Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 13:54:54 -0400
Reply-To: Benny boy <huotb@VIDEOTRON.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Benny boy <huotb@VIDEOTRON.CA>
Subject: Re: Subie Power
Ok i'm in love with you men! he he he.
Very good post, a bit ironic comming from me but still.
We could even remove the "Subaru" part and replace this one with any other
good conversion a that would as good as this post.
Cheers, Ben
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Ok, so I finally jump in here also, and here is what I have to say (I have 2
SubieVanagon, one Wolfy and one Westy, both 84s, manual tranny:
Subaru's EJ22 absolutely rocks in terms of simplicity, reliability, design,
power and sound. As for the 2.5 DOHC, might be better to stay away, the 2.5
SOHC again seems to be bulletproof. Mind you however that it is a lot of
work and fiddling with variables and unknowns, no matter what. That's why
they are expensive, yet cheap in the long run. Even so I did blow a rod
bearing on my first install, at 180000 miles, partly maybe because I had
overlooked the o-ring on oil pick up tube, and it was burning oil the whole
time. Still lasted 20k miles before it went. This first EJ22 also was an 89,
which are rumored to have oil control ring issues. Still this is a used
engine of unknown origin, me regularly going 80mph and loaded up. Then had
to go to the junkyard, find a donor, do compression test, and swap out long
block, which took about 3 days (with experience). I'm good to go again with
a resealed engine that has 115k miles on it. I don't agree with the Subie
being quieter: At idle yes, tooling around town it is definitely louder, and
I have the VW WBX exhaust setup. At freeway travelling speeds it's about the
same. The rumble is very "boxer", and sounds even better than a WBX (as well
as WRX) me thinks. Mine are also louder because I opened up the intake. I
have done a lot of soundproofing on the Westy and it is quieter now than any
Vanagon I have ever driven. Will set off car alarms when accelerating,
easily. Bottom line is: If you can stick to the original WBXers and get them
reliable, my hat is off to you. I went through 2 years of absolute
nightmares with my 1.9l, two different shops, both recommended on this list
at the time, my Wolfy was in the shop constantly, and they both claimed
everytime this time it was fixed (under warranty, which means you have to
let the same deadbeats get their hands on it again). It sucked. One shop I
sued and they ended up selling the shop before I could collect on a possible
judgement. Absolute deadbeats, both of them. European mechanics, and
especially German ones, are better trained than mechanics here in the
states, by far. They have to be. (I know this is a generalization, and there
certainly are exceptions). Add to that a finicky design by Oettinger, which
slapped plumbing on an aircooled engine and added rubber gaskets, for
chrissake, and you have your work cut out for yourself. The Vanagon is an
amazing piece of automobile, from the days when Volkswagen still had a spic
left of imagination and innovation. Thesedays VW only has those qualities
regarding marketing. Their products have been inferior since at least the
mid 90s, and Toyota and Honda (especially) whoop their bums. The Honda
Element or Toyota Prius are cars VW might have come up with in their glory
days, certainly now they seem lost with all their involvement in Bugatti,
Bentley. They lost touch with their roots. Maybe Porsche can sort them out,
but I doubt they will ever be what they once were again. I doubt there will
ever be a book "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive" again. Tons of internal
company memos however, without a doubt, will bear that title in the next
couple years. So for you die hard Vanagonauts, keep up the good work. After
all our Vanagons are from a time worth remembering, and keeping them
original makes sense also.
UNITY - RESPECT
Matthias
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