hey volkswageners,
    the topic of GEX has recently come up, and it got me to thinking,
"how good/bad are they really?"  i, myself, don't like them, or their
products what-so-ever.  when i bought my 81 westy, it had a GEX engine
in it with 1500 miles.  being fairly new to to the volkswagen "sport" i
thought it would have been great and rather reliable.  the previous
owner gave me some old reciepts and i noticed one of them was for the
engine.  apparently, before that engine, it had another remanufactured
engine, by non other than GEX.  that engine aparently lasted about 4,000
miles then the crankshaft cracked in half. so i bought the van on it's
third engine (1. original, 2. first GEX, 3. current engine)  ever since
i had it, i had nothing but problems come out of that engine.  and the
warenty didn't transfer when i bought it.  so now i've come to the point
where i need to replace it again.  it finally puttered out after a mear
16,000 miles and i'm not going to bother with the damned thing anymore.
i'm probably going to get an engine from Fast German Auto (AKA:  The
Vanagon Engine Connection)  has anyone heard about them?  know about
their quality?  or do you know a better place i might be able to find an
engine for my 81 westy?

        Anthony Whitlock

p.s.  i'm wondering, what kind of expirencies have any of you had with
GEX?  good?  bad?  post it on the e-mail list for others to see.