are you kidding ?  re 'falling apart'.
every last vanagon I see needs about 50 things , and I don't even insist
on 'all new everything at all.'
They are 25+ years old after all.
I think they sold a lot of 84's..
people love them, and keep them alive.  There's lots of 84's still,
especially westy's.
They also get a lot of neglect over the years.

it's good to have a spare ecu of course.
I think I have seen exactly one bad 1.9 ECU ever.
I'm glad to read that Bob had his priorities straight.
'longevity and reliability. '  - right on.

On 8/24/2012 3:33 PM, Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
> "Sounds like yer 84 is falling apart on you, ECU, Spark Plugs, Water
> Faucet, et al.  What gives Mr Squirrel?"
>
> Normal maintenance, my friend, normal maintenance.
>
> Yes, there is some kinda weird engine cutout that occurs only when it's
> da** hot and I'm climbing long steep grades. This surface for the first
> time two summers ago. But didn't occur last summer. But did this summer.
>
> Science is baffled.
>
> My Ken Lewis O2 measuring gizmo says the engine goes LEAN when the
> engine cuts out--so it could be my ECU going on a hunger strike or some
> other fuel-delivery problem.
>
> Mark Drillock says he has a spare ECU for me to use for , and that's one
> thing worth trying.
>
> The water faucet thing. Well, it looks like I got an early part from
> last year when the parts had just been put into production. The leak is
> a Known Issue. Bus Depot and Cherie, AKA, the "Skylight Gal" (GFAB
> Manufacturing Ltd), have stepped up to the plate and are sending a new
> pressure-tested unit.
>
> W/r/t the spark plugs. Man, I don't know what to do. Dennis Haynes, who,
> in my estimation, ranks up with the sainted Bob Hoover of air cooled VW
> engine fame (a man whom I was honored to receive personal coaching from
> in 2007 when my '71 bay window blew its engine -- he lived about five
> miles from my house) says the plugs will turn my engine into toast and
> probably cause impotence.
>
> This can't be good.
>
> But other folk who have been using these plugs for, like, ever have no
> complaints. These would be the Scott Daniels of our list fame, and the
> tencentlife of The Samba fame. Off-record, I've received technical and
> well-argued private e-mails both pro and con about these things.
>
> Hoover always discouraged anything that would improve the engine's
> performance, feeling that the VW engineers optimized their engines for
> long life. He did develop several nice modifications for the engines,
> but they were done to increase reliability and longevity.
>
> But the Dark Side calls. The increased pep the new plugs provide is
> seductive.
>
> --
> Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
> 1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
> Bend, Ore.
>
> On 08/24/2012 03:06 PM, Old Volks Home wrote:
>> Oh, the ECU......also called a "gonkulator"
>>
>> ;)
>>
>> Sounds like yer 84 is falling apart on you, ECU, Spark Plugs, Water
>> Faucet, et al.  What gives Mr Squirrel?
>>
>