Date:         Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:16:14 -0500
Reply-To:     Jon Kanas <kanas@QADAS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jon Kanas <kanas@QADAS.COM>
Subject:      Air Cooled to Water Cooled
In-Reply-To:  <20091026040631.1A2E6F980A9@platinum.vcn.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Greetings Listers,

I've been following the thread regarding the development of the
Wasserboxer (air to water discussions) with some interest, but note that
the primary driver for this evolution seems to have been omitted from
the conversation.

Yes:  The Wasserboxer came from the air cooled engines, but the driver
was not "make it water-cooled" by some deadline.  The driver for the
demise of air cooled engines was increasing government regulation of
emissions which required greater control over engine operating
temperatures.  What is now the EU passed strict emissions laws (similar
to those already in the US) and gave manufacturers several year notice
in the mid 1970s.  This deadline for tighter emissions (and safety)
compliance, coupled with the obvious cost savings obtained from the
re-use of proven engineering and manufacturing techniques, (including
the re-use of existing molds and machining equipment at the factory)
drove the migration from Bus to Vanagon.  Put simply, evolution made
good business sense.

The Vanagon was designed to use the existing air-cooled technologies and
production facilities at Volkswagen, while also looking ahead to the
necessity of having water cooling during the anticipated production life
of the vehicle.  We can say that the engineering is overly complex/,/
but it is /NOT/ fundamentally flawed - If it were, we would not be
driving these things 300K Miles, 20+ years after the last ones rolled
off of the assembly line, still compliant with stringent emission
regulations.

Dave McNeely's observation is correct -- VW encountered an unanticipated
issue with the heads, and this issue cost them a lot of money.  The
first Wasserboxer I purchased was a 1983.  I bought it from a VW dealer
(paid premium $$$) in early 1985 with a VW used vehicle warranty.  VW
got to redo the heads in less than 45 days, with 52K showing on the
clock.  By this time, VW already had an effective fix for the heads;  I
drove my '83 another 100K miles after VW did the heads, selling it only
to purchase the Syncro I have now.  My Syncro is coming up on 22yrs old,
125KMi and the heads have not been done.  I have sufficient confidence
in the future longevity that I am spending several thousand dollars to
address what has deteriorated during it's lifetime.

As to the complexity of the cooling system - This allowed the engine
temperature to be very closely controlled and provide excellent heat
into the cabin.  For those of us "old geezers", the biggest complaint
customers had about the aircooled busses was that they were slow and
didn't have heat.  The wasserboxer gave the trusty VW bus good heat and
considerably more power.  VW addressed the two primary complaints of
their customers -- That's good business.

We can speculate and complain about what we believe VW could have done
better, but we have the advantage of nearly 30yrs of technological
advances to work from.

*Best Regards,
Jon B Kanas

*