My mechanic called to say that the (AT) transmission rebuild (German
Transaxle here in Bend) went smoothly, they found scoring on the face of
the oil pump (I may be mis-remembering his exact words) but the
transmission and differential were otherwise in good shape.

So anyway, when he was putting the engine back in, he noticed old
coolant residue around the . . . cooling tower? the plastic thingy up
toward the front the engine where hoses come together (no Bentley at
hand here in this wine shop where I am enjoying a pleasant late
afternoon thankyouvery much) but after the engine was installed, the
thing cracked and needs to be replaced.

None of the OEM parts are available, he said, but GoWesty has a machined
part for 200 bucks (American) that does the job. I told him to go ahead
and order the part, and install the thing. I've been without the van for
over a week and Mrs Squirrel's Subaru Outback (the iconic Bend Oregon
car) isn't always available; though fortunately the weather has been
fine for bicycling.

He said that GoWesty made mention on their site that it's possible to
convert the cooling system on a 1.9 over to the less-complicated 2.1
style, although details were sketchy.

Anyone know more about this conversion? It is doubtless more expensive
than just replacing the failed part, but is it worth doing?

--
Rocky J Squirrel
'84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
'74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
Bend, OR
KG6RCR