One guy had RMW do the whole thing for him, and to be honest I don't know
exactly how much he paid, but I do know that he's now a very happy non
mechanically-inclined Vanagon owner:

http://www.rockymountainwesty.com/category_s/72.htm

The other I saw on a pallet and everything looked really pretty.

My point is not to be dismissive; I apologize for my Monday (oops-Tuesday)
morning sarcasm.  The point is that RMW does good work, a point that had
been lost in this conversation and needed to be reiterated.  They're
offering a very specialized service to an increasingly small market.  In
Colorado, that market includes campers and skiers and kayakers and
travellers, many of whom don't want to take the time to get their hands
dirty and do it the hard way. It follows that they're going to have to fork
over some cash to get a hassle-free conversion.

As far as the definition of turn-key, I always thought it meant that you
were getting all of the parts and information necessary to do the
conversion yourself without having to source additional parts or
information yourself, but perhaps that definition is incorrect.

I personally prefer to do things the hard way; that's half the fun!

Although in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that my Vanagon
is spending its second day ever in a shop getting Moog 5660 springs
installed on the front end.  I've had my nightmares with front springs over
the years and have reached a point where I have no problem with paying
somebody else to install and re-align.

Cheers,
Joe T.

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 8:17 AM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
>  On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 6:51 AM, Joe T. <vanagon85@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I can't believe I just read all of this.  I want my ten minutes back.
>>
>> But I do have to respond to the original post, before it devolved into the
>> semantics of language and nefarious consumer abuse, to say that Rocky
>> Mountain Westy does EXCELLENT work.  Everything is above-board and top of
>> the line.  I have a couple of friends here in Denver who have used their
>> conversion services and the motors and setup are clean, robust, and
>> professional, and definitely worth $12k if you want spend it on a good
>> Subaru conversion.  They offer great customer support and are genuinely a
>> good small business that deserves the Vanagon community's support.
>>
>
>
>    So, on these RMW conversions....did the people you mention simply take
> their Vanagons in for the conversion, then later come back, pay the Shop
> and just turn the key and drive away, happy?
>    Or did they get an instruction booklet and a shrink-wrapped,
> pallet-mounted, reconditioned Subaru and have to cart it home and work for
> days before they turned that key...?
>    Don Hanson
>

--
Joe T.
'85 Wolfsburg Westy Subie 2.2