Date:         Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:33:08 -0700
Reply-To:     Mark Hineline <hineline@OCOTILLOFIELD.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mark Hineline <hineline@OCOTILLOFIELD.NET>
Subject:      Re: Air/wasser swap
Comments: To: Greg Potts <greg@pottsfamily.ca>
In-Reply-To:  <4EA9AF8A.3000808@pottsfamily.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes

> Thanks, Greg. A few notes:

> Leaving the transmission in place, you should be able to swap the
> engine and cooling system from the donor without much hassle. If you
> swap the transaxle as well you may need to bring along the shift
> linkage with it, as there were differences between aircooled and
> watercooled and diesel setups in that regard.

I'd actually like to swap to the later linkage, which is more robust,
and fewer NLA parts.

>
> But if I were you, I'd look for a later model 86-91 donor van with a
> 2.1L digifant setup. The cooling and FI are better engineered than
> the 1.9L equivalents.

If it's still a fairly straightforward swap, the 2.1 would make sense.

> The diesel vanagon used a different rad than the later models but I
> am sure you can adapt the cooling hoses to make do, or else swap the
> rad as well.

Radiator is gone from my van.

> Overall, it's MUCH easier to just drop the 2L and repair it; the
> waterboxer might make more power but it's not without its own demons.

Agreed, but as I said, I've had bad luck with the two liter. The idea
that a single bolt can completely disable the van AND require a
complete engine teardown just freaks me out. One bolt!

There are some other reasons why wasserizing might make sense. One is
that there are just fewer and fewer aircooleds in the boneyards these
days.

But I'm not completely decided.

Mark