Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 2003 12:32:44 -0500
Reply-To:     John Rodgers <j_rodgers@CHARTER.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Rodgers <j_rodgers@CHARTER.NET>
Subject:      Re: In search of Vanagon...will it work for me?
Comments: To: Dougbohm@AOL.COM
In-Reply-To:  <14.170ed74c.2c6a636b@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Doug,

Welcome to the list.

I'm not a Westy guy,just wish I was. However, I've been driving Vanagons
for a while so ere's my point of view.

If you can find a Westy Syncro or otherwise, that has lived it's life in
the desert country, you are way ahead of the game. It should have no
rust problems. Get it.

OR

If your wallet is fat enough, and you can find a Westy from the desert
Southwest, with a run out or otherwise dead engine, get that Westy.
Have it rebuilt with some mods to get a bit more horsepower. That will
take care of the "underpower" situation given the heavy weight of the
Westy's.  Once you have done this, you should have long days of fairly
trouble free  and power-sufficient driving and camping.

I would suggest that in the rebuild, you go with a counterweighted crank
and balanced rotating assembly. That would be crank, clutch and
flywheel, rods, pistons. A modest increase in cylinder boare would be of
help too. Add to that an 091 cam  and ratio rockers per Robert Lilley on
this list, and you would have a top machine for long cross country
cruising, and some more serious mountain climbing. The idea is not to
build a hot rod engine, but to increase the horsepower slightly, for
better performance, and to give increased engine life. Once you have
ever driven behind (in front of) a completely balanced engine, you will
never want anything else.

Good Luck in your search.

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver



Doug Bohm wrote:

>Hi,
>I'm new to the list and am considering a Vanagon (syncro?) camper for
>touring, camping and some minor city driving.  I have owned several air cooled vw's
>and do most of my own mechanical work.
>I have two initial questions as to whether or not a Vanagon would work for
>me, and what model/year would best fit my needs.
>First is regarding the air conditioning.  I live in the desert (Cave Creek,
>Arizona) and really need reasonably decent AC.  I don't expect SUV/V8
>performance obviously.  But what can I expect?
>Second, I plan on extensively touring the western US.  I have toured Europe
>in a 66 camper.  The Alps were not fun.  How does a Vanagon perform in the
>mountains?  What kind of speed can I expect climbing the Rockies?
>I truly hope that I can make a Vanagon work for me.  I love Volkswagens, and
>particularly enjoy the camaraderie of the vw community.
>
>TIA
>
>Doug Bohm
>
>
>