Three years ago I HAD A 2.1 WBX rebuilt. My mechanic had been in the
business with the VW vehicles since the beginning of time it seems. He was
having trouble getting parts then and would not take stuff coming out of
china. Last year he decided to give it up. On my current van, a '91 Carat,
I decided to update to new technology. Modern electrical, computers, new
metallurgy. I went the Subaru conversion route. After driving my rig I am
glad I did. But I had an issue with my auto tranny. I Could not find any
shop which would touch my Van, not even dealerships. And B'ham is a big
vity.I kept getting excuses - We don't work on VW's or We don't work on
cars older than 2000 models or something like that. I finally found a shop
45 miles away that would take it on. The man took the differential
completely apart and fixed the problem. Cost to me was 200 bucks. I'm going
to let him rebuild the transmission when the time comes. We talked about
the tranny job and he told me the parts are pretty standard and are easy to
come by because its an automatic. A manual would be more difficult. All of
this was about the internal parts, not housing components.

My van is good now and with a virtually new engine I don't expect any real
problems with it for some time to come.

On Sun, Feb 19, 2023 at 8:06 PM Eric Caron <ericcaron96@comcast.net> wrote:

> I’m more optimistic.
>
> Ken Wilford is building 2.1 engines and posting videos right now.  And I
> consider him on the young side.
>
> At the recent Busses By the Bridge many busses were in the 60 year old
> range and yet there were engine venders there and many of the buses were
> running sweet powerful engines some with more HP then a 2.1 vanagon!
>
> It will be from fewer sources but the interest and suppliers are out
> there.  And, at the event there were many people under 50 maintaining the
> busses.  Many under 40 and several in early 20s.  The vans are popular and
> still have a following.
>
> But, I agree it never hurts to hold onto good parts if you have them.
>
>         And, also good to share when you can.
>
> Eric Caron
>
>
> > On Feb 19, 2023, at 8:56 PM, Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
> wrote:
> >
> > I posted this on Vanagon Owners group on Facebook:  My advice? If you
> have a Vanagon mechanic that can rebuild your auto or manual tranny...do
> it. Now! In 5 years, all those great guys will retire. It is already
> happening. And.....you want to get your WBX motor fixed?...same situation.
> > This is a horrendous outlook.  I know that.  But I believe it is real.
> Some of us are skilled mechanics and technicians; most of us are not, I am
> not. Parts themselves are becoming hard to find, yet alone Vanagon
> mechanics with the knowhow.  And obviously not in some small town in
> Nowhere USA.
> >
> > What do you think of this dismal prediction?
>