Date: Thu, 11 Dec 1997 23:19:46 -0800
Reply-To: Austin <austins@IX.NETCOM.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@Gerry.SDSC.EDU>
From: Austin <austins@IX.NETCOM.COM>
Subject: Re: Conversion Commotion
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>X-Sender: jscohen@m2.sprynet.com
>Date: Fri, 12 Dec 1997 00:21:18 -0500
>Reply-To: James Cohen <jscohen@SPRYNET.COM>
>Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@GERRY.SDSC.EDU>
>From: James Cohen <jscohen@SPRYNET.COM>
>Subject: Re: Conversion Commotion
>To: Vanagon@GERRY.SDSC.EDU
>
>Jim makes some very fine points, but some beg the question. If the Waser
>head leaking is a design defect, it then makes the engine inherently
>unreliable!
>
> VW says the coolant doesn't need to be changed any more than once in 100K
>miles because of the type of metal used in the cooling system...aluminum.
>Which is not supposed to cause acidity.
>
>Jim, have you actually compared the ph of new and used coolant? Old
>coolant MAY in fact cause a build up of acidity, but it should be tested
>and not merely postulated.
>
>But the other problem with the Wasserboxer is it's absurdly small size. 85
>or 91 hp is rediculously low for a vehicle the size and aerodynamics of the
>Vanagon. So, increasing power alone might be reason enough to do a
>conversion. (And that's what I'll be doing next summer! 150 hp for me!)
>
>As for using other engines, I don't think anyone who isn't going to be
>doing the work himself should be doing this for all the reasons Jim
>outlines. Too many things can go wrong, and if you're in the middle of
>nowhere, it's going to be tough to find anyone to touch it. OTOH, anyone
>who can work on a say, Subaru, can fix a Subaru engine.
>
>Besides, Subaru spelled backwards is: U r a BUS ! Is this Kismet or what?
>
>And finally, Subaru fixed the head problem? I've heard this before. WILL
>SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME HOW? WHAT DID THEY DO? I have YET to get an answer
>on this.
>
>James
Once & for all - has anyone else ever heard this one??? Many years ago
Subaru licensed the ol' 40 hp air cooled from VW with the stated intention
of developing a water cooled version, which, when VW saw it, decided it
made sense after all & proceeded to do their own (our beloved boxer), but
of course never bothered to fix the (Subaru) design problems: Subaru did, &
we got stuck with still another VW half-effort. Any morsel of truth to
this, or pure bs?? (What always catches my eye when checking out a Suby is
the remarkable similarity of the gearbox cases to ours - ZF's too, by the
way <Mangustas/Panteras>).
Austin
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