Fullagas

GG, I'm thinking headgasket job now. The overheat was I hope stopped mid-event. The oil wasn't contaminated until we added coolant. Is it hard doing the heads without pulling the engine? Having the engine pulled makes sense should anything else pop up. I'm thinking of getting a snowmobile jack if I do pull the motor. Workbenches are too high (tho I could stand on a box like an early Alan Ladd), having an adjustable height would save on the back.

FNG, I don't know which it is. Will find out. GD, I'm leaning that way. Not my DD, but don't want it down for a long period. Won't do a quick fix and dump on someone else either. GG, 177K. What's a reseal? I'm undecided on how long I'll keep it now. If I go with the EJ22, how hard is an OH? It's a 5-speed AWD (thumb button). The long-term overheats have me worried too. I doubt I'll leave the bottom end alone. The seller was honest about occasional overheats. I drove the car 30 min. the day before, was fine afterwards and didn't seem hot. Only one fan was running tho, thermofan wasn't running with engine on after driving and it was 85 degrees. He'd owned it 4 years, was a Soob fan (2 others in his family) and had good maint records. The car is very nice, lived in NM 17 years so tiny amount of rust. Looks like I have an unexpected project.

I just bought a 92 Loyale wagon and had driven about 10 miles when it lost power and thin white smoke came out the back. Pulled right over, but looks like the engine is toast. Very hard to start, almost no power and at least one cylinder isn't firing judging by the sound. The seller said it ran hot on very hot days, but it didn't make it out of the county. Turns out one fan wasn't working, the gauges weren't either, thanks to someone previously having fried a fusible link. There's coolant in the oil (milky). Eeerrgh, not the re-entry to Soobs I had planned! What I'd like is advice on which way to go. Should I fix this engine, replace it with the same from a salvage yard, or upgrade? I'm very mechanical, former specialty machine tool builder and have overhauled a few VW's in the past. Very much a Soob noob, owned one briefly about 15 years ago. Is this an EA82? Thanks for any & all advice!!