Hi Dan,

Congrats! Don't underestimate the fun of having your steering wheel
upside-down. I find it's actually more comfortable for the position I like
to keep my hands. At any rate, that's a 3 minute fix with a torq wrench. The
air conditioning is more troublesome than it's worth, in my opinion. I have
young children and live in the north state valley where it gets over 100
degrees in the summer, and this year I'll be investing in a nice dark window
tinting instead of another $250 worth of ozone-eating refrigerant.

Enjoy your beautiful new ride and stop in if you're ever in the north part
of our state.

Cheers,
Peter
Chico

On Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 10:39 PM, Daniel Rotblatt <d.rotblatt@verizon.net>wrote:

> Thanks everyone for all the advice - it gave me enough info to feel
> comfortable in making my decision!
>
> I found an '85 westy weekender here in the area for sale this week,
> took a look, drove it, he was asking $6K, offered $5K, he countered
> with $5.5K, and it's now sitting in my driveway!  Not a speck of rust
> on it, looked under it carefully and it's got no indication of any
> accidents.  The engine had new head gaskets put on two years ago (plus
> a lot of other work).  The heads were rebuilt before that, and
> according to the PO the gasket was not in it's groove in the head when
> it was replaced.  So he had both replaced - the work was done at a
> reputable VW mechanic in Santa Barbara.
>
> Anyway - he's put a lot of money into the engine, it runs really
> nice.  Passed smog with flying colors, most of the emmisions where
> below average (which is always a good sign).  Because he was putting
> money into the mechanics, he didn't put money into the interior, but
> it's still very usable.  He has two kids and wanted it safe.
>
> Problems: steering wheel is upside down (or 180 degrees off), there is
> no plastic cover on the steering column (which will make it easy to
> fix the steering wheel alignment), there is a little air in the brake
> line (brake pumps up a bit - he says it's always been like that, but
> I've done brakes, cylinders, etc. before), the left signal is working
> intermittently (feels like a loose/dirty connection - brakes lights
> work fine), and a number of little things.
>
> Pros: new Go Westy canvas, clean body, workable interior, peppy (for a
> VW van), brake discs are good.
>
> Cons: no air conditioning, paint is old (that bronze metallic color,
> the clearcoat is fading and worn).
>
> Thanks again - I'll be around!
>
> Dan
> L.A.
>