I'm talking about the motor stand, the tools, the books, the spare parts. You can't expect the dealer to throw in a spare motor, but some dealers should anyway.This is the "waterboxer" engine from our 1986 VW Westfalia camper. Many people who know these motors say I should replace it with something else, but nobody's stepping up to give me the 4 to 5 thousand dollars "something else" would cost. Actually, that's the cost if I do the work myself. If I hired one of the guys who advertise engine swaps on the internet, I could be looking at 9 to 10 thousand or more... that's a lot of money for a guy who has two sailboats, believe me.
So this is how far I've gotten in about six actual hours of work. And I have to thank La Manga John, the local VW maniac for the use of the motor stand. He had three of them, but since he has more VWs than Washington has apples, it was kind of him to loan it to me.
Speaking of Sailboats
I'm continuing to research the construction methods I need to use on the GREEN FLASH. A phrase I've recently run across is Syntactic Foam.
This is actually looking pretty good. I'm trying to get some Fly Ash (the pollutant that results when coal is burned to create electricity) because it contains tiny little "cenospheres" that researchers are using to mix with polymers to create strong, lightweight structural foam. In other words, I can use a pollutant to build with instead of cutting down trees by buying plywood. It's cheaper, and stronger, and won't rot like wood. A twofer.
3 comments:
Don't forget the other thing you need with this kind of vehicle: a nice tile-floored, shady place to take the motor apart and spread out all the little pieces, and the tools, and the new parts.
Ya Bliss, I noticed the "Taller" area is very nicely outfitted.
And now I'm going to need room for the spare motor, which I had stored out by the FLASH. It has one bad head but the rest will serve very well. (If you can't live near a junk yard, make yourself one where you live).
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