Todd,
  Could you be more specific about the "symptoms"? If by "head leak" you
mean coolant from the waterjacket seal, you can fix it for about $100, not
counting your time.
   Exhaust gases in the coolant is another matter...

Larry A.

On Mon, Dec 23, 2013 at 4:09 PM, Todd Last <rubatoguy@comcast.net> wrote:

> After almost 230,00 miles my '88 Vanagon is displaying symptoms of a head
> leak - I have not yet confirmed this or done a recent compression test, but
> plan to do so.  I have concluded that one of the worst things you can do to
> your van is not use it. Bad things happen when they are left sitting!
> In any case I am looking at my options, and started out thinking about
> replacing the heads, then thought if I was going to do that, I might as
> well put in new piston rings too, and well, once you do that you might as
> well go a step farther and do an engine rebuild.  Of course, once you get
> there, the question becomes, stock, modified (like GoWesty) or engine
> swap.  In looking at these options, it looks like a cost of $5,000 or more.
> From what I have seen, Subaru conversions can reach over $10K.  Yikes!
>
> I was wondering if I could get opinions on the best course of action in
> this situation, not wanting to spend tens of thousands of dollars. Would
> list memebers give me their 2 cents worth and if possible, what the
> aproximate costs for the various solutions range from?  I'm not sure if it
> makes more sence to just install new heads and hope for the best, or go
> full bore and swap the engine.
>
> What does the voice of experience say? Anyone out there have opinions on
> the GoWesty performance engines vs. a Subaru transplant?
>
> Thanks,
> Todd
> '88 Westy
>
>