Date:         Thu, 21 Mar 2002 19:44:22 -0800
Reply-To:     Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Subject:      Re: Longevity of Conversion Engines
Comments: To: Kim Howe <khowe@omninet.net.au>
In-Reply-To:  <6B923A12-3D40-11D6-8040-003065A243FC@omninet.net.au>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Hi,

'82 Westy that was diesel, converted to gas I4 way back in '94. At that time
my van had around '95K miles on it. The transplant engine was from a '92
Jetta, i.e. an 1800 8v, Digifant, with 20k miles on it.

Now the van has around 195K miles, so the engine has pushed the brick for
approx. 100K miles, no problems apart from maintenance items and a leaky
camshaft seal.

Alistair

--
'82 Westy -> diesel converted to gas in '94
albell@uvic.ca
http://homepage.mac.com/alistairbell/home/





on 21/03/2002 6:56 PM, Kim Howe at khowe@OMNINET.NET.AU wrote:


>
> To get to the point. The Type IV and Wasserboxer are heavy duty engines,
> and barring overheating in the type IV and head gaskets in the WB seem
> to last a long time pushing around a heavy van. In my experience with VW
> inline fours (in Golfs and Passats) their engines lasted about as long
> as a type 1 engine in a Beetle (or less), and they were pushing around a
> light weight, aerodynamic body. This causes me to wonder what the life
> expectancy is for an inline 4 in a Vanagon, or for a Subaru conversion,
> for that matter, since it is also an engine designed for a much lighter
> and more aerodynamic vehicle.
>
> Just because the engine is good in a smaller vehicle doesn't mean it's
> going to push our heavy vans around reliably for a good amount of time.
>
> Any thoughts, comments or experiences?
>
> Kim Howe
> khowe@omninet.net.au
> 82 Air Cooled
>