> I look at it a little bit, and see that it's an 84 GL with retangular
> headlights and late 'vanagon' trim on the back...........
> So I ask for 50 bucks back.
> 250 for a running 84 .......and I didn't even have to test drive it or
> go get it !!
> I named it the Yard Dog, and I use it around my shop to haul gravel for
> landscaping and road improvement, ............pull other vanagons
> areound..........whatever.
> Lot of good van there if you know at all how to care for them.
>
> you talked about scarp.
> I think of the parts ..........I just bought an 87 Wolfsburg- has every
> goodie - jump seats, cruise control, central locking ........fiberglass
> bumnpers and the rear one is pretty goood too..................( not
> running, overheated and half disassembled by an idiot ) ............but
> the parts are worth more than the van itself, and with just an engine
> and some care..............could be a fantastic deluxe vanaong.  I got
> most of a set of the exact correct real Vanagon tires too on it.
>
> I think it's great fun to resore and refurmbish them back to full health.
> real soon I'll be having some camper vanaogns ready to sell.........and
> tuned and restored to the max too, like ready to leave for alaska.
> all fun !
>
> 'the problem' is a shortage of people that have the time, knowledge,
> resoureces and skills, and perhaps money to take care of them really right.
> and they are NOT hard to fix or take care of really well. Getting some
> shop to make it run right when it's say, having a fuel injection glitch
> ............that CAN be hard to get............or people that have real
> jobs and don't work on them full time, or have several parts vans to get
> parts from - it's harder for them to really do justice to these fine
> vehclies..........
> .............but, there is a ton of life left in them ! The stay
> amazingly valid in the current automotive world.........being 20 years,
> or more, old too.
> And i'm happy to help people fix and maintain their vanagons too.......
> I wonder how many there really are say, in North America.
> must be really a lot.
> and it makes me sick to see something like a 90 Carat that's not smashed
> or rusted, being parted out in a junkyard, ........and just briefly too
> - just whatever sells quickly- then crush it for scrape. You can't get
> them back after that..........
> and for the overall blend of what the vhecile is...........they are darn
> good.  More modern stuff might get better mileage, or have ABS brakes,
> or better aeriodyamics............but you can't work on them as much
> yourself, they don't have generaou ground clearance.........etc. etc. etc.
>  I'd like to have an anti-scraping bumper sticker for Vanagons.
> scott
> www.turbovans.com
>
> JordanVw@AOL.COM wrote:
>
>> yea its a sad day when you can get more for a vehicle by scrapping it out
>> then selling it with issues..
>>
>> scrap metal is way up..   the highest its been ever..   guys are trolling
>> the
>> neighborhoods with trucks and trailers, hauling cars out of peoples
>> backyards
>> or wherever, and just scrapping them, running or not.   i stopped a guy on
>> the way to the scrapyard with a '90 audi 200 turbo on his trailer..    the
>> car
>> ran and drove, but had a leaky PS rack.   he said he can get $700 for it
>> at the
>> scales just by scrapping it..
>>
>> amazing.     it took me forever to sell a rust-free '84 sunroof van i had,
>> for a measly $400 when in reality i could have gotton almost twice that by
>> just
>> hauling it to the scrapyard where they wouldnt have given a flying fark if
>> the
>> heads leaked or not.
>>
>> "but your doing it for the love of the hobby"   meh.
>> reality bites you in the ass.
>>
>> chris
>>
>>
>> **************
>> Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for
>> fuel-efficient used cars.
>>      (http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007)
>>
>>
>>
>>

--
Neil2
'82 Diesel Westy (Duckie)