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Date:         Sat, 17 May 1997 14:23:46 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         kelphoto@mail.bright.net (mark keller)
Subject:      Long Life for your engine

Reliable Vanagon Power, what do you really NEED!

Joel, re your email back to me re my question

>>1. How do I figure the road horsepower on a vanagon.

>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.

First, I don't know the formula that magazines use to determine how much horsepower the vehicle needs to go 60 mph, so I can't "check" the Syncro figure I have read. But I can explain what it is, and why it's important, and BTW a few other things I deem essential to low operating cost and reliable performance. It's a of bit a monster, when you get down to discussing it, but really worth it in terms of money and heart ache saved. There is a lot to cover and I've got some time, but I not going to be able to polish up the prose a bunch. So if your game read on.

As I here I sit in my jammies, I'm wondering if I should digress on this topic. Since, in my life, I have met a lot of car folk who have a pet topic they know, some better and some worse than they believe, I'll shed some brain cells your way.

For openers let me share my brief feeling on taking my advice or others'. Over the years I've given and received much free advice. I feel if you look at it as a starting point great; but you still need to think for youself. Advice and handholding are not the same thing. And I do both. Some folks are uncomfortable with straying to far from the book. Great for you. I encourage you to stay near your comfort zone. A fix that works but makes you worry, is no real solution. Read this for entertainment. I've poured my heart into it, but so what. Some of these ideas are old, some new, some are priceless-- only if they suite your individual situation. I understand.

This article will discuss the areas I feel impact the Vanagon's cost of operation, relative performance issues, and hopefully will help any owner decide about their next move on tires, engine rebuild, and general improvement in the vehicles ability to satisfy your style of living and driving. Part 2 covers the nitty gritty whys and wherefores.

As a new owner, I write from a background of previous automotive, and human behavior experience. I've never been formally trained in a specific automotive class, and as such am a laymen. I was taught first by my dad for several years as his helper in auto body, then by my step dad who is a automobile mechanic, who specialized in tuning, and wheel alignment, with a couple of short stints in other areas Then US Army Aviation college from aerodynamics to vibration analysis, and During my regular college, and other hard up times, I 've plied my skills as a shade tree, and a not so shade tree mechanic.

My last such gig was under a superb man's tutelage who is still my main guru. He's a mechanic with a wide reputation for his skills, diagnostics and even competitive wins in the area of fault diagnosis. He can fix it when the book can't!!! I've never seen him lose, and a lot of auction cars from other shops find there way to him. He's the best!! He tunes for strip, track and truck pulling, and just about anybody within driving distance of his shop comes to him. His not perfect, and the wait is long to get in, but I trust him implicitly.

I have discussed the following subjects with him as I worked along side him for eight months or so during my last dry spell, and others over the years to refine my understanding of vehicles. So I'm not claiming to be the Shell answer man, I have good feel for what works and why and what probably won't. I still can't troubleshoot a car over the telephone over half the time. And I still prefer to ask someone if my guess is probable or not. So if u no me, I ask lots of questions, and love to share my views. If this is a problem say the word, and I'll not darken your screens with words no mo.

Of the thousand and thousands of bolts and nuts it takes to correctly to build our cars it's the nut behind the wheel which affects their performance more than any other single source of I know of. No apologizes. So let's talk about us nuts first.

II was taught to fly by the US Army. In the process, a wise instructor passed on a bit of understanding about the different between his male, and female students. He said that during landing and takeoffs the guys tend to look further out in front of the aircraft, and thus, were better at smoother controlling of the aircraft from the standpoint of having a longer distance to reference from, who knows why but it was an observation.The female pilots he trained wanted to look right over the nose of the aircraft at the runway, and thus had a shorter line of sight, and thus were much more erratic.

How does this translate into highway driving? Well, I've noticed that men tend to scan farther ahead of the vehicle and "see" the traffic picture and adjust their speed up or down, and lanes to keep their momentum going. Women,who seem to hate long hoods, again like to look right over the front of the vehicle at the road. (Don't write me and complain it you don't fit the model, I understand, some men can drive either and BTW the best pilot I ever saw , Cindy Brown, was a woman, and still is both!!)

This over the vehicle to the road short sight line tendency, results in "driving up on the back of traffic, slowing down, checking the mirrors for a clear lane, turn signal on, then looking for a place to get a running start to build speed.-- This type of driver LOVES lotsa horsepower to bail them out--. The first driver, can usually "get a lot outta a little engine" because they're thinking and planning all the time. Believe me curing this one problem alone, will increase your gas mileage and average speed on long trips by 5 MPG I guarantee it. Your engines life will be affective positively here too.

Whether we know it or not, we have a great impact on the vehicles life, cost, and death. A majority of the "expensive, and money pit terms" come from a inability to locate the right solution to a problem in two moves or less by the owner- 400% OEM Markup notwithstanding. I' have been ripped off seldom in my years, because of my background. But I have been lied to, misdiagnosed, had poor or incomplete repairs and given up on some vehicles, even though I explain to potential dealers or mechanics of my background. I feel this user list serves as a first line of defense against this.

Case in point. The change to R 134. My friend, drains the R12 properly and disposes of it, installs a legal adaptor to install R134, and then fills the system. If it leaks, which in the years he's done it, very very few do, probably to other problem. So what, if it does, it's not illegal for R134 to leak. The cost. $30 for the kit, $30 labor, a variable, and then the R134. Yeah, people are gonna oooh and aaah. I'm gonna do it. You don't have to do this. It's my opinion only.

Another case on A/C, I had hoses made up by companies that specialize in air and hydraulic hoses, Amazon hose in Tampa. Aeroquip fittings and hoses were used on the first A/C system I made, and didn't leak in fifteen years. Also take whatever hose you got that broken to them, and they will cut the hose off and reuse the fittings or other special components. This turns a dealer only $200 hose, into a $20 repair every time. I done this countless times, your mechanic does too.

Keep the engine faults corrected. Secondary damage, and repair, it so common if you don't believe. Give up reading now. There's no hope for YOU!

Penny wise pound foolish owners, get burned so often by this you think they would eventually learn. Mechanics live on this and are not about to set you straight just so their kid can go without braces. This is the major reason mechanics, and service writers have lost all respect for car owners. I am NOT NOT Saying to turn your mechanic loose on your engine. This is a NO NO too.

LOCATE the problem. Think, or talk to someone who can about the probable cause. Most problems do not occur while you are miles away from home. They were there all along and sending signals too. You missed them. In twenty years of driving hundreds of thousands of miles and flying thousands of hours I have been stranded twice in cars and once in an aircraft if memory serves. One in the car was my faulty bearing torque that caused the failure. If you can't or don't know how or whatever, get someone to look at your vehicle. I usually have talked to three good heads, and at least that many shop diagnosis on an obscure problem before I make my first move.

You have the luxury to do this, if you investigate problems early. Waiting a week to look, is money lost. So, get a diagnosis from the best you can find, pay for it , it's cheap cheap insurance. Thirty bucks will do usually. Then talk it up with your people to see how plausible the estimate,and the diagnosis is. You say you haven't got the time? Well you'd better have the money. Cause when it comes to betting against the automotive repair industry, it's a sure thing most of the time-- you lose!!

I get deals all the time, because the PO can't or wont take the trouble to find the problem. They have one thing in common though. They have spent tons of money that mechanics or dealers say they need in repairs, rebuilds, and unneeded parts, and then in the course of talking to em they usually tell me the problem, that somebody thinks it is, but they're sure it just couldn't be that! Suckers!!

BTW my second new car, a 1980 Rover 3500, was broken more by the mechanics when then they were covering some "warranty" item than they ever actually fixed. This problem is so disgusting and common, my friend is guilty too. Two reasons. One is the factory warranty programs pays a lower shop rate per hour, so low man on the totem pole fixes you car every time. These are usually the dregs of the shop.

The other reason is "flat rate." Mitchell's books and Motor also generate a guide for how long your little broken widget is gonna take to remove and replace. The time is based on the right tools, and special tools to do the job. Usually the database is on a nice clean new car the factory provides I guess. Anyway, by the time a real live surgery is done, the patient is fat with grease, dirt , corrosion, and maybe a few ornery bolts and etc. So over the course of time, mechanics get in a hurry to meet the shop rate.

(If you want more on how to figure this or improve your chances to save and get the right job email me. )

This hurring is so bad. I can't stand it when they forget to insert a wire or hose retainer back, leave bolts out, untightened and etc when reassembling my car. The result? You know it. I can always tell a car thats had a poor history. Looking at the wire and hose retainer carefully their all just hanging there. After a few years of typical dealer and shop repairs, and your car is reduced to junk, just by being maintained by gorillas with overpowered 600 ft lb impact wrenches!!!

Ok on to strategies. I usually "improve my vehicle as things wear and need replacing anyway. It works for me. So it will probably be a while before I get to my final version of Vanagon. Which in case your wondering is:it will either be a stock or slight modified OEM engine with all of the tweaks and tweedles in the air dam, and tires, and shocks. My other engine choice is, way down the line i, to plop a Buick v-6 w/the 4 speed autotrans, rated one of the ten best engines in the world. And cheap cheap cheap to get junk parts for. I'm gonna drop the sub frame and bolt it straight in, well it's a long way off so I won't go into it here. Those are my plans; acknowledging of course "Murphy's laws of combat- No plan survives the first contact intact!"

How do we do it. First reduce the strain on the engine. Wind and Weight. And thus the road horse power to git er down th road. Giddy up!

Weight is an easy concrete subject, so to speak. If you don't need it take it out! Believe me on this one. The Vanagon is an amazing piece of work. My title say's it weighs, 3445 lbs. Trim, since my Chevy Corsica weighs 2700. For 3500 pounds I get a vehicle w/200 cu ft space and a 3/4 ton payload. Amazing Amazing Amazing. Beware of all that space when your adding goodies keep an eye to the weight. Better, if you or the PO has done some "built -it -hisself" mods. Take the beast to a moving company and weigh it. The truth will set you free. So that excess poundage will always always translate into additional miles before your next rebuild. I know why, if want to email me I'll splain it.

Ahhh the Wind -- and it's ability to put your motor in the hospital$$$. I confess this is an abstract concept but very damaging just the same! The best way to measure how susceptible your motor is to death by this dragon, is by knowing your vehicles drag coefficient. Another alternative which also takes weight, and more than few other minor variables is knowing your road horsepower. It's explained last. Either way, were talking about reducing unneeded strain on the motor. No I'm not talking about your A/C system.

Here goes, now follow me on this. The problem is... Drag plate area and parasitic drag. Since the drag coefficient of vanagon, I don't know which one, is about 46% of it's total drag area. You have to Push a flat area half the size of a vanagon through whatever speed you routinly go. This means that if you were to saw off the nose of the vehicle so that you've exposed the largest possible cross section, this is the "drag plate area". Kinda like trying to run with a piece of plywood attached to your back. Some people call this the "sail area" but I believe "sail area" is the vehicle's side cross section. The 46% thing, usually expressed at .46 coefficient, means that the Vanagon's noseand windshield , reduce the effective size of the total cross section by 46 percent. The drag coefficient of .46 on a bus is not the same as a .46 drag on a Mazda Miata. The Miata has a smaller total cross section. Just for comparison a slick passenger car drag coeffecient will be in the .30 or less range of it's cross section.. So I think a vanagon's drag coe. is good to start with-- for a brick.

Since I won't change the nose, and it's possible, I just wouldn't do it. There are two other ways to reduce engine via cheatin the wind.

The late vanagons benefit by the addition of an air dam beneath the front bumger area, and being lower. This is so because they reduce drag in two different ways. Parasitic drag , and ground effect reduction of the air flowing beneath the Van.

Besides the vehicle's, let's say "painted surfaces", air also flows around the unpainted areas, mainly beneath the thing which aerodynamically speaking is really, really, really, dirty. This area is large and full of things that get blasted by oncoming air. Reducing the amount of air that gets down here is a big BIG savings in drag. This air hits various things, which all work to make it harder to push the vanagon through the air and thus strain the little guy in back whosa pushin the whole enchilada into the future.

Additionally, large flat mirrors, roof racks, and light bars are also examples of "parasite drag", things that hang on the Vanagon's body and protrude into the air streaming past it. BTW, behind the vanagon is cheaters' paradise, you can cram this space with nary an increase in drag. So here's the official place to Load err up!

Incidentally, really knarly and wide tires INCREASE YOUR DRAG. I've seen guys drop 6 mpg, by a combination of more drag and high rolling resistance on the those fat "style" tires. Which if you measure the actually tread width, I mean the measure each tread and then add them together, a 225 mm, and a 195 mm tire width will have the "same amount of rubber on the road", 16.5 cm. I've confirmed this many times. (You can email me here to if ya want some more!) And the "cosmetic wide tire" costs 3x as much, all for the privilege of higher rolling resistance,and more drag plate area. SOME DEAL! Fashion indeed has it's price"

Anyway the late model vanagon's spoiler or air dam works by mechanically diverting on coming air that would flow beneath the vehicle to around the sides; I don't know if those cool fiberglass moldings assist this or not. Anyway diverted air can't drag you down since it isn't flowing beneath your vehicle any more. However Air Dam's can't move all oncoming air since some just flows beneath it and then back onto spare tires, suspension componest, they do have holes to cool the brakes, your gas tank, then the best thing of this dirty air slops it load of road err stuff onto your motor. So to increase the dam's efficiently you can use the ground to help you out.

The ground effect is utilize by lowering the bottom edge of the dam or the whole vehicle. The ground works kinda like a dustpan. The spoiler, and really the whole vehicle is the broom, and less air can get under your vanagon, and less air down there the better. This quickly, cheaply and BTW lightly equals LESS horsepower need to cruise, LESS gas, LESS strain on the cooling system and MORE AVAILABLE HORSEPOWER for hills and baggage, and More GAS MILEAGE, PLUS Better cross wind stability.

To just lower a vanagon overall seems like a way to spend a lot of money-- which is really the engines, err "compartment". Lowering can include but is not limited to: special springs, shorter tires, then different gears to keep from over revving the thing, and a lot of special tools, alignments, mechanics, you get the picture$$$

Road horsepower is the amount ponies the vehicle needs to push it down a level road, no prevailing head or tail wind, and at a constant speed, say 60 mph. This figure is typically published in car reviews, especially the low drag coefficient type cars. The only Vanagon stat I've read was a Syncro and it was like 60 hp at 70 mph, which is a BUNCH. I'll say it again, this is a bunch of horsepower fer yer mule to be kicking out mile after mile. If you still do not understand, just insert low life expectancy on the motor into your data bank. Cars which I'm familiar with are like in the 15hp to 20hp road horsepower range. Now I believe the ways to help out the Vanagon's situation in the drag department if the road horsepower is anywhere over 40 hp ie low reserve power, fuel efficiency at 60mph cruise, and engine life is to follow the advice I have just given you. It's only a starting point, you still have to think, and ask you self what is my number one priorty here anyway. Some of you are near here in your vanagon's setup. Some of you, well let's say it gonna be a journey. Ante up!

What is a duty Cycle?

The need for extra horsepower is where all of the slow VW comments come from. Since all VW's are adequately powered to cruise, they don't have the 130+ hp of the average passenger car. GTI and Corredo excluded of course. Anyway. The extra ponies are only needed to accelerate, hence the ratio of available hp to needed hp to cruise. High or Constant, duty cycle engines must produce at or near their maximum available horsepower to cruise. Example's are: race engines Indy cars, stock cars, marine engines, aircraft engines, and in my neck of the world, farm engines. You can walk beneath a "hundred horse" tractor, they are huge. So, by comparison our little VW motor is in some pretty good company when it comes to gettin the "mostest from the leastest"

Well there you have it.! I do feel the winds blowing for me to lower the front dam with one of the flexible rubber strips, so I can hit or run over road debris without a costly repair. Once I do this I'll evaluate whether or not to up the reserve power. Compression seems to be the cheap route, unless you know of a perform chip, that'll modify the injector's on time. The performance ,PROM's, programmable Read Only Memory,. are real popular. BTW, from another vehicle I owned, 90 Corsica, gas has changed evidently in its formulation since it was originally programmed, and the PROM had to changed with a new one. Does such situation exist on the Vanagon?

In part 2 a cover some various and sundry things that while pertant can be relegated to nice to know.

MK 91' Carat


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