OP
OP
Tom_T
Advanced Member
I cannot work on anything car, trailer, house or otherwise without skinned knuckles - & I hear ya on the potty mouth George! I was working in the kids bedroom on something when the tool slipped & gouged my hand, resulting in a loud "SOB" - which the kids asked my wife what I said, and she told them "Son of a Fish" - fast thinking wife, I must say!
Having an `85 WBX Vanagon Westy - you know that the waterboxer engines no longer required the regular valve adjustments, having switched to self-adjusting valves.
But the 1983.5-86 1.9L WBX engines did have a nasty habit of eating through the aluminum heads due to the anodic reaction between the aluminum heads, magnesium in the case alloy, gasket materials, & the composition of the coolant. In the early WBX years it wasn't uncommon to have a "waterfall" at the head/case gasket at 20-40,000 miles.
VW eventually VW figured out the proper gasket material & coolant mixture composition to prevent that problem, but heads can still develop the anodic caused leaks over 100-150,000 miles. Of course for those who decided to go cheap with bargain generic coolant - their savings were short lived, once the heads failed at 20-40,000 from using the wrong coolant type.
Fortunately my longtime since 1985 VW-Porsche-Audi mechanic trained at V/P/A factories & dealers in Austria/Germany & then here in SoCal warned us when we started looking, and said to not buy anything used before 1987 MY & that he didn't check over first. After a few `87 candidates - one with only 8,000 miles with the plastic seal still on the sink/stove/etc. from an elderly couple whose health issues quashed their travel plans with it - we decided to buy a new on in 1988.
VW finally got it right with the late 1987-92 Vanagon Westfalia CamperGL's (only GL sold in the USA), which were the best of the batch, and the styling was way ahead of the time & predated the Dodge/Plymouth/Chrysler Minivans of similar styling by a decade from when VW developed the design in the early to mid-1970s, & first sold them August 1979 in aircooled form (ABX up to 1983.5).
We still have people come up & ask if ours is new & where they can buy one new, and they've had recent popularity as props/background for TV ads in recent years (along with the Bay Window 1969-78 Bus era Westies).
My 914 ABX 2.0L will still need valve adjustments. And it was a later smog-detuned version of that engine which was used in the 1980-83.5 MY Vanagons & 1976-78 Bay Window Buses - as you were doing with your `77 Westy.
I was surprised that the Vanagon Westfalias have gone up so much in value, and become such as cult car - but then they were relatively low production cars - and far more rare than the other "tin top" (non-poptop) Vanagons - especially for the Synchros, & also for the Single & Doka Cab Vanagon Pickups.
Given that my 1985 BMW 325e E30 Coupe cost 1/4 the maintenance & repairs costs of our 1988 Vanagon Westy - I had expected that the BMer 3 would be more valuable long term, but just the opposite is the case - although E30s are gaining collector favor now too.
In any case, I like that we've lived with & regularly use our "drivable classics" for 46 years now, have raised a family & have toured the USA & BC Canada with them, 2 kids who learned to drive in the later two, and now essentially have the 600,000+ miles between the 3 cars - `73 914-2.0 (172K+), `85 325e (205K+), & `88 Westy (242K+) - similar to the guy back east with the 1 million mile Volvo P1800 of long use over 55+/- years.
Cheers!
Tom
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