Good questions that I too would like to know, just for general
information.

I talked with my local mechanic once about a Suburu engine for my van
and he told me his source would be a company who traded in Suburu
engines (among others) that came from Japan with mileage around 50K
because  Japanese Government environmental rules and regulations forced
those engines off the road at a certain age or mileage. The company
would warrant the engines for 50,000 miles if I should buy one. Never
found anyone who could corroborate that, but it would be useful to know.

John

John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com

On 4/10/2011 11:54 AM, T-rev Reynolds wrote:
> HI All,
>
> I've got a van who spent his life in Japan before coming to Canada.  I've heard over the years about hints that vehicles over a certain age in Japan can not be insured.  Don't know if the issue is with the age or total mileage of the vehicles.  My ('91) Westy came to N. America in the spring of 2009 and had an odometer reading just over 100,000 miles.
>
> Does anyone know how big the Vanagon community is in Japan and how these vans are able to remain registered/insured if they are all well over 20 years old etc...?
>
> Trevor Reynolds
> Alberta, Canada
> "SEN", '91 Westy
>
> http://westfalia-91restore.blogspot.com/
> gneiss9@gmail.com
>