TheSamba.com :: View topic - The great rip off of 2010

Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:23 am

anyone in austin know of a soild place to get a solid engine for a 81 vanagon?
I was shocked to go out to the place were I keep the van stored to do my winter start up. When I turnned the Key NADA so i checked the battery looked good but I went ahead and hooked it up to jumpers , turned the key and nothing. I opened up the back NO MOTOR!!! well now i need a new one I am going to try to take the van to south america so i need something GREAT!!

So this is what I was thinking of putting in place.

import motor

or

ebay

I have never had to buy a new motor PLEASE HELP ME MAKE THE CORRECT CHOICE

Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:40 am

Man this s&^ks.

You are going to need an entire engine which includes all the stuff that was stolen. This pretty much means you are going to have to find a donor vehicle. After you find the donor you are going to have to determine if the engine itself is serviceable. Rebuild quality varies widely, I would suggest that you do some reading on the Bay Window forum. If you have the money go with a Camper Special, Boston Bob, or something equivalent.

Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:40 am

"I have never had to buy a new motor PLEASE HELP ME MAKE THE CORRECT CHOICE"

Welcome to the Vanagon life my friend,

You have started a thread that is likely to take off like a virus on the internet without providing you with any real help.

You are going to get responses like "keep it stock", "go with a Subaru motor", "Zetec is the best". Which leads to stock, but what vendor, what displacement. Ot Subaru is the best but which one 2.2, 2.5, or SVX.

I suggest using the search function since this same question has been asked repeatedly and is much debated. In the end it boils down to what do you want that you can afford.

Good luck
Gary

Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:45 am

Damn, who the hell steals a whole engine? I feel for ya bro, what a bummer! Stick with the air cooled and check this guys stuff out.
http://www.aircooledtechnology.com/

Sat Jan 23, 2010 10:19 am

Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase " my engine is missing".
I hope you called the police, I'd cut their nuts off.
Gotta be somebody local.

Sat Jan 23, 2010 10:23 am

bigsteveob wrote: Damn, who the hell steals a whole engine? I feel for ya bro, what a bummer! Stick with the air cooled and check this guys stuff out.
http://www.aircooledtechnology.com/

X2 on the jake raby camper special. do a search on here, there is a build thread that is very informative.

Sat Jan 23, 2010 10:34 am

Sorry for your loss.

Sat Jan 23, 2010 10:34 am

Are you serious? Someone stole the motor out of your van? Where is it stored that a thief could take the time to remove a moter? Why wouldn't they just steal the whole van?

This doesn't make sense.

Sat Jan 23, 2010 10:38 am

Air cooled vans are usually pretty cheap. Under a grand. I think you would need a donor van to start to replace what was taken that wouldn't come with a new motor. It's cheaper than buying a whole new set up.

Sat Jan 23, 2010 10:50 am

TroySmith80 wrote: Are you serious? Someone stole the motor out of your van? Where is it stored that a thief could take the time to remove a moter? Why wouldn't they just steal the whole van?

This doesn't make sense.

I agree!!! Who would take the time to milk a cow when its easier, faster, and quieter to steal the whole damn thing? Kinda like picking the lock on a door thats allready open :roll:

Sat Jan 23, 2010 11:16 am

TroySmith80 wrote: Are you serious? Someone stole the motor out of your van? Where is it stored that a thief could take the time to remove a moter? Why wouldn't they just steal the whole van?

This doesn't make sense.
Somebody that knows what they are doing can get em out pretty damn fast. Not that I would ever claim to know what I'm doing but, I got my Baywindow's pancake out in 45min flat. From the time I jacked it up to the time i had it on the ground. The first pancake engine I pulled took me a longer for sure, but with practice......
Besides, it might take awhile for a person to realize that their engine is missing, but taking the whole vehicle is a whole other story!

Sat Jan 23, 2010 11:17 am

So... what's the going price for a used aircooled Vanagon engine on the Black Market?

Sat Jan 23, 2010 11:23 am

Did they get the transaxle too?

Sat Jan 23, 2010 11:34 am

In order to give you good advice please let us know what your budget is. There are many variables and the price will help narrow it down quite a lot. Sorry for your loss. It really does suck. :evil:

Sat Jan 23, 2010 11:59 am

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=832295

See if you can get a local to have it crated up and trucked to you.

Sat Jan 23, 2010 11:59 am

I have about $2500 it was at a storage lot in Mc allen tx, It would have been kinda easy to not be noticed. And mc allen is on the border. If someone took it to mexico they would not be able to take the entire van, but could take a motor no prob. The vanagon is in good shape so a motor in mexico could go for $600 or 1 month pay in mexico. not a bad score. 2 people could grab it in 20min.

Links would be nice to find a complete motor for $2500

Sat Jan 23, 2010 12:08 pm

I hear you can get cheap motors in Mexico. Just a thought.

Sat Jan 23, 2010 12:13 pm

It would be cool to go over and get mine back but I dont speak spanish. Also I want to take the opportunity to do it right and putt in something solid.

anyone know of a good company to purchase from?

Sat Jan 23, 2010 12:17 pm

Reminds me of the hurricanes in FL people would have there generators going all night and you could here them run sometime you would here them run but no power (No AC) So you would drag your self up get a flashlight to see if a breaker tripped are what not to find your 2000$ generator that you heard running has been replaced with a 50$ beat up lawn mower but hey it runs.

Sat Jan 23, 2010 12:24 pm

These guys are pretty far from you, but you may want to contact them and see what the have or can suggest. Really nice guys here in the PNW.

http://store.averysaircooled.com/merchant2/