[Vwdiesel] 86 Golf goes to Garage tomorrow ! HOW MUCH is TOO MUCH?

[Erik Lane]

--- LBaird119 at aol.com wrote:

> 
> > How much would be "too much" ($$) to pour into
> this to make it roadworthy?
> > 

It all depends on how you look at it. In my mind there
is nothing in today's market to really compete with a
good old fashioned diesel VW. (Tho I have an Audi
that's really my favorite of the different little
cars. To me it's really just a VW with a different
badge.)

There's nothing out there in North America, anyway,
that can get that kind of fuel mileage and
dependability. Tho some will argue the dependability
part. And there's those old Geo Metros that got 60. I
still wouldn't mind playing with one of those for a
while. But that was the start of the computer days
when everything had to get automated. I don't like
computers controlling my car. Tho I like to hook the
engine reader up to them and play with new gizmos...
Oooh - it'll tell me the spark advance!! :)

Old VW diesels are pretty cheap to repair, compared to
all those new cars out there. Of course an old chev
350 is still cheaper for parts, I would expect.

Tho, as Loren says, rust is a real nuisance once it
gets started and can NOT be ignored. As long as that's
under control I don't see how you can go wrong fixing
up one of these cars. (Assuming you don't plan to sell
it for profit. You'll never get all your money back
out of it by trying to sell it.) Even if you
completely rebuild the engine, tranny, suspension,
injection pump, do good bodywork and paint, and rewire
the whole thing and put in new electrics you'd still
come in around $8-10,000 and have basically a brand
new car. One that gets 45-50 mpg, is a joy to drive,
and has an expected life of 300,000+ miles. And it has
the added bonus that you can work on it, where todays
computer controlled nightmares sometimes need the
factory tool. (Tho at least with VAG-COM we basically
have it for VW, as compared with Volvo where it seems
you're pretty much out of luck.) You can learn as you
go and slowly become more independant with your auto
repairs, if that is something you want to do.

So my opinion is basically that as long as the shop
isn't ripping you off with work that really doesn't
need done, breaking parts and billing you for them, or
doing otherwise shoddy work that you can't go wrong.
And those rates that you gave are downright cheap!
Especially that they're in CA dollars! (Assuming NB is
New Brunswick??)

I'd say wholeheartedly that you should go for it!!

Erik


		
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