Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2013 10:51:23 -0800
Reply-To: Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Friday Philosophy: On Community
In-Reply-To: <355612670.513251.1361040163525.JavaMail.root@sz0063a.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net>
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With 90 to 100 psi compression in two cylinders I figure I have maybe 60 hp, about what an aircooled 1600 would put out. 130 hp should be just fine!
Stuart
From: J Stewart [mailto:fonman4277@comcast.net]
Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2013 10:43 AM
To: Stuart MacMillan
Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Friday Philosophy: On Community
Hans of Vanaru let me drive a full Westy with a 2.5 a few years ago, and it was amazing! A 2.2 I'm sure would be equally amazing, maybe just slightly less so!
Jeff Stewart
_____
Right now with low compression I can't maintain 45 mph on a moderate grade
even downshifting to second (it's an auto), and semis pass me. Merging on
anything other than a downhill ramp is difficult. Trying to enter a busy
two lane highway safely requires about a half mile opening since zero to 60
is over 10 seconds on the flat, and I'll never get to 60 on a hill. Takes
all the fun out of driving. I'm confident the 2.2 will be fine, but I've
never driven one so I don't know for sure.
Stuart
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans [mailto:scottdaniel@turbovans.com]
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 6:22 PM
To: Stuart MacMillan
Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Friday Philosophy: On Community
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=
