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Date:         Sat, 8 May 2004 18:27:55 -0500
Reply-To:     Bruce Nadig <motorbruce@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Bruce Nadig <motorbruce@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      State Your Ages! - Very Very Long
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

Good topic Chris!

Hi, I'm Bruce, and I'm a VW nut.

I purchased my first VW about 9 months after I graduated from college in 1988. I bought a heap of a '67 Deluxe 21 Window Bus. In fact, it was even the most desirable late '67 model. I purchased it from a large salvage yard in San Antonio, Texas. It had a salvage title, but, hey, what do you want for $325? If you hotwired the engine it would run. Because it had no working brakes and multiple other problems I had it towed to a local VW guru. That was before I learned how to work on cars. A couple weeks later I had that bad boy on the road.

It was an incredibly dangerous monster to drive. The king pins and other steering components were so worn that it was virtually impossible to drive in a straight line. That is how it earned its nickname, "The DWI Bus." Not because I would drink and drive (which I DO NOT approve of), but because it was nearly impossible to keep it going in a straight line. The alternative name for the bus was, "The Dancing Bear." On the rear hatch glass I had a series of Grateful Dead dancing bears prancing across the glass.

It was even more dangerous if you stepped on the brakes. It would pull so hard to the right that it was frightening. The only person to drive it other than myself was my roommate. He understood Busses. Braking was a very simple procedure. Push on brake pedal, steer to the left. I didn't allow anyone else near the keys.

In Texas every vehicle has to go through an annual safety inspection. I sweated this out every year - for multiple reasons. There was something wrong with the electrical system that would not allow the windshield wipers to run for very long without blowing a fuse (driving in the rain was always fun, and not just because of that - that bus leaked water like a sieve). Every year at inspection time I had to rig up some sort of fuse bypass system just in case the inspector left the wipers running too long.

The driver's door didn't close very well either. You really had to slam it HARD to get it to stay shut. One year during state inspection the only way I was able to pass the braking test (I think the inspector had to get it up to 30mph and then brake hard to see if it stopped adequately) was because of that door. Well, remember that hard pull to the right under braking? I can still see the inspector getting the Bus up to speed in the parking lot. Suddenly he it the brakes. Sure enough the Bus pulled HARD to the right. Fortunately, the inspector hadn't slammed his door hard enough and the driver's door went flying open. That was enough of a distraction for him to not realize that he wasn't going in a straight line. That is my assumption at least. The only other alternative theory is that he believed that if he failed me, I would simply come back in a few days and he would be forced to drive the death machine again.

That Bus had an amazing feature that VW never mentioned, and few people talk about. I called it, The Amazing Self-Changing Oil System. The engine leaked so much oil that I was constantly having to add more. I don't recall every actually changing the oil in that engine. I reasoned that if the oil was leaking out so readily, dirt and other contaminants were also making it out.

I loved that Bus. It taught me a very, very important lesson about vehicles (both automotive and motorcycles). The fun isn't measured in terms of absolute top speed. Rather, driving pleasure is derived from pushing your vehicle, whatever it is, to its absolute limits without going beyond them.

There was one turn I had to make every day on my way to work. If I could manage to make it through that turn at 30mph I felt like a hero for the rest of the day. When was the last time you saw a Porsche or Ferrari driver safely take their car to the limits on public roadways? The limits of the bus were so low that any impending disaster would occur at relatively low speeds.

Eventually that bus went away. I placed an ad in the paper. The first person that came to see it ended up making a deal with me. I got $750, a VCR, a 6-disc CD changer, and a large, powerful microwave oven. That was 13 years ago. I still have that microwave oven today. I should have held out for more. People were calling me for weeks offering me silly money for that old bus. I'm still kicking myself for ever giving it up.

My next VW was a 1990 G60 Corrado. I purchased it used after my Volvo 240 (the car that replaced The DWI Bus) gave its life for me. I don't care what anyone says about Corrados. The G60 is better than the VR6 in so many ways. Lighter weight, easier to modify engine, much, much less expensive to modify engine... I live in Austin, Texas now. A good friend of mine is the local water-cooled VW guru in town. He is a Corrado specialist to boot (he put a tricked out TDI motor in his Corrado - man, did that thing have torque!). He said that, hands down, my Corrado was the fastest Corrado he has ever driven. Sadly, I had to sell that car to pay for the engine for Vincent, better known as Project Vanagon.

Way back in December 1991 (I think that date is right), European Car magazine did an article on the Porsche 911 engine equipped MSDS Vanagon. I remember reading that article. I remember saying to myself, "Some day I want to own one of those."

About two years ago I picked up an issue of Excellence Magazine (a Porsche only rag). In the classified ads in back was a picture and ad for a Vanagon with a 911 engine and 915 transmission. I talked to the guy. He even sent me pictures. He hadn't done his van the right way. I told myself that if I was going to do it, I was going to do it the right way! My search for a clean Vanagon began. In March of 2002 I purchased a really clean '87 GL. That Vanagon eventually became known as Vincent, or Project Vanagon. I purchased an engine from an '87 911. I began buying a lot of other things. And I began doing research. A lot of research. I spent a year researching and buying parts, including a Porsche G50 transmission. The last weekend of April 2003 I began the conversion.

Foolishly, I thought I could get all done in 3 weeks! Finally, on December 30, 2003 I looked at the van and said, "Damn it! I'm not going to go into 2004 without this thing running!" I called my neighbor Wayne to come over and make sure I didn't do anything stupid. I had made a checklist. We went over everything on the list. It appeared that the van would be ready to drive. I tossed two fire extinguishers in the van and we were ready to go. Wayne suggested that since the van hadn't actually moved in about 8 months that I test the brakes first. Good idea. I knew that I called Wayne for a reason.

I fired up Vincent, and as I blipped the throttle and he made a terrible noise (I mean that in both the good and bad way). Few Vanagons have ever sounded so sweet. Unfortunately, that noise from the blipped throttle was exhaust gas leaking from between the head and the cylinder. I had broken head studs.

I drove the van this way for about 3 days. Performance was good, but limited by the sick engine. Not wanting to inflict irreparable harm (or at least even more expensive harm), I pulled the engine for a tear down. I sent it to one of the top shops in the country. They replaced all the head studs (24 in all), the rod bearing, the rings, the head gaskets, and other assorted parts. They cleaned up the heads and put it all back together for me.

Right now I am in the last stages of the final assembly. The wiring is the most challenging part. the Porsche wiring is easy. The Vanagon wiring is easy. It gets complicated when the two have to mate. Not to worry, Vincent will be on the road soon.

Since I originally purchased Vincent with plans of only putting in the Porsche engine, my strategy slowly changed. Remember that big group purchase of South African Big Brake Kits? How could I pass that up? I told my wife, "If I'm going faster, I'd better be able to slow down." Then came The Bus Depot special on the South African Grill and Lights. "But Honey, if I'm going faster, I gotta see where I am going! And these stock lights suck so bad anyhow." Then someone, I don't remember who, maybe Vanagain, did a special on the ProjektZwo fog light kits. To control all the electrical power for this I constructed The Mother Of All Wiring Harnesses. That was fun.

Well, with the bigger brakes and more power I HAD to have more rubber on the road to keep things under control. I designed (after fruitless efforts to purchase anything of quality) some CNC machined wheel adaptors so that I could mount a set of 2001 Porsche Boxster S wheels on the van.

Now remember some of this I had to do on the sly without my wife figuring out what was going on. Fortunately, I work from home so I could intercept all of the UPS, FedEx Ground, and USPS packages coming in on an almost daily basis. My wife knows that I have a PayPal account, but she has never looked at its activity. PayPal has been a lifesaver.

Fortunately, during the research and buying phase, I drove the van for a year. One constant complaint form my wife. "This van is too high. I hate stepping up to get in." She isn't short, and the van is at stock height. I saw a window of opportunity. There...on the list...someone is selling a set of H&R lowering springs! That purchased was made with the blessing of my wife. I didn't mention to her that I would also "need" to purchase a set of Bilstein shocks to really make it all work out properly.

Once Vincent hits the road, and the stock suspension settles in again, I'll take measurements of body height with the 911 engine in the van. I will then install the shocks and springs to see how much lowering I'm really getting. I think the combination will be great.

Oh yeah, where did we start? I'm 39 right now. My dream car is almost a reality (well, this is my second dream, the Corrado was my first dream car). My nephew is 15. He tells me all about the crazy Japanese cars that he is going to get when he is 16 (uh, where is that coming from, and, oh, by the way, they don't import those cars to the U.S. anyway). I only hope that by the time he is 39 he will have had the opportunity to own not just one, but two of his dream cars. With a little bit of luck, at least one of them will be a VW.

I'm Bruce, and I'm a VW nut.

motorbruce


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