Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 16:53:43 -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: All engines have issues...
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very well said.
'unremarkable is a good word to use regarding them.
I did one in 1998 or so. ..
diesel vanagon, but in an 88 jetta 1.8 Digifant engine.
mostly ...as you say, 'the just work.'
Possibly the least hassle, least demanding but reliable Vanagon engine
conversion.
it's strange VW didn't do it themselves, it's such a natural.
There is suspicion that politics, like union factors, dictated keeping an
opposed four in the vanagon after the air-cooled ones, and the waterboxer is
clearly an adapted air-cooled design. They could have done very well indeed
with a 1.8 or 2.0 inline four ..
and heck...in South Africa the stock vanagon engine is an inline 5 water
cooled, cast iron block, aluminum head.
anybody happen to know if the 2.5 liter inline 5 93 Eurovan engine fits well
enough, or has been adapted to fit into a vanagon ?
I know there are Audi five cylinder conversions....just don't know if that's
the same engine block or not. I have a donor evurovan for that if I don't
make it run instead.
Scott
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Hanson" <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 4:02 PM
Subject: Re: All engines have issues...
>> but a GOOD well done EFI 1.8 inline four gasser is a very decent pacakge.
>> Just not overly powerful. About the same as waterboxer ir slightly better
>> maybe,. but smooth ..
>> and can be super reliable.
>> Scott
>>
>>
> This is second-hand and speculation, since I have never personally rebuilt
> either of the motors, but reading and pricing through the Net I think if
> you
> were to rebuild a WBX motor and an inline four VW, the inline would cost
> perhaps 1/4 as much to do and likely last better.
>
> I did plenty of research as I looked at Vanagons before I got mine. The
> WBX motor didn't get the best reviews for the most part. There wasn't much
> data on inline 4 conversions at all, other than some bad rap about the
> TIICO
> ones.
> When I saw the one I ended up buying for just $3k I decided to give it a
> go, for that kinda cash it was worth a chance on a combo that had little
> "Press" ...
> I have since learned there are plenty of "Us" out there...but nobody much
> seems to say anything about our vans cause they are .....unremarkable.
> They
> just work, no fuss, no clouds of burning tire smoke leaving stop signals,
> no
> '10 car passes going up Tioga Pass, no 95mph average trips across the
> Mojave
> Desert, no 'fooling the VSS with a Hall sensor and a re-programmed "EProm
> widget" no upside down and backwards cooling systems.....Just a plain old
> Vanagon rolling down the road for little money without many problems...
> "Perfect"? Hardly! Good enough? Yes
> Don Hanson
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