Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 08:46:48 -0800
Reply-To: Donna Skarloken <dskarloken@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Donna Skarloken <dskarloken@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Driving a splittie... NVC
In-Reply-To: <f05100300c3a26e7f24c5@203.167.171.77>
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Still have my 1960 double cab; my husband says he doesn't like VWs and
curses them but every time I mention selling the 60 or the Syncro he says
"no."
Donna
I had a 57 panelvan as my first car. Lacking a front swaybar, it
> suffered extreme oversteer on tight bends taken fast with no load in
> back. Much of NZ is made up of tight twisty roads... or was, until
> they began to "improve" the roads... now falling asleep is becoming a
> killer. Apparently it looked pretty spectacular from behind. With a
> load in the back it handled very well, with no hint of over or
> understeer (neutral). I drove it really hard. Wish I'd known about
> swaybars at the time... though back then a wrecker would've charged
> an arm & a leg for one. Radials made all the difference... it had
> crossplies when I bought it. Crossplies should have been illegal
> decades ago; they are outright dangerous (and I include repro tires
> for veteran cars here... these should be radial). Went very well
> after I put a single-port 1.6 (1.3-based) into it. I wish I still had
> this van.
>
> Later I had a 66 Kombi. With its stock front swaybar it was pretty
> neutral under any load. Gearing was too "tall" and performance was
> definitely well down using the engine from the 57.
>
> My 75 Kombi 1.8 with 1.9 slip-in kit tended to understeer when pushed
> on sharp bends. If the bend wasn't TOO sharp the van could happily do
> a Banzai! attack on it, but really tight bends needed caution to
> avoid plowing nose-first off the road (it wasn't actually as bad as
> that sounds, but I did get a fright once). I guess the front-end
> geometry was changed somewhere between 1966 and 1975; the front
> suspensions are interchangable on all "series 1" Transporters
> (1950-1979 & Brasilian). It had plenty enough go to be fun to drive
> at speed on good curvy backroads.
>
> My 84 Caravelle was a pig-understeerer, but from all I am led to
> believe this is not normal and I hopefully attribute it to the
> cast-iron anchor it had in the back (3.8 Holden V6).
> --
> Andrew Grebneff
> Dunedin
> New Zealand
> Fossil preparator
> Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut
> ‚ Opinions stated are mine, not those of Otago University
> "There is water at the bottom of the ocean" - Talking Heads
>
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