I was following Larry's posts back then and his $3500 2.2 waterboxer blew up at 18,000 miles:  http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0310B&L=vanagon&P=R7057&m=230908  After multiple failures he went to 2.1 pistons with no better luck:  http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0405A&L=vanagon&P=R10386  I quit searching the archives after this post.  Anyone know how Larry is doing these days?

I'm done with the WBX, it isn't designed for continuous duty.

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Dave Mcneely
Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2012 6:54 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Low compression, more test results-busaid inying used vans!

How many of us, except for those who are able to do all the work on their vans themselves, don't have a $20k (or more) van?  Wife and I now call ours the $1M van.  Even those who do the work themselves, if they put in one of the engines sold by rebuilders, end up with a figure something like you mentioned.  Take a look at Larry's RoadHaus van payout, and that was 10 years ago and doesn't include maintenance since.  mcneely

---- Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote: 
> As I have said in the past the most important part of purchasing a 
> used vehicle is to find out why it is/was for sale. For some reason 
> the past/current owner no longer wants it!
> 
> Since you only had this a few months you now know one reason. I doubt 
> this "just" happened. Depending on what you paid and how you go about 
> the conversion and then all the other stuff to follow you too may soon 
> have that $20K Camper.
> 
> Dennis
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On 
> Behalf Of Stuart MacMillan
> Sent: Friday, September 07, 2012 10:52 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Low compression, more test results
> 
> Well, for those who have been following by email thread about making 
> the mistake of checking compression on my 140k mile original engine
> (90-150-100-130) I’ve done some more tests.
> 
>  
> 
> 1.       Valves were zero lash or 1 turn in, no valve noise, timing dead on
> 
> 2.       Manifold vacuum is 12” Hg with ±1” tick (should be steady 17-21)
> 
> 3.       No detectable vacuum leaks (propane test), all vacuum hoses new.
> 
> 4.       22% leak down on #1, could hear leakage all three places, but
> exhaust and intake were louder than the dipstick, with the exhaust 
> being the worst.  (Should have used the decibel meter on my iPhone, 
> but I didn’t want to get it greasy ;-) ).  Didn’t bother testing the others after this result.
> 
> 5.       Does not burn oil (in 1000 miles at least)  Plugs that came in it
> were clean.
> 
> 6.       PO installed reman AFM recently
> 
> 7.       Idles smooth (as any of them anyway), runs well, no coolant leaks,
> but has poor acceleration and poor gas mileage (~15 mpg highway). 
> 
>  
> 
> Looks like it’s got some leaking valves. No surprise this rig is worn 
> out, I assumed it was, but I could drive it home at least.  I hope I 
> can get a few thousand more miles out of it so I can save some dough for a conversion!
> 
>  
> 
> Sometimes ignorance is bliss, but never for long.  I waited until 
> after my planned summer trips to check the engine condition, so I was 
> blissfully ignorant on purpose.  I’m still planning a couple of fall 
> trips nearby though.  What the hell, I’ve got AAA premier.
> 
>  
> 
> Stuart
> 
> ’85 Westy, purchased in May

--
David McNeely