On Fri, 10 Jan 1997, Marcus Doherr wrote:

> I am looking for exhaust parts for our CA model '80 Vanagon (2.0L FI),
> especially the cross-over pipe, muffler and tail pipe. Main problem is the
> cross-over pipe, and the dealer gave me a price of > $ 500 on it alone

I was looking for exhaust parts for my '81 Cal-model van and the only 
realistic solution ($$$$'s) I could come up with was hitting the junk 
yards and trying to get lucky.  I've seen such exhaust bits from time to 
time in some of the Pull-a-part places and some of the VW or German car 
specialty junkyards locally, but you have to get there at the right time 
because this stuff tends to go fast.

If you have the time, I would suggest two things:

   a) establish a "circuit" of Pull-a-part junkyards or regular junkyards
      that you visit every few days.  Don't bother with the phone since
      these places usually don't know or won't say what they have.

   b) go to the local library and use the yellow pages to develop a list of
      VW or German car specialty yards.  Because they deal specifically with
      VW's they are more likely to know what you're talking about.

Vanagons show up regularly enough that, given time, you'll find what you 
need.  Many yards, particularly the specialty yards, now regularly ship 
parts out UPS.  Some specialty yards even have some kind of net presence.

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Tom Young               young@sherlock.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU
Lafayette, CA  94549    '81 Vanagon
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