Date:         Fri, 26 Aug 2005 20:44:38 -0500
Reply-To:     Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Subject:      Re: Question about Diesel Westies...
In-Reply-To:  <10329791.1125104870747.JavaMail.dusty.edwards@mac.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

There may be some small exceptions to this, but basically the diesel
was introduced into vanagons and westy vanagons in 1982. Their
aircooled vanagons were allegedly blowing up left and right and VW was
not ready with the waterboxer. They made an 1983 diesel also,  which is
what I have. In the US, no turbo diesel vanagons were imported, all of
them are "upgrades." And having just completed a turbo build and
installation, I can tell you that it is a wonderful upgrade. You'll
sail over hills at 50 and 60 that the NA diesel struggled up at 35 and
40.

Almost all parts between the two year are compatible. The 83 is said to
be the most desirable because it has the same radiator and fans as the
later vanagons. I don't know if the 82 had a five-speed transmission or
if it was just the 83s, but that is an option worth looking for. A few
other things around the car were changed between 82 and 83 but they are
minor things like oil filler cap and dipstick and a few of the radiator
hoses.

The "normal" diesel unit is the 1.6 NA that came in the rabbit, jetta
and other VWS diesels. Parts availability is excellent, though the
vanagon specific bits like engine mounts, hanger bars and diesel
transmissions are not. This stuff comes up on ebay, but it's pricey but
not totally ridiculous.

The vanagon use this engine mounted almost flat at about 50 or 55
degrees, and so needs a special cast aluminum oil pan of a pretty weird
shape.

Thus, is you have almost any old VW diesel engine (I've bought them for
$110) and you add the vanagon bits to it, you are in the diesel
business...basically. It would be a easier to buy a diesel vanagon than
to buy a gas vanagon and convert it to a diesel. The complications have
to do with transmission and shifting, plus a glow plug relay and dash
light for the glow plug operation and the engine hanger parts
previously mentioned.

People who put diesel engines into waterboxer chassis usually use an
aircooled 4-speed transmission, as the existing transmission would have
an unusable final drive ratio for the diesel.

There may have been a few diesels sold in 84, but by then the 1.9
waterboxer was out.

The diesel is great, it's a little louder (the turbo is a little
louder, the NA is a good bit louder) but soooo simple and easy to work
on, great fun to drive. Great mileage, too. My TD westy gets about 26
mpg and better.  Remember that just because you put the turbo engine in
doesn't mean your top speed will increas about 65 to 70, You'll get to
those speeds MUCH faster, but the setup is rpm limited not torque
limited.

If I could afford to retrofit my 90 carat to, say, a 1.9 turbo diesel
I'd do it. I would also consider putting a much-higher horsepower TDI
in my 90, but they are very expensive and have also all the electronics
to worry about. I like the simple all-mechanical diesel TD I have now.
Karl Mullendore on the Yahoo! diesel westy list can make you a hybrid
TDI-TD injector pump that doesn't need the fancy electronics.

If you're looking around for diesel vanagons, check out the Yahoo!
diesel vanagon list for sure. There are folks there who can tell you a
lot more than I can.

As I mentioned, I just pulled the NA 1.6 out of my westy and replaced
it with a 1.6 turbo. I will start adding the intercooler next weekend,
and will follow that with a Behr underdash AC unit. I had the AC
compressor bracket mounted to my engine when I built it, so it
installed with the engine.

Jim

On Aug 26, 2005, at 8:07 PM, Dusty Edwards wrote:

> i'm really thinking about doing something about my craze for
> alternative fuels - specifically, a bio-diesel powered westy sounds
> like the best option.
>
> my question is:  since you don't see many of them, how long were they
> made???  were these produced until '91 like the gasoline powered vans?
>  thanks for the help - i tried to do some quick searching online but
> thought that i'd simply ask the pros.
>
> thanks!
> dusty.
>
> PS - what will westy owners do when/if our oil supply runs dry?  will
> somebody figure out a way to run an alternative fuel through our
> gasoline engines???...........i ask myself this all of the time.
>