Date:         Fri, 21 Jul 2000 12:09:44 EDT
Reply-To:     EUROMOG@aol.com
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Wessels <EUROMOG@aol.com>
Subject:      The writings of Gene Berg and ETC.
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

In a message dated 7/21/00 6:57:34 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
DThies1008@aol.com writes:

<< Robert,  Gene Berg only makes parts for T1 engines.  He won't touch a
 pancake or waterboxer.  Do you know why he doesn't like these motors?
 Hope your motor goes 200,000 plus. >>

It is amazing how information can be twisted and taken out of context. So I
have a few points to make.

Firstly, out respect to the late Gene Berg the company should be referred to
as Gene Berg Enterprises.

Gene Berg himself LOVED the water boxer Vanagon. He owned a 1.9L himself and
drove it daily. He installed the Haltech fuel management system onto the
existing injectors and manifolds. With this setup he picked up HP and fuel
mileage. He later enlarged the engine with one of his cranks and added twin
throttle bodies and larger injectors. This brought his HP up to around 150
with gobs of torque.

Gene Berg Ent. makes parts for T1 and T3 engines. Many of these parts will
bolt directly to the waterboxer. The same goes for the methods of engine
building relating to longevity. When adding performance to any engine MUCH
planning and forethought must be used to attain satisfactory results. This
requires much more effort than buying an adapter kit and slapping another
engine in. So what may seem like black magic to some is quickly avoided. To
others it is a challenge and they take pride in improving something to their
satisfaction.

Maintenance is the key to engine longevity. In the air-cooled T1 it is
considered maintenance to pull the heads and replace the valve guides at 40K
miles. This may seem archaic in these days but that is how the older
technology of the T1 is. Same goes for adjusting the valves every 3K miles.
These two items and frequent oil changes I am sure are the key to getting
200K miles out of a T1 engine.

My '87 Syncro has 183,000 miles on it. The heads were replaced at 90K. This
van is new to me so I have not done any of the maintenance on it. The
previous owners were not that meticulous in maintenance either. This van runs
like a bat out of hell. I used to work at a VW Dealership back in '86 and
'87. Yes, many tpof the 1.9L had head gasket problems. Everyone that I dealt
with RARELY had it's coolant changed. It is hard for me to put blame on VW
when the owners ABUSED the engine by not having the proper maintenance done.
VW specifies their own coolant be used. Some may scoff at this but proper pH
balance in the coolant is critical to prevent corrosion. Most of the head
gasket jobs that I did had green antifreeze which usually does not have the
proper pH balance.

So, the water boxer is an engine that requires a little more knowledge and
care to maintain. VW has always been that way. Think of that the next time
you lose your Subie's oil pan driving over a speed bump.

John Wessels
European Motorsport
Livermore, CA
http://www.euromog.com