Hi,

I'm a gambler, and so far I've been either lucky or a good judge of used
engines.

I would pull the heads on the engine you have and see what their condition
is.  Matter of fact, I would only pull the leaky head.  If the first head is
pitted, plan on replacing both.  If not, just replace the gasket on the one
side.  I did this on an engine a few years back, and the other never did
leak.  I finally pulled the whole engine and replaced it with one from a
wrecking yard.  That was after about 30K miles.  Before going for a rebuilt,
I'd check out the used engine market.  Someone listed two 2.1L just this
week.  he was looking for bids on them.  May still be available.

Anyway, like I said, I'm a gambler on these things, and so far I've put over
250K miles on $1800 dollars of used engines.

YMMV

Karl Wolz
----- Original Message -----
From: t obrien <calwestfalia@NETSCAPE.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, November 05, 1999 5:45 PM
Subject: New 84 Waterbox...

Well, I bought Cory's 84 (or 83 1/2) Waterboxer... It has a blown head
gasket.
It has also been sitting for a year. So a couple of questions...
1.) Do I pull the thing apart and see how bad it is? Should I do just new
heads?
2.) Perhaps I should invest in a long block ($1800) from Boston Engine?
These
guys seem to have a good reputation.
3.)Is there a West Coast rebuilder with the same reputation that you know
of?
Save on shipping charges.
I priced a VW rebuild from the dealer ($2900 plus a grand core charge). Not
worth it in my mind. It takes them at least a month to get it.
4.) for this kind of money, is it worth considering the Kennedy Subaru
retrofit? Has anyone done one? Should I be looking into one of the Jappanese
used motor import houses (like the one in Almeda, CA)?

It's Friday (I hope). Be patient with all my questions.

BTW- The van looks great. Just need to get it running.

tim

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