Date: Thu, 8 May 2003 23:03:50 -0700
Reply-To: Robert Keezer <warmerwagen@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Robert Keezer <warmerwagen@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Tiico Engine Questions
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
I would like to add a few comments too..
One point I would like to make is that the conversion motor, in particular
the inline four or five, is simply what VW should have been installing in
the Vanagon from day one.
Then we would only have tires and torque wrenches to talk about. There
wouldn't have been an air-cooled burner or a wasserleaker. List life might
be boring.
The never ending reports of leaking and stalling can take their toll on even
the toughest of mechanics and members .
The point, as I said I was making, is that a better motor was available, the
technology was there, but VW did'nt apply it to the Vanagon. All those
wasted years.
The best designed Volkswagen of the time, maybe of all time, got the worst
designed engine.
As Chris De Long said, the VW inline 4 has been around almost thirty years
and it has a phenomenal track record.The rabbit motor is a proven design
that continues to serve beyond all expectations.
Especially my expectations, because my previous ride, a '64 Bus, went thru 3
new motors and not one of them made it past 48,000 miles.
So , the Vanagon with it's conversion has been something for me to sing
about for seven years. Before that, I could'nt sing.
And not because I'm making any money on it, but saving money. The engine now
has 140,000 miles on it. If it blew tomorrow I wouldn't be disappointed.
When did I get this service from anything air-cooled before this?
I don't know about you, but after I take a long hard look at a beautifully
restored spit window bus - the repressed memories all come back to haunt me.
It was that bad.
The only good part was that I was able to start a lot of adventures.
With the Vanagon I can now finish them.
Sorry to step on your esoteric sensibilities and appreciation for VW art,
truly the Type Two is the world's best best square art form, but the old bus
simply can't hold up like the Vanagon can. Personal experience.
Get all your little things wrong fixed in a month. Then it will seem like a
new car.
If you let all the little things add up, the car seems like junk. Any car .
Fix the horn, the dash lights, the cracked windshield, the broken door
handle. The blown transmission.
No wonder the wife wants a minivan.
Since I have been driving this converted Vanagon now going on 8 years, I
can say that it really is the best used car you can buy for the money that
has a stove, sink, faucet, fridge and beds.
These things never go out of style.
But the engine it keeps on rolling-
Robert K
1982 Westfalia
Seattle
----Original Message Follows----
From: Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Reply-To: Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Tiico Engine Questions
Date: Thu, 8 May 2003 21:15:05 -0700
just a reminder...I did do an informal engine conversion survey earlier this
year.
See what people say about various I4 engine swaps at:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/bilbo/survey.html
Alistair
--
'82 Westy -> diesel converted to gas in '94
albell@uvic.ca
http://members.shaw.ca/albell
on 8/5/03 5:53 pm, Mike Collum wrote:
>> tiico is taking a bad rap from a few customers, their are us
> customers who
>> are 100% satisified. how many kits sold and may be 10-15 oil problems
>> maybe. thoes who do not have tiico seen to knock it down pretty
> Quick.
>> Peter is 100 percent their for you if you contact him, however it seem
> a few
>> people cry to the list and rant on and on about something that really
> doesn
>> not exist. may be I am just a lucky customer.
>>
>> Dan
>
>
> Dan,
>
> Are you saying that the kit you received was truly "Plug and Play"?
> That you didn't have to go to the store for something or to some
> fabricator to get something made in order to finalize the job?
>
> Or ... are you saying that in spite of a few hassles that you're 100%
> satisfied with the "End result"?
>
> Inquiring minds want to know.
>
> Mike
Robert
1982 Westfalia 1987 Wolfsburg
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