If one of your thoughts is to get a rust free, non-crashed, not-dinged up
............vanagon body/chassis,
for not too much outlay, and swap your goodies over to it ..............
I have those.
Most pretty darn good vanagons that haven't suffered rust and neglect
.........or if they did, I repair that stuff.
Closest I have to a 91 GL is a white 87 GL.
you could buy it without engine or trans, swap over your stuff etc.

the swap-over word could even been done at my end ........just one
possibility of several.
anyway ....
just wanted to say I am collecting up very non-rusted and non-crashed
vanagons.
Scott
www.turbovans.com
southern Oregon

----- Original Message -----
From: "Allan Streib" <streib@CS.INDIANA.EDU>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 7:31 AM
Subject: Re: Van wrecked, wondering if it's worth repairing

> Got the news from the insurance co (State Farm) they are considering the
> claim to be a total loss.  Not surprising, really.
>
> They are offering the NADA "good condition" value for the van, which is
> $3,125.  I actually think that's pretty fair for a GL vanagon with over
> 200K miles.
>
> I can buy it back for the salvage value of $325 and try to repair it.  The
> question I now have is am I better off shopping for another solid van,
> maybe one with a blown engine or drivetrain, and transplant parts, or
> trying to hammer out/weld and or bondo the damage on my current van.
>
> Thoughts?  Anyone have any leads on a potential candidate for the
> "replace/transplant" plan?  I am located in Indiana, would consider
> picking up/towing from anywhere in the midwest or mid-south.
>
> Allan
> --
> 1991 Vanagon GL
>
>
>
> On Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:55 -0400, "Allan Streib" <streib@cs.indiana.edu>
> wrote:
>> Wife hit another car from behind in my '91 GL.  No injuries, thankfully.
>> The impact was largely just above the bumper on the driver's side.  It
>> doesn't look TOO bad, but the steering is binding pretty badly.  I'm
>> guessing the steering box up front was damaged, or there's some crushed
>> sheet metal interfering with it.  Also the driver's door has been bumped
>> a bit out of place though it will still open and close.  The door itself
>> is undamaged; the damage appears to be confined to the front nose sheet
>> metal.
>>
>> The van is a high-miler (over 200K) but no rust and in pretty good shape.
>>  I've put in a new steering rack, ball joints, radius rod bushings,
>> shifter linkage kits, fuel hoses, gas tank vents, and misc. other work
>> over the past year.
>>
>> Wondering how much work it would be to cut off the front nose (or maybe
>> just the left half of it) and replace it?  I have a welder and though I'm
>> not very experienced at it am willing to give it a try.
>>
>> Is there likely to be any other structural distortion?  I know the front
>> ends of these vans are pretty strong, so hoping it's repairable.
>>
>> I can post photos later today.
>>
>> Allan
>> --
>> 1991 Vanagon GL