Date:         Tue, 7 Jul 2009 15:07:11 -0700
Reply-To:     Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject:      Re: Hobie Cat Vanagon and cracked cyl pictures
Comments: To: Brendan Slevin <totorovan@GMAIL.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=original

nice.
what could cause this crack ?
I mean it IS 'just a VW after all' .........but even
still...............this is pretty unusual I must say.

one thing I'll say about vw engines ..............the many different
individual failure modes......like this one ......
there are hundreds of different individual failure modes in them. One of my
favorites is seeing a VW Bug where the metal of the cylinder head was 'gone'
or eroded away right next to a spark plug .........you could watch right
down that hole while it was running, and watch the combustion in the
cylinder.  And how could a cylinder barrel just get a crank in it like that
anyway ? .....liquid lock ?

Perhaps VW had influence from Henry Ford.  Supposedly on the Model T
.......Henry  found out from all the junkyards with dead Model T's in
them......which parts hadn't failed............and the king pins were not
failing ........so he made those cheaper on the new models.........to get
the price down even further.

I do notice in vanagons , that 'most' if not 'many' of the parts used
.............a year or two later ........they've upgraded that part
.........like, oh .......engine mounts. I see my 85 Adventurewagon front
trans mount is one size, an 87 Vanagon  one is bigger, and probably isolates
better somewhat.........vw does this more than any other car company .that
I've noticed. .....Usually a car company will  try to build them 'right' the
first time, and only here and there have to upgrade things .......not plan
in for upgrading as the years go by as vw does........but we have SUCH fun
with them ! .....so it's cool.

any way to tell what brand piston and barrel that is Brendan ?
I've got numerous 1.9 blocks without broken cylinder head studs if anyone
needs one.
Scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brendan Slevin" <totorovan@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 2:32 PM
Subject: Hobie Cat Vanagon and cracked cyl pictures


> So I found a picture of the crack in the #4 cylinder on Totoro's 1.9.  I
> was
> replacing the head gaskets and removed the cyls to fix a broken head stud,
> when I pulled #4 it was surprising to see scoring all along the piston and
> cylinder and ultimately a crack near the bottom almost all the way around.
> This picture is looking into the upsidedown cylinder.
>
> http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/feelicks5446/?action=view&current=CIMG2237.jpg
> http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/feelicks5446/?action=view&current=CIMG2236.jpg
>
> Also, we were in Portland for Cinco De Mayo and saw this Hobie Cat Vanagon
> downtown.  Sadly it was also covered in ice cream stickers.
>
> http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/feelicks5446/?action=view&current=CIMG2007.jpg
> http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/feelicks5446/?action=view&current=CIMG2006.jpg
> http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/feelicks5446/?action=view&current=CIMG2004.jpg
>
> Does anyone know more about the Hobie Cat special?  Came with a sailboard,
> right?
>
> Brendan