Thanks for the kind words. Working on our vanagon Chuck was fairly standard as far as difficulty of work. Having an inline-4 cylinder conversion made sourcing parts much easier (millions of them sold). Diagnosing the vanagon systems is definitely simpler than the NCV3 sprinters, with CANbus everything. Honestly the T1N sprinter has not posed any major issues. I feel that I can tackle any repair except for major engine mechanical work. Of course sprinter engines are quite a bit more expensive than the waterboxer in the vanagon. Considering my I4 conversion was 500$ in junkyard parts, its not even in the same league cost wise. The waterboxer was an improvement over the air cooled models overall. Unfortunately the cooling system design was borderline Rube-Goldberg. Of course VWs design longevity goal of 100k miles didn't help much.
Having ABS, airbags, power steering, cab AC, and diesel power has sold us on the sprinter. We could have retrofitted much of this into a vanagon, but the cost would have been very high, even with me doing all the wrenching. Plus, with most of it being custom work, reliability was going to suffer, especially in the beginning.
I was really amazed how loyal vanagon/westy owners were. "Everyone knows the only real camper van is a vanagon. The sprinter is too big! You will never be able to camp in fun places! It has no soul!"
When I become fabulously wealthy a fully restored and upgraded vanagon Westy will be on the list.
Nothing wrong with the vanagon when in its good condition (well actually I have a few gripes). But there were design deficiencies that needed corrected. That plus the average age makes them a very
entertaining platform to overland in. Despite all this we had a blast in Chuck. Other than some operator induced damage, we had relatively little in the way of mechanical trouble. Never left us stranded.
Of course I have above average mechanical aptitude, and I replaced or rebuilt half the van during our journey. I enjoyed working on Chuck, but I am really enjoying the sprinter. The thought that most everything will be good for another 100k miles makes me grin. No filter changes in the dirt. No leaking master cylinders, or cracked coolant lines.
Man I am starting to feel nostalgic thinking about Chuck. Some good memories. Maybe I will post some photos from the trip.