Date: Tue, 12 Apr 94 20:37:14 EDT
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: derekdrew@aol.com
Subject: Bigmotors, etc.
So far it seems like fty@vislab.epa.gov and macklow@sybase.com have expressed
interest on collaborating on getting some shop to do the 2.5 litre
conversions. Anybody else? Perhaps if we got 10 people together to contribute
a $15 research fee, we could hire a top quality shop to research the thing
down to the part numbers (OKRASA) and give us a bid.
Following is the note I typed before signing on...
That was funny about MSDS standing for Material Safety Data Sheets.
MSDS is Martin Schreiber Designed Systems. He has kits to put 911 motors into
Vanagon. He also has a neat grill guard for Vanagon and some other neat
stuff. There are 3 problems with his kits. Firstly, the 911 motor is
expensive ($5,000+? used). Secondly, you have no heat, which is unacceptable
to me as I drive in Vermont a lot in the winter. Thirdly, he put his motor
into a Syncro and went through two transmissions fast. He invented a mod you
all should do on your syncro transmission any time you go for a rebuild. This
mod will allow the transmission to last longer and stand up to bigger motors.
MSDS phone number is 818-448-8726 (South El. Monte Calif.)
(Syncro owners only may send me private e-mail with a fax number and I will
fax you the mod for your transmission. Martin's mod involves adding loctite
to a key bearing to keep it in place.)
Paul Bjork gets the award for the most miles without burning out a syncro
transmission as they are not proving reliable.
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The Oettinger 6 for the Vanagon indeed involves traveling to Germany. VW
dealer Scotts of Sloane Square in London, which sells the Oettinger Vanagon,
ships its cars over to Germany for the mod and then brings them back.
The reliability of the Oettinger 6s is probably the same as our current motor
minus 15% or something. These motors are said to be identica l to our current
2.1 litre motors except for the addition of the extra two cylinders.
Oettinger told me they have no special data on their engines as the engines
are identical with what we have already.
I think the 6 has 3.2 litres.
Oettinger also offers the conversion package from 2.1 litres to 2.5 but told
me on the phone that they won't do it for an American who reveals to them
that they plan to take the motor back to USA because of a fear of being sued.
Oettinger makes the finest aftermarket parts in the world and these parts are
priced to match.
I think it was about $8,000 complete to get a 2.5 litre motor.
I think it was about $20,000 to get the 3.2 litre motor.
Now I think I will go get a fire truck to put out the flames as you
guys blast me for tempting you with this stuff.
Anyway, the best bet is still to induce someone in the USA to make a
specialty out of making 2.5 litre motors out of 2.1 at rebuild time. They can
still use OKRASA parts (as Oettingers parts are called).
FAT is simply one of the people who build up Type4/Porsche 914 motors. There
are others. Stephens advertises a lot. FAT told me they were willing to
research the 2.5 idea. I realized they would need a financial incentive to
get into some of the detail. Perhaps if 10 other people on this list want to
chip in $15 with me we could ask them to research the 2.5 litre and provide
part numbers and specs.
There is no reason I chose FAT except that that they sounded sufficiently
fanatical on the phone to be good. They mix 914 motors with a couple of 911
parts and stick the combined assemblies into cars. I remember they do this
for 1970s era busses.
There was an even better chap I spoke to at Bieker Engineering. (I am sure I
spelled it wrong.) We speced up a $6,000 motor for my '72 bus until I saw the
rust in the rockers and sold it five years ago. I remember something like
"harry bieker" of some such.
