Hi, Sheilah:

Go to www.roadhaus.com and check out the VW mechanics listed under
"Repairs".

Found this for San Fran:

*City Automotive*
466 Eddy Street
San Francisco, California 94109
Phone: 415.776.9710

Owner: Rolf Glitzner

Type Of Shop: Repair
Will Work On: Vanagon, VW & Porsche

On Eddy Street between Hyde & Leavenworth. The shop is not far from1 Union
Square, Market Street, China town and the City and Federals buildings in
S.F.

Take the 9th Street exist when driving north on I80/101. Stay in right lanes
when crossing market (Don't take Left lanes that go onto Hayes St). Turn
right on Eddy Street (about 4 or 5 blocks). City Automotive is in the 2nd
block on left side.

*Robert <spinner_rcb1@msn.com> writes:*
I would rather a mechanic tell me the truth than to jump into a job they
knew nothing about. Rolph will "tell it like it is" and I appreciate his
knowledge and his honesty.
Shop Rating: Excellent
*Recommended*
Report Date: 01.13.2010

*Ed Brown <edbrown@hotmail.com> writes:*
Will not work on eurovans said take it to the dealer. Not Helpful
Shop Rating: Avoid
*Not Recommended*
Report Date: 09.15.2009
Pete
'79 Westy "Aardvark"
'87 Westy "JoesVan"
WWW.Busesbythebeach.com

On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 7:10 PM, Sheilah Rogers <sheilah@sheilah.org> wrote:

> Curious timing, this post. Thank you for posting an update. It's so great
> (as a newbie to this list) to be voraciously reading and consuming as much
> as I can on most of these subjects, especially when one of them is happening
> to me right now!
>
> My mechanic just told me that both valves in cylinder 3 are leaking (by
> ~20%). I bought a factor rebuild in 1999, just a mere 40k miles ago. Yes,
> I'm bummed.
>
> I found this out after asking the mechanic to run a compression test only
> because my dad thought it'd give me peace of mind since I was afraid to plop
> down ~$3k for an unrelated work order (which includes some other Must-Do
> fixes now). SOOO now, here I am, looking at $3k plus valve work. You might
> say my head is spinning a bit.
>
> Thanks for posting the follow-up to your own, Bryan. i'm going to go search
> the archives for your prior thread on the subject. If you care to give me
> anything that might help me find your previous discussions, eg: Month / Year
> that this discussion took place, I would be appreciative.
>
>
> In case anyone's interested, here's the current plan/approach:
>
> 0/ Decide if all this money is worth the cost and love I have for Vanna.
> Figure out how to finance it. I guess this last sentence highlights my
> tendency...
>
> 1/ Mechanic doubts the heads are corroded because there's no visible
> gunk/coolant and they're so "new". So hopefully, he can bypass new heads. If
> the heads are corroded... well, perhaps I'll save that thought if new
> information necessitates it.
>
> 2/ He will take apart the old heads (I'm assuming there are only two) and
> port/seal both of them. I hope this is what will prevent losing (another)
> engine, or at least valve, for awhile.
>
> 3/ He offers something called Porting at two levels: the better Porting
> also involves some Polishing ~> yields better mileage and power. I need to
> figure out whether to do one or the other (or not).
>
> 4/ Though I've never overheated my engine that I know of (at least not on
> this rebuilt engine), I will become even more scrupulous about changing my
> oil every 3k miles or slightly less often if it's winter (non-synthetic, no
> Penzoil, yes to Castrol 20/50) - I'm in San Francisco, no snow, not so much
> freezing temps here. In all fairness, I believe I've been pretty good about
> oil changes anyways.
>
> 5/ I will search the archives to find anything and everything I can about
> valve, heads, and porting.
>
> 6/ I will eat copious amounts of chocolate and pretend all this work and $
> is Okay. I will also feel like a traitor while I search online for Chinooks
> for sale. Oh wait, I did that last part yesterday.
>
> 7/ I'm considering a local weekend class I heard about that teaches fools
> (and I use that term lovingly) like me a bit more about the vehicles they
> drive.
>
>
> s.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Jan 21, 2010, at 2:53 PM, B Feddish wrote:
>
> > If you missed our last episode, here is review. I bought a 1.9 from Chris
> at
> > JordanVW about 18 months ago for my mechanic to rebuild for my '83 wc
> Westy.
> > Why did I buy a new core when I already had one? Because my mechanic is
> so
> > slow that I knew he would take forever to rebuild it and I did not want
> my
> > van rotting in front of his shop with the engine out.  I also bought some
> > good slightly used AMC heads from Ken at VanAgain.  My mechanic had a
> heart
> > attack right after getting the engine apart and is out of commission for
> > awhile. I was going to head down to Annapolis to get an inexpesive
> rebuild
> > after that and posted such plans with some questions to the list. I got a
> > barrage of emails with all kinds of suggestions, etc.  Jim Arnott
> forwarded
> > my email to Stan at Boston Engine (who I met this past summer at a RI
> > campout) and forwarded it to Gary (From Boston Bob's) at Suburban Engine.
> > Lots of emails went back and forth then after he agreed to rebuild a 1.9
> I
> > mailed it up to him in 3 big boxes.  My fingers were crossed as he said
> the
> > case needed to be able to take a new set of bearings but it turned out
> OK.
> > I got squeamish about having the original valves on the AMC and Gary put
> on
> > some "better breathing" German ones. I don't to kick off that debate
> again,
> > it was just cheap insurance.
> >
> > OK, now I have an engine sitting up in Cambridge, MA that Gary probably
> > wants out of his shop. I'm going to have to plan a trip to go get it.  My
> > wife wants to come so we'll probably spend more on a mini vacation then
> if I
> > just had him ship it here.  sigh... OK, how am I going to get this engine
> in
> > the back of my van?  I have several options. One is a current list member
> > here was so adamant about me not getting a cheap rebuild that he said
> he'd
> > come to my house and put a good one in for free.  He may regret offering
> > that as I may take him up on it. :) I'd help or course. The other option
> is
> > me putting it in by myself.  That could be difficult.  I guess what I
> would
> > like to know is if there are any shops within say 75 miles that could put
> it
> > in at a reasonable price?  None near me will do it.  I'm in the western
> > suburbs of Philadelphia. What are the odds that Benny Boy is traveling
> south
> > this month and is dying to do a 1.9 R&R? :) :)
> >
> > I appreciated all the rebuild ideas everyone like "Get a 2.1", "Do a
> > Subaru", etc. but you have to remember I already bought a 1.9 core, I was
> > not going to go spend another $400 on another core. And why did I do
> another
> > WBX? Because it is the least expensive route at the time and my current
> one,
> > rebuilt in a local garage, lasted 12 years and always got me where I
> wanted
> > to go.
> >
> > I will have running 1.9 that needs a water pump and head gasket leak fix
> for
> > sale shortly for cheap...
> >
> > I also will have the 2.1 core that I got from from Ron this past summer.
> > It's down to the case (but has issues) and I'll be offering that free in
> a
> > separate thread.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Bryan
>