Hey y'all
Much to my chagrin my local, TRUSTED, friendly mechanic decided to 
retire after a long and reliable relationship he had putting his 
nimble fingers all over my '72 bus.  After a camp fest down in 
Baja and doing some 4 wheelin' in the bus, I needed to take her in for 
a tune-up and valve adjustment.  I asked my local VW friends who they 
employed for such necesseties and took her in.

Not being too mechanically inclined I thought I would check with the
experts on this list with what I was told....

"The carb throttle plate is leaking and because of the leak it is going to run
very rough, tune-up or not.  The plate in question is unique to the '72 and
has not been manufactured for quite some time.  For this reason (amongst
others I don't know about) the '72 is not a desireable year to own.   
We send them out to have the throttle shaft bushings re-built (he might
have said to Remco?) It's going to cost $250 to have them re-built and another 
$200 or so in labor charges."

So, is Gunther blowing smoke up my tail pipe?.  After the wheelin' in 
Baja I would not be too suprised about this or any other leak, but is 
this a problem on the '72's and is his price estimate accurate?  Is 
there any other solution?  The '72 has dual carbs, would converting 
to a single larger carb be a better solution, or would the CA smog 
test prohibit this?

I've been planning on spending some bucks on a nice paint job and 
redoing the interior (not to mention the Westy pop-top I asked about 
lately), but with this seed of doubt planted about the inferior year 
of manufacture, would the cash be better spent on another bus?

I know it was a !?$#% getting a carb stolenoid shut off thingamajig a 
few years back, but could someone please tell me what else I can 
expect to have trouble with in the near or far future and what parts 
I should be looking for now.  Also, is there any truth to what 
Gunther said about the '72's being inferior (least resale value).  
Does anyone know the reasons why?

Dazed and Confused,
Howard

Howard Quigley
Procom Technology
2181 Dupont Dr.
Irvine, CA  92715
800-800-8600 X298
714-261-2871 fax
World Wide Web Site
http://www.procom.com