Date:         Sat, 17 May 97 01:02:30 CDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Re: Engineering give me Cold power?; Capt'n she wont do anymorrgh!!

On Thu, 15 May 1997 21:42:49 -0500 you said:
>1.  How do I figure the road horsepower on a vanagon.  I've got a 91'which
>I'm told is lower to the ground.  I've read that for a syncro which sits
>highest, its above 60 hp. at 70 mph. Can this be true?

not sure what you mean by "road horsepower". the "brake horsepower" for the
2.1 liter engine is 92 bhp at about 4800 rpm. max torque is at 3200 rpm.

>2. Stock 2.1L motors a listed as are a 9.0 :1 compression, can an increase
>be made to up the umph?

there is a 2.5 liter upgrade kit available from a german company. about
$3000. :(

>3. Since the road hp. is seemingly high in ratio to the available power, is
>the VW pwrplant considered a high or constant duty cycle motor? Which would
>explain the expensive parts in part, but its sounds like der deutchlander
>is makin a Dm here and there too!

i don't think it's high duty. my fan comes on rather rarely. i think the
large volume of coolant helps keep the cycle low.

>4. Is taxing the cooling system really a problem, folks in Kennedy
>Engineering say the system is "a massive thing that can cool a very big
>engine?

again, you have a very large volume of coolant. 18 quarts. about three times
as much as most other 2.0 liter engines.

>5. Is an oversize water pump pulley a route to increase coolant flow velocity?

i think it would probably cause cavitation, and just create problems.

>6. I've heard that there is dissimilar metals in the motor which sets-up a
>galvanic corrosion process.  Does the phosphate free stuff have an additive
>that acts as the sacrificial anode? Or is this VW's secret ingredient,
>which is why the stuff is exhausted every two years? Four gallons of
>coolant is a lot of volume, it seems that cooling the beast is the least of
>the system's deficiency, although as think, cooling a motor that's pumpin
>50 plus horses, twice the road horse power of a car, to move you to your
>destination at the speed limit plus 10 probably requires a massive thing to
>cool it.

what i heard is that the anti-corrosion additives in the coolant wear out in
about three years. after that, the phosphates in the coolant begin to react
with any aluminum around (heads, radiator, etc.) and create a sort of acid
sludge, that can clog the radiator and dissolve the head gaskets and pit the
metal of the head. so the coolant NEEDS to be replace/renewed every two years.
every year would be better. and it's not just vw's ... toyota trucks have
the same problem (if you run them a long time without replacing the coolant).
also mercedes-benz engines with aluminum heads. MB doesn't even ASK ... you
bring the car in for 30,000 mile service, and wham! you get new coolant!

joel