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Date:         Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:09:16 -0500
Reply-To:     Allan Streib <streib@CS.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Allan Streib <streib@CS.INDIANA.EDU>
Subject:      Re: The real story about the invention of the WBX?
Comments: To: Zeitgeist <gruengeist@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <1b85fa6a0902101402o2cc2dffbgaee517fa1dc9898@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"

On Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:02:09 -0800, "Zeitgeist" <gruengeist@GMAIL.COM> said:

> I think the point being that VW should've used the introduction of the T3 to > turn over a new leaf and leave the flat engine configuration behind for > good. They had a host of robust 4 and 5 cyl engines in '79, so it just > seems silly that they bothered to start with the carry-over 2.0L AC from the > '79 Bay window bus. Despite all the bashing it gets on this list, the WBX > is a good engine, that can typically provide a long service life...but, it > was old-tech engineering that was outdated even when it was introduced. The > Audi 2.3L gasser and 2.0L turbodiesel fivers were a perfect match, though > they should've opted for a distributor-less design in the former to avoid > engine lid issues. > > Oh, if only I ran the world...

As I recall from prior discussions of this topic, there was a political consideration as well: by inventing the WBX they could keep employed a lot of the workers who used to build the air-cooled version of the engine. This kept the unions from getting grumpy about layoffs.

Allan -- 1991 Vanagon GL


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