Date:         Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:36:56 -0800
Reply-To:     sam mccarthy <sfcompost@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         sam mccarthy <sfcompost@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: The real story about the invention of the WBX?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

My post was intended to be overtly sarcastic.
Such a serious group!

Sam M.

--- On Wed, 2/11/09, sam mccarthy <sfcompost@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: sam mccarthy <sfcompost@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: The real story about the invention of the WBX?
To: "Vanagon Mailing List" <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2009, 10:20 AM

I am sure the reason VW  didn't  put gas inline-fours in the van was that they did not want to upset the "amazing handling" of the Vanagon by raising the center of gravity over that achieved using the flat four. They compromised with the diesel due to its "slightly lower" power output and, how to put it, "more relaxed cruising attitude".
Who could blame them??
Sam M
--------------

Date:    Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:02:09 -0800
From:    Zeitgeist <gruengeist@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: The real story about the invention of the WBX?

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was old-tech engineering that was outdated even when it was introduced.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...

On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 1:45 PM, neil N <musomuso@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Actually VW did make the Vanagon with an inline 4. The diesel.  :)
>
> And.....
>
> In South Africa, they put in 5 cylinders. This thread has a pic of
 one:
>
>
>
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=215380&highlight=south+african
>
> Check out this SA autotrader link
>
> http://www.autotrader.co.za/
>
> I got lots of hits under "microbus". Maybe some listings have
pics of
> engine bay.
>
> Neil.
>

--
Casey
'87 300TD
'94 100CSQ Avant
'89 Bluestar

------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:08:09 +0100
From:    Jens Jakob Andersen <jayjay@ZORCK.DK>
Subject: Re: The real story about the invention of the WBX?

Hi Neil

Agreed - VW used the diesel-I4 in the Vanagon. At the same time VW
had plenty of good gasoline I4 engines - using a lot of the same
parts as the diesel-i4 - so VW could in 1983 quite easily have
changed from boxer to gasoline I4 - but somewhere inside VW the
argumentation/businesscase for making the WBX is
 stored - and I think
that it would be an absolutely historic scoop to get the real story
about why VW decided to make the WBX, instead of changing to gasoline
I4 in 1983.

Happy driving

Jens Jakob
At 22:45 10-02-2009, neil N wrote:
>On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 12:46 PM, Jens Jakob Andersen
<jayjay@zorck.dk> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >..... - on the day when they decided:
> > "Lets convert the CU to water-cooled - it will be real easy,
done
> > quite fast, and a good stable conversion - instead of just using one
> > of our great inline.-4 engines"
> >
> > So my basic question to this list -      does anyone know about why
> > VW decided to create the WBX, instead of changing to inline-4 in
1983?
>
>
>Actually VW did make the Vanagon with an inline 4. The diesel.  :)
>
>And.....
>
>In South Africa, they put in
 5 cylinders. This thread has a pic of one:
>
>http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=215380&highlight=south+african
>
>Check out this SA autotrader link
>
>http://www.autotrader.co.za/
>
>I got lots of hits under "microbus". Maybe some listings have
pics of
>engine bay.
>
>Neil.

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End of vanagon Digest - 9 Feb 2009 to 10 Feb 2009 - Special issue (#2009-123)
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