Date:         Thu, 26 Feb 2004 19:33:41 -0500
Reply-To:     kayakjr@JUNO.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Reynolds <kayakjr@JUNO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Those of you saving your pennies for a Jake Raby aircooled
              motor take note ..
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

>What he was saying is building a stock 2 liter for a vanagon is
something he
>no longer does..He turns folks on to the powerstroke instead.

Not true, a friend who just bought an 80 Vanagon, who decided he would go
for more power contacted Jake, and despite all on the website, they don't
sell the engines they tout for the Vanagon.  They don't last, he stated,
van too heavy as stated, hence the liability (for melt down).
He also contacted Bernie Bergman, who will also not sell him a hi-po
egine for  a Vanagon, although if Bernie does the installation, I believe
he will do it.
The above makes sense.  The stock air cooled motor tend to overheat and
drop vlave seats, so much so that VW published a service bulletin that in
a nut shell lowered the compression on the engine after a re-build.  If
one wants to increase the power on a type IV in  a Vanagon, the cooling
has to be improved.  Unfortunately, it hard to increase cooling to the
heads.
My friend has decided on a Subaru conversion, which is coming out cheaper
for him than these high performance Type IV mototors anyway.
Me, I'm still cursing up the hills with my 67 horsepower
John R
81 Westy