'Pooh' AKA my 1981 Holdsworth Villa conversion VW 2.0 Litre Air-cooled
Transporter has recently had a new engine.

The old carburetors have now been replaced at the 500 mile service and
it runs a lot smoother.

The brand new solex carbs cost me 189 UK pounds and are original VW
parts and obtained from Just Kampers.

They were a good  bargain as I asked about getting the old ones
refurbished at the Vanfest in Malvern UK last month and was quoted 200
UK pounds.

I understand that US vans have fuel injection, however I think that it
nice to know that bargains can still be found.

I can recommend anyone replacing an engine to also consider replacing
the carburetors. The old ones may suffer from flat spots which makes the
engine runs too lean which may burn out the valves.

While at the Vanfest, I picked up two velour fabric front bucket seats
with headrests that were unused but slightly soiled, for 60 UK pounds
for the pair.  There was a German importer at the show who was quoting
380 UK pounds for one seat.

The old 1981 seats have a flat runner and the replacement ones, being
for a later model,  have lipped edges on the runners that needed
grinding down before they would slide into the retaining channel .

The seat belt clips which were attached to the replacement seats were
removed as these were not needed, there  already being clips on the seat
boxes.

Having cleaned them and repaired a small tear on the side of the
passenger seat, they now both look like new and are a lot more
comfortable than the original brown seats.

Pictures of the new engine before and after fitting are at:

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~mpages/engine.htm
Frank Woodcock