YOU are the best, possibly the ONLY, the most honest and definitely the most affordable mechanic for YOUR aircooled VW today. If YOU can't perform normal maintenance and small repairs, you should not own an aircooled VW. (Alternatively, you need deep pockets lined with money, and a friendly, KNOWLEDGEABLE aircooled VW specialized shop nearby.. which are getting hard to find. Most are just there to steal your money and do poor quality work.. as witnessed by your current engine there)
Sounds to me that he is doing just fine. At least Mike has good = questions=20 and seems that he is not afraid to experiment and learn with his engine. Soon he'll be giving advice here to us.
Sounds to me that he is doing just fine. At least Mike has good questions and seems that he is not afraid to experiment and learn with his engine. Soon he'll be giving advice here to us.
...............I'm already trying to be a Buddhist.
Yes, this engine is a mess. Even got a couple broken fins on one of the cylinders. I paid a very low price for the bus, don't mind doing the work on it myself (my father would be proud, he restored a couple MG's), and am having fun. But the poor previous owner got totally ripped by the guys that did the engine.
Actually, buying an old VW these days should be done with the expectation of completely rebuilding the engine. When I got my winter Baja I purposely looked for one that didn't even have an engine. Cheaper that way.
You know Bob, one of the reasons I turn on (the computer) every day is because I might get to read one of your posts. Sometimes it something I already know. But it's always entertaining. Thanks.
But not when the vehicle comes with an invoice from a local VW shop showing that they installed a new engine 3,000 miles ago on the odo. See my new post "Amazing Error."
That's a bit absolute, if I had to work on my cars exclusively I wouldn't be able to own them. With stuff like our VWs, even my Citroen, you can always find some old school mechanic who only likes to work on "old cars" who can get their way through. The guy I use most of the time charges $25 an hour and can get things done way faster than I could. I suppose that if I was the only mechanic for my car it would have all come crashing down in the Fall of
2001 when my original engine self destructed. There is absolutely no way I could ever pull my engine and put it back in again. When it was time to replace the engine I replaced virtually everything to ensure that I could have as bulletproof an engine as possible. I had a Pertronix Ignitor put in, to get rid of that maintenance and I also have a Mexican hydraulic lifter
1600 engine. The car isn't going to win any performance contests but is a solid engine and requires little maintenance compared to the VWs of old. The trick is to not place yourself in a position where if you old VW dies that everything crashes to a halt. If my Beetle broke and I couldn't fix it for months it would not be the end of the world. It's not practical to have it for daily use anyway between the winter weather and the need to mail order virtually all parts.
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