Folks,

Last weekend I acquired from a friend an '85 GL Westy in good shape
overall, but it has a few known problems.

One of the most pressing of these problems is apparently a bad ECU, which
causes the van's engine to simply die at random times.  For example, I was
driving 65mph on the freeway and it died with no prior warning.  However,
I was able to re-start it without any hesitation after turning the
ignition off.  When the engine is running, everything's great - no
hesitation, no excessive or strange noises, no loss of power, etc.  But it
does flat-out die relatively frequently.  My friend (the previous owner)
had his mechanic diagnose this problem as a bad ECU.  From what I've read
on Vanagon.com and elsewhere, there's a possibility of other (cheaper)
causes, but since it's been diagnosed by a mechanic I think I'll go for
the ECU.

So, where's a good place to get an ECU?  I don't really have the time to
go looking through junkyards right now, and I'd love to get this vehicle
back into good working order.  I see on www.vanagain.com that Ken sells
rebuilt ECUs for about $200.  I also see that Ken is an active participant
on this list, which tells me that he's probably a good guy.  Without
meaning to offend Ken, is there a better place for me to acquire an ECU?

Thanks

-Graham
'85 GL Westy, ~160K