>>  You can of course start working on the heads if you want  - and someone
should for sure. . On all the waterboxer engines that I take the heads off
of, the exhaust valves........at least 2 or the 4 usually are leaking some.
<<

I'm not going to do any major work to this engine. It was rebuilt in a local
shop 75K miles ago in '96. The heads blew out a week after the rebuild and I
did the new head gaskets myself.  The engine has also had a knock since day
1. Scares the crap out of me every time I go back there and listen to it
idle.  I really can't see me just replacing the top end on this thing. With
the money spent and the fact the bottom end may not be too good I don't
think that's an option.  Now that I think about it, if I were going to pull
the engine I guess it couldn't hurt to try just doing the heads. We'll see.

>> Oh btw, if your cat is hollowed out, gutted, not recommended at all. <<

Nope, it's brand new.

>> your car repair and maintenance budget lookin' these days ? <<

VERY low. I bought an '03 Eurovan MV last August.  That was pretty
expensive. If my WBX blows this summer I'll probably have to go the cheapest
route, a rebuilt WBX.  I say that now since the only old part left in the
engine compartment is the ECU and the fuel injectors.  (I know, I know, the
WBX replacement would be cheapest for ME I don't want to do a Subi myself)

I won't be taking any trip this summer over 200 miles and I'll probably not
use it as a partial daily driver either. Maybe I'll get another summer out
of it.

I got it back tonight. The mechanic put in the new exhaust pipe, plugs,
checked compression, checked fuel pressure (it was good) and did some other
misc things. He also gave me another item to fix. He also advanced the
timing 10 degrees. The van is running GREAT right now. I would say at about
90% of when it was at it's peak over the last 12 years.  That's the thing
about my engine; it always ran great, had great power and got great mileage.
This crappy running started sometime this summer.

I want to leave the engine "as-is" right now as I don't see I getting it to
run any better at the moment. IS that advanced timing OK?

Thanks,
Bryan