Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2009 06:44:16 -0700
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Swap a Mazda Diesel in a Vanagon?
In-Reply-To: <c4e7c5f90907052330s4819dac7q59c7dac98cf4b43d@mail.gmail.com>
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I guess that must have been the motor in Tom's Westie..it didn't sound like
a rotary, it sounded quite normal.
At under 90hp and only around 100lb/ft of torque for the Vanagon's stock
motor, I don't think you have to worry about swapping an 'inappropriate'
engine into one. Almost any motor should give you some performance gain over
a stocker.
They did sometimes unhitch their Baja Bug and drive it separately over
really steep sections on the 'commute ' to La Paz from Portland, but with a
2-month load of camping gear for a family of four plus a load of
windsurfing equipment, I bet their load was substantial..
Of note: Along Baja highway One (the only paved road) there are numerous
burned-up Vanagon carcasses. The delivery van of choice in the larger
cities..La Paz and Ensenada..are usually Bay window air cooled vans.."Bimbo"
bread trucks are especially prevailant..There are also plenty of 'not sold
in the US' vans that are similar to Vanagons down there. Nissan and Mitsu.
Nice looking rigs..
How about adapting a marine V-drive to a vanagon so you could use any
engine with other way rotation? That would open up lots of possible motor
swaps...Honda Gold wing? Evinrude? Briggs and Stratton? hee hee. (serious,
for the first one)
Don Hanson
On Sun, Jul 5, 2009 at 11:30 PM, neil N <musomuso@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Jul 5, 2009 at 10:18 PM, Don Hanson<dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:
> > A friend of mine had a Westie with a Mazda gas motor for about 8 Baja
> > trips. He pulled along a nice little Baja Bug behind and spent the
> months
> > of Northwest winter along with most of the rest of the Population of Hood
> > River, Oregon windsurfing on what is called the East Cape of Baja.
> > It seemed to work fine for him, his wife and their two young sons..It
> may
> > have even been a rotary I don't know for sure.
> >
> > Don Hanson
>
>
> Cool
>
> Yah I quickly scanned a couple of posts in the archives regarding the
> rotary engine in a Vanagon. Not so good. (at least for the older
> incarnations of that engine)
>
> Initially was curious about the gas engines used in the b2200 and
> b2300 pick-em-ups. Figured since they were used in vehicles that haul
> loads, they might be useful in a Vanagon. (or more specifically a
> Westy) But.... I bet those old Mazda trucks were not as heavy as a
> Vanagon so.... maybe not such a good swap.
>
> Neil.
>
>
> --
> Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"
>
> http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
>
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines
>
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