Have to do something with our '90 GL - my bride is getting impatient.
We bought an '89 Carat last Thanksgiving and the '90 has been superceded.
She would push it off a cliff, if there were any around here.
I'm reluctant to surrender.
They're getting so rare and it's fixable.

Two major problems...

1) The clutch doesn't work.
It's likely that the arm that moves the throwout bearing has died
inside the bell housing.
It's a new clutch and pressure plate (relatively) and the arm moves
on the outside.
Yes, I could fix this (as I've replaced the clutch twice before; and
the flywheel seal, and the mainshaft seal on the tranny).
But I'm tired, and not going to invest that much energy in something
that I can't keep.

2) There's a big dent.
A pine tree that fell during Hurricane Ike landed on an 8' concrete
wall next to the van, but slapped the roof over the front passenger
seat, leaving a long dent and knocking the longitudinal AC ducts
loose.  The dent is 4" to 6" deep at the deepest point.

214K indicated (at least two broken speedo cables that I can recall,
so it's really more)
Original engine with replaced heads (a long time ago).
Slow coolant drip from left head.
Original exhaust system, except for final tail-pipe.
Original transmission.
Original allow wheels with one Woosung (correct rating) and three
incorrect tires (all new).
There are lots of other little things that aren't right, but they're,
well, little things IMHO.

It turns out that the Carat has a main seal leak, so I'm going to
have to get that fixed, and I've never pulled an automatic
transmission before, which makes me procrastinate.  The Carat also
has windows tinted dark enough that I can't see behind me at night.
The tint has to go.

The '90 has so much invested in parts and time that just giving it
away is unappealing.

I could part it out, saving the good stuff for the Carat - like the
non-tinted windows.
I like the allow wheels, but it's so hard to find tires for them (205).
The Carat has the steel rims with light truck tires (102-rating).

There is no rust where it isn't dented - the seams look good
Aside from the roof, there are a variety of little dings.

If anyone is looking for a Project, this might be the one.
What does the collected wisdom of the list think?
--

bcnu - Grungy (John Gladu)     (Baytown, TX)    Opinions are just that
INTERNET: g r u n g y AT g r u n g y DOT c o m
'60 dddPanel walk-thru  (The Bozobus)-------in storage (engineless)-----
'69 Bug--(Bertha)-------------------------in storage (engineless)-----
'89 Vanagon Carat-------------------------the working van-----------
'90 Vanagon GL----------------------clutch no work, Ike-dented roof---
'07 Camry Hybrid-------------------------40mpg-on-regular---------
'04 Jetta TDI-----------------------------daughter's ride------------
'05 Jetta Wagon TDI GL--------------------my first "new" car--------