Vanagon EuroVan
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Date:         Mon, 11 Apr 1994 20:38:02 -0600 (CDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         dunham@mpd.tandem.com (Jerry Dunham)
Subject:      Re: Sportsvans (sic)

]From vanagon@lenti.med.umn.edu Mon Apr 11 20:24:57 1994 ]From: derekdrew@aol.com ] ]Comments on these threads: ] ]1. The Vanagon was the last of the great VW bus type vehicles. ]The eurovan and the other new vehicles cannot compete for the ]reasons others have mentioned here. It is hard to think that a vw ]station wagon thing should even belong to this list as vw parts and ]service are so poor it would not make sense to buy a vw unless it ]were an absolutely unique vehicle and there were no other way out. ]This is true for Vanagon/Bus/Split Window van, not for Eurovan or ]the new thing with Ford.

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who feels that way.

]3. All this talk about the motor for the Vanagon seems to ignore the ]fact that this problem has been solved already. MSDS in California ]sells fine kits to get a Porsche 911 motor into the Vanagon.

Who? To me, "MSDS" means "Material Safety Data Sheets". I've never heard of MSDS and wouldn' know how to find them. How expensive are their kits?

]And ]Oettinger makes two fine 6 cylinder motors for Vanagon, one in 130hp ]trim, and the other in 190hp trim. These motors fit and were designed ]and built for Volkswagen. Volkswagen never sold them through their ]dealer network because by then they were becoming tired of the Vanagon, ]or Transporter/Caravelle as they are called over there. But Oettinger has ]been offering drive in drive out service to switch from 4 to 6 cylinder ]motors.

But I'm not "over there", so this isn't much use. How much does this 6 cost? Is it related to the Porsche 6 or a unique design as your de- scription implies? What has its reliability record been? What is its size in litres?

]In Europe it is also a regular service at engine rebuild time to increase ]the size of the stock 4 banger from 2.1 litres to 2.5. There is at least ]one Vanagon (a syncro westfalia) driving around California with one of these ]2.5 litre motors. What we have to do is to induce some USA motor shop ]like FAT or some place to develop an expertise in making 2.5 litre ]Vanagon motors out of 2.1. If a group of us would get together at ]rebuild time and give someone an order for 5 or 10 such rebuilds, then ]it could induce them to acquire the technical knowledge to do the deed ]efficiently at at a reasonable cost. I have an extra Vanagon motor waiting ]in the garage and I plan to bring it up to 2.5 litres before I put it in the ]vehicle.

This sounds like a much more viable plan than converting to Porsche or Oettinger sixes, since it would keep the machine closer to stock and presu- mably cost much less. I'd been thinking of Subaru conversions, or possibly gettin a Vanagon diesel with the intent of switching to a Golf gas engine, but the 2.5 litre conversion might be all I'd need. What does poking it out do to the reliability (which is already nothing to write home about)? Please tell more!

Who's FAT?

-- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Jerry Dunham, MSE hoosier@rider.cactus.org (512)244-8598 Tandem Computers, Inc. dunham@mpd.tandem.com Integrity Systems Division dunham_jerry@tandem.com

"A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one-and-a-half times his own weight in other people's patience."

- J. Updike


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