On Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:33:00 +0000, Larry wrote:

I had a string of VWs. 3 bugs, 411 wagon, 2 Kombi campers, one bus...all
great vehicles, but way too much maintenance on the air cooled pancake
engines. All that valve adjusting was way too much.

Had to rebuild mine after the jugs got too big inside. Think I paid
@50 bucks for new jugs with pistons and rings already in them.
Easy job rebuilding them, ground the valves with a reversing drill.
Those engines had a natural life of @60-70k in captivity - the
maintenance you mentioned.
Besides, most I could squeeze out of it was 29 mpg highway.
But the full-sized crap was getting 10-15 mpg, so it was cheap to
run/fix - and easy to park! Mine was a '64. 6 volt.
Had a '67 Squareback too - POS. But it was nice to hear its gas
heater take off like a jet and start steaming up the windows.

--Vic