> I have been shopping around for brake rebuild stuff and found a
> wide range in brake cylinder (that's rear drum brakes) cost.  Ron
> at bus depot said 8.95.  Europarts sold two : a German made for
> $24 something and a Brazilian made for $13.  What's up here?
>  Will me and my syncro notice a quality problem?

There are several brands of rear wheel cylinders for Vanagons out there,
most of which are of good quality.  The "original equipment" ones are by ATE
and FAG.  Note that I'm not calling them German; both ATE and FAG are now
sourcing products from Italy, England, South America, and even the Far East.
Most of the wheel cylinders I've seen from these manufacturers have been
German or Italian, however.  They are quite good quality.  But then again,
so are the Brazilian Vargas, which sell for about half the price (I usually
sell them for $10.95, but recently for $8.95; see below). There are also
Indian made ones from Bi-TV, which are extremely cheap; I haven't had enough
direct experience with them to comment on their quality myself, but I have
heard that even they are decent.

The ones I have for $8.95 are from LPR Hydraulics in Italy.  LPR is an
original-equipment supplier to the likes of Mercedes, and is a very good
product.  I don't usually sell them because they are a bit pricy compared to
Varga.  But I have found a limited supply of LPR's for the rears of Vanagons
at a really nice price (hence the $8.95 selling price), which makes them a
really good deal.  I have also been shipping Vargas for the same $8.95 price
when between LPR shipments, but once my source for the LPR's permanently
dries up, I'll stop doing that since frankly I'm not making much on them at
that price.

- Ron Salmon
 The Bus Depot
 http://www.busdepot.com
 (215) 234-VWVW