Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2011 00:40:04 -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: Buying a Van
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HI Dan ..
re the trans ..
in all cases...if you mount any inline four cylinder VW engine, gas or
diesel..
using the Diesel Vanagon engine mounting system ..
which mounts the engine tilted over to the left at about 50 degrees..
so it'll fit under the engine cover..
you put the diesel vanagon Bell Housing, and input shaft, onto the 'new'
air-cooled trans..
so ..since it's a DV Bell Housing..
the stater will be mounted at the top.
the bell housing that was on the air-cooled trans is not used at all, or the
starter.
yeah, that's perfect ..
having one engine to build nicely while you drive the other.
'Weekender' is actually a slang term ..
used to denote a Westy PopTop Vanaogn without the westy kitchen stuff ..
two trim levels I believe ..
probably GL and the uberdeluxe Wolfsburg.
If it's a Wolfsburg Weekender it's highly desireable.
also ...85 is the first year of a vastly improved sliding door.
85 is a great year.
last year of the much better single round headlights..
there are two versions of 85's..
the early ones still have steel main coolant pipes ( not necessary inferior
to the later plastic ones btw )
they have stamped lower control arms in the front suspension ..which work as
well as the later cast iron ones.
Some early 85's still have the very weak 84 style parking brake
handle..which is easily to the later type...
mid-85 and on ...which works 3 times better than the early style parking
brake handle.
a lot of them have Power Steering and tachometer......and often AC.
Weekenders.
'the one thing' that 85's don't have ..is the more modern style fuse box
that starts in 86 ..
but 85's do all right with the "since-about-the-late 40's
ceramic-piece-with-metal-strip" fuses that all VW's had for years. 85 is
a great year basically.
They can be a bit underpowered with the 1.9 wbxr ..
a 2.1 fits in easily ...but the 1.9's are smoother and the bottom ends last
longer than on the 2.1 wbxr.
I commonly do the heads on any waterboxer engine I end up with ...unless
fairly fresh ..they ususally need that done.
Lately I am starting to take them down to the rod bearings ... to check rod
brg condition and oil clearance there ..if that's good ....the engine might
have 100,000 more miles left in it. It's a bothersome fiddly job though
..taking off the pistons and barrels to get down to the rod brgs.
and ..if a 1.9 wbxr has good rod brgs in it, and correct oil clearance
there, the end play is adjusted..and the main bearings are tight in the case
.....there many many years and miles left in that engine , and if you do a
full top end job as well of course.
I like 'em. Just a bit weak on serious oomph at high speed or big hills
with a heavy load.
My recent 85 Westy/faux Weekender got 20 and 21 mpg driving at 60 to
65...and up to 75 when it was easy to that fast ...with a 1.9 wbxr and
manual trans ...which is pretty decent for a waterboxer vanagon.
if you ever see an Adventurewagon ..
that specific high top version...with the pointy tail on the top at the rear
( not a 'turtle' high top ..talking about the very aero AW high top here )
..
you want one. I am highly critical of the stock camping interior ..
but the high top ..tons of room in there.....like the eqivilant of two car
trunks easily in storage room, just in the raised roof area, plus all of
downstairs.
very smooth through the air at speed ( a Westy or Weekdner noodles around in
the air some, compared to an AW at 65 to 70 mpg ) ..
they don't feel top heavy ...they go through the air easier it feels..
and they are uncannily quiet inside going down the road.
there was an 86 or maybe an 87 Adventuewagon for sale in the Bay Area a
while back ...
less than a year ...for $ 7,000 or so .........screamin' good deal. Fully
roadworthy , not extreme miles etc.
Somebody must have that one by now ..
to me it is easily a $ 10K vanagon, or more.
anyway ..you're having fun.
the only way to tell a undergeared 82 DV 4 speed trans from a high geared DK
from an air-cooled vanagon ..is either drive it, or take it apart, or find
the code letters only the bottom ..usually hidden in goo and takes a while
to find those code letters. 'trans', transaxle. and 'transmission' are
all used interchangebly on vanagons ...it's a 'transaxle' really of
course....trans and final drive combined into one unit.
Most conveniently..the bell housings swap to all manual vanagon
transmissions. There are even bell housings from South Africa that mate to
an inline 5 cylinder audi/vw engine ..and they bolt right to any vanagon
manual transmission ..whether 4 speed, 5 speed, syncro ....just any year of
vangon , as long as it's a manual vanagon trans.
the short version is ..diesdl bell housing fits on any manual vanagon
transaxle. which means any inline four engine, gas or diesel, from about
1975 to late 98 can bolt right up to any year vanagon trans, as long as it's
a manual and not an automatic and you have a diesel bell housing. VERY
convenient, and fun.
scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel Rotblatt" <d.rotblatt@VERIZON.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 12:00 AM
Subject: Re: Buying a Van
> Scott,
>
> Thanks for the input. I remember now that it is a 1.8. Good info on
> the difference between CIS and EFI. I'll look to see. From what I
> know on the tranny, the transaxle on the diesel has the starter motor
> on the top while the air cooled one has the starter off to one side.
> The 85 weekender is a westfalia (regular pop top) but weekender
> inside - description says "fold out bed, swing arm table, rear facing
> seat." I figure if I get that with the extra engine I'll rebuild at
> least the top end if the compression, etc. checks out and then swap
> it out and know I have a reliable engine. And while I'm doing that I
> can still drive it!
>
> Dan
> L.A. CA
>
>
> On Apr 13, 2011, at 10:28 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans wrote:
>
>> Hi Dan ..
>> all sounds good.
>> on the 82 Diesel ...Westy I assume..
>> the inline four gas engines are usually a 1.8 ..
>> or sometimes a 2.0 with a 1.8 head on it.
>> there are two kinds of fuel injection it could have ..one is CIS
>> easily
>> identified by numerous braided fuel lines running 'everywhere' almost
>> ....bit of a messy tangled engine compartment..
>> and that fuel injection is regarded as problematic.
>>
>> the 'good kind' of EFI is electronically controlled ...identified
>> by having
>> just wires to a fuel rail..
>> and no braided fuel lines running around. That's the much better
>> set up.
>>
>> the trans on the 82 diesel, if it's a gas engine and it 'goes well'
>> like 65
>> easily ...75 etc it most likely has already had a DK 4 speed from an
>> air-cooled vanagon put in it.
>> that is the standard trans upgrade for 82 diesel vanagons.
>> in 83, in waterboxers they went to a whole other style of shift
>> linkage
>> and somewhat different trans ..in diesels it's the rare 5 speed
>> that year.,
>> also with the improved shift linkage.
>>
>> if it's screamin' its guts out at 60 to 65 ...it's likely the stock
>> 82 DV
>> 'DZ' code trans ..
>> if it'll do 65 to 70, even 75 without extreme strain, it's likely been
>> swapped to the proper DK trans from an air--cooled vanagon.
>>
>> I have heard of random spot checks in Ca to make sure a vehicle is
>> still
>> really a diesel.
>> Don't know first hand of a case..
>> but I have read that before.
>>
>> on the 85 ..
>> Weekenders are in many ways the best body configuration . ( well, not
>> counting Adventurewagons )
>> they have the most interior volume of any factory vanagon ..
>> the head room is nice.. a skylight or bronze-gold plexiglass plain
>> solid
>> skylight is really nice to have in them.
>> 85's usually have a skylight in the poptop. 82's never do that
>> I've seen.
>>
>> the full rear bench seat with big trunk under it in the
>> Weekdender....., all
>> nice.
>> I've had two 85 poptop vans...the first one a Wolfsburg Weekender..
>> very desireable body configuration oin a vanagon I say. Both vans
>> will hold
>> value nicely if they're decent and taken care of.
>>
>> as for he spare used 1.9 wbx ....good to have one ..
>> but unless it's medium fresh ..they usually really need head
>> gaskets and I
>> like to have a regular valve job done on the heads at then too.
>>
>> sounds like fun.
>>
>> re
>> "$5k is my top dollar or i would go for an > '86-91 model."
>>
>> usually $ 5K will not get an 86 to 91 Westy unless it needs a LOT.
>> those can be up to twenty grand even sometimes.
>> 7 passenger no problem ......( $ 5K still on the low side ) but 86
>> to 91
>> Westy's if at all good are most often much more than
>> $5K ...especially on
>> the west coast.
>>
>> Scott
>> www.turbovans.com
>> southern oregon ..
>> long time califiornian.
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Daniel Rotblatt" <d.rotblatt@VERIZON.NET>
>> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 8:55 PM
>> Subject: Buying a Van
>>
>>
>>> Hi all. I'm new here, just now shopping for a vanagon westfalia. I
>>> was wondering if I could get some input on some vans available in the
>>> area that I'm interested in. I'll be looking at them this coming week
>>> and wanted to get some input as to what to look for. I'll modify any
>>> info I get with the condition of the car as i see it - especially
>>> rust (which I know is a real issue). I've done a lot of reading and
>>> I am mechanically inclined - I've just finished rebuilding a 1966
>>> triumph spitfire, and I had a '67 split window van (with the mini-pop
>>> top) back in the day. $5k is my top dollar or i would go for an
>>> '86-91 model.
>>>
>>> The first van is a 1982 diesel with a gas jetta engine from the
>>> nineties (1.8 or 1.9 liter I believe). I know to look to see if the
>>> transaxle (or is it a transmission in these?) is from a later model
>>> cause the diesel ones are geared differently and the 1980-83
>>> transaxle aren't very good. Second I will check the compression on
>>> the engine and look at the plugs to see how worn it is. The
>>> advantage of this van is that the engine is more powerful and there
>>> is no smog check (I'm in california - smog checks are a b**ch). They
>>> want $5k.
>>>
>>> The second is a '85, some body dents in front and a few dings, 1.9
>>> water cooled engine. Also $5K. It's a westy top and weekender
>>> inside, which I like (wider bed, dont need the stove - I set up a
>>> table with a stove when I camp - fridge might be nice). Advantage to
>>> this one is that he has a second 1.9 engine which he says is in
>>> running shape. Also, his other car broke down the other day and he's
>>> using it as a daily driver - which I think indicates some level of
>>> reliability.
>>>
>>> Anything else specific to look for when I look at them?
>>>
>>> Thanks all, I appreciate any input. I'm leaning towards the '82 - I
>>> like the idea of no smog.
>>>
>>> Dan
>>> Los Angeles, CA
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