Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2013 18:22:04 -0800
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: Friday Philosophy: On Community
In-Reply-To: <00d501ce0be8$82702970$87507c50$@gmail.com>
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re " I can only hope the Subaru conversion will make it more tolerable.""
How fast do you need to go ? A subaru 2.2 has 135 hp , versus 87 for a
1.9 wbxr and 95 or so for a 2.1 waterboxer.
btw ..if you had an automatic ..they do suck up some power and response
for sure ..
far less so with a subaru engine.
The common Subaru 2.5 is 160 hp ..almost double that of a 1.9 waterboxer.
There's a great test hill on I-5 near me. It's long ...5 to 7 miles
...Southbound it gets steeper near the top..
Normally in a Vanagon you get up good speed in top gear ..like 70
.....hold that as long as you can and when you're down to about 55 shift
down one cog into 3rd gear with a 4 speed manual trans, .hoping you can
pull the rest of the grade at a reasonable 50 - 55 in 3rd.
A real dog of a vanagon might be stuck at 45 mhp max on that grade.
If you're a real power hog ..
SVX subaru engine converisons ( 6 cylinders, 3.3 liters, 230 hp )
aren't done that often these days anymore .......but one of those will
go up that grade at 75 in 3rd or 4th gear. Easily. They drink a bit of
gas though .....17mpg would be considered very good.
a Westy with a 2.2 subaru engine and auto trans can return 21 mpg
sometimes. One guy I know claimed a one-time high of 24mpg at high
altitude during a very hot summer. That would be rare. But the 4
cylinder subaru engines go much better than waterboxers and return the
same or slightly better fuel milage.
On one recent freshly done Subaru 2.2 engine an 85 Westy ....the woman
drove that same whole I-5 grade in 4th gear easily, not getting below
about 58 to 60 mph. They go good. Not only more power ....you have
1,000 more rpm to play with too. Redline is 6,200 rpm. I never take
them over about 5,000 to 5,500 rpm anyway . Nice fat wide power curve
too, very nicely matched to vanagon gear spacing.
.........just in case there is doubt that a subaru engine conversion
isn't pretty rewarding in a vanagon.
It's not just a little more power ..it's a whole other dimension in
technology ..
4 valves per cylinder, Overhed cam/s , no distributor, knock sensor
igntion, sequential fuel injection , lots of nice features.
VRROOOOMM !!
Scott
On 2/15/2013 5:54 PM, Stuart MacMillan wrote:
> Absolutely correct insight. A community of lunatics that keeps doing the
> same thing over and over again hoping the results will be different.
>
> My kids managed to avoid catching this disease, unlike you! We had great
> times travelling in our '68 Westy starting when they were both toddlers, and
> it continued until they were in their mid-teens with my '84 Westy. Later
> they would each borrow the '84 for their own local trips, but now they
> wonder what I was thinking when I bought my "new" '85 last year, figuring
> I'm in my dotage and should simply be humored.
>
> For them it's now using friend's timeshares, exotic travel, and a once a
> year family camping trip with us in our van, one family in a tent and the
> other in a sailboat moored at Fort Flagler (only place I've found in
> Washington where we can do that).
>
> I don't blame them. I sold the '84 because it was underpowered and horrible
> to drive, and bought an EVC. That was a great driver, but a money pit and
> inferior camper, and now I'm back to a gutless '85 that is horrible to
> drive. I can only hope the Subaru conversion will make it more tolerable.
> If not, maybe the future Ford Transit conversions will be sensible:
> http://westfalia-ford.co.uk/elevated%20roof/index.html $46,000 base price
> in Britain. I wonder what Sportsmobile or Roadtrek would charge for theirs.
>
> Stuart
>
> Jarrett wrote:
>
> ......I'll admit my bias here: I grew up with VW campers, and so I own one
> now. Because I own one, I like hanging out with folks share that lunacy. . .
> .
>
> Jarrett K
> Olly, 89 Westy made up of parts, parts, parts=
>
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