Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2002 22:08:07 -0500
Reply-To: Pat <pdooley@GTE.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Pat <pdooley@GTE.NET>
Subject: Re: Longevity of Conversion Engines
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
my experience with inline motors tends to make me heavily favor them.
if your rabbit motor isn't lasting, you are doing something wrong.
the inline motors have very tough blocks with deep main bearing skirts and
counter balanced cranks. through many turbo conversions i can say they hold
up very well under heavy abuse.
the 1.8T uses the same basic block and these motors are tweeked to produce
upwards of 400hp.
on the other hand, my buddy's T4 loaf fried a piston with 74K miles on it.
my neighboor's 78 T4 automatic had main/rod bearing failure with less than
100k miles.
I have seen bearing failure in very few rabbit motors, normally high
miles/heavy use and no care.
I would been interested to see how long an inline will go in a vanagon.
don't think we have high mileage conversions out there.
anybody?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kim Howe" <khowe@OMNINET.NET.AU>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2002 9:56 PM
Subject: Longevity of Conversion Engines
> As a teenager I worked as a VW mechanic (late 70s). We would often see
> loaf vans, only a few years old, with 80,000 to 100,000 km (ie 50,000 to
> 60,000) miles come in for an engine rebuild, if they had the type 1
> engine. The vans would be in beautiful condition, with all the right
> maintenance done, but the type 1 motor just wasn't heavy duty enough to
> push around the van and live for any length of time. However we'd never
> see a later model Beetle come in like that. In fact my 74 Beetle is
> still on it's original engine after 300,000km, though it is showing some
> signs of age.
>
> 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
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