Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1998 19:18:01 -0400
Reply-To: Mark Thoma <TVReporter@STRATOS.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Mark Thoma <TVReporter@STRATOS.NET>
Subject: Demographics
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Reading some of the "Demographics" mail, I realized that most of us have
had more than one flavor of VW over the years, although my recent
experience has left a distinctly "oily" taste in my mouth. I currently own
an '82 Diesel Vanagon, an '82 Turbodiesel Rabbit Pick-up,. '85 Turbodiesel
Quantum, and a brand-spanking new '98 Jetta TDI. Don't worry I don't have
some wierd VW Diesel "Jones" as two of these cars the Turbodiesel Pick-up
and the Turbodiesel Quantum will eventually disappear and quit staining my
driveway.
It all began long, long, ago...and far, far away.
Growing up in the L.A. area in the late 50's and early 60's I bought my
first beetle (a '59 baja buggy in about '75, after that followed two more
beetles that I baja'ed, and a '73 Thing in '82. The Thing really started
my love affair with VW's. It had a 2016 engine I built myself with all the
best parts. Dual two barrel carbs, mazda oil coolers, big wheels, tires,
custom interior, dash, full gauges, roll cage, raised and modified
suspension, off-road seats, flat black paint...the works. Then I had a
change of careers, from railroad brakeman to tv reporter and moved to
Montana in '86. From there it was on to Rockford, Illinois a year later,
and onto Mobile, Alabama a year after that. Through it all the Thing was
my pride and joy, and my only car, but when I moved down south, I bought a
diesel rabbit for my wife, and got hooked on oil burners. (Diesel will do
that to you.) We moved to Roanoke, Virginia three years later (sold the
rabbit, kept the Thing) and then to Kansas City the following year ('93)
(never go into TV!) There we finally sold the Thing when the first baby
arrived, but promptly bought a gas Quantum. I kept it a couple of months,
sold it and bought the diesel Rabbi pick-up. What a gutless wonder! But
it got good mileage, and after a few months I found a Turbodiesel in a
wrecked '84 Jetta at a boneyard for $100. I did the motor swap (sold the
diesel for $200 to some farmer) and was really hooked. The turbodiesel was
fast, economical, powerful, and noisy. Okay I could've done without the
noise, but what the hell. We moved to Cleveland a year and a half ago, and
the Rabbit towed a loaded boat while loaded with about 1000 pounds of
assorted junk itself. Motored right on up here at 75mph, and still got 38
mpg. Then a few months ago I got bit (bad) by the Vanagon bug, but I still
had this turbodiesel addiction to contend with. So I started watching the
internet and found an '82 diesel Vanagon with a bad engine out in
Philadelphia cheap. After numerous calls the young woman who owned it
convinced me it was relatively rust free, had 4 brand new Michelins, and
could be mine for $600. But I couldn't find anything to tow it back to
Cleveland (428 miles away) with. I called everyone I could think of but
they all turned me down flat. Auto transport companies wanted $500 to move
it. U-Haul said they wanted just as much to rent me a pick-up, so I got a
tow bar (20 bucks a day) and drove the Rabbit to Philly late one night. I
HAVE NO #@$%ing IDEA WHAT I WAS THINKING!
I gave the girl $580 bucks for the van, pumped up the tires, hooked up the
towbar and lights and pulled it (slowely out of her driveway.) The van
didn't have any plates on it, but I figured if I got stopped by the law,
that would be about the least of my problems. Once I got out on the
Pennsylvania turnpike (tollroad) the Rabbit was able to pull the Vanagon at
a reasonable speed most of the time. I figure their combined weight to be
in the neighborhood of about 5,800 pounds. Now for those of you who don't
know the PA turnpike is rather hilly with most of those hills ascending all
the way to Cleveland. The night before, on the way down to Philly I
worried about what I'd do on the downhills, as I was unsure about the
Rabbit's braking ability. I figured I'd stop at the top of a hill, apply
the handbrake, then pull the Van downhill. I needn't have worried as I
spent most of downhills forced to pull the Vanagon anyway. No it was the
uphills that were ugly. Although I never got into 2nd gear, and rarely
shifted into 3rd, I spent a good deal of the time in 4th, and occasionally
in 5th. The rabbit would go about 10 miles before starting to overheat
(water and oil) and I'd pull over and wait for 20 or 30 minutes for it to
cool down before continuing on. It took 7 hours to go from Cleveland to
Philly and more than 20 to come back, and I heard plenty of interesting
things from truckers on the return. Mostly stuff like, "Did you see that
wierd little Toyota station wagon (the Rabbit has a shell) pulling a VW bus
near milepost 178?" And I passed (or got passed by) about 5 state
troopers, who would look me over, but didn't bother to stop me. So I
finally pulled into my driveway unhooked the Van, and was relieved to find
the Rabbit appeared none the worse for wear for what has to be some kind of
record for power to weight ratio interstate adventure. And the reason for
all this madness? Of course I wanted to transplant the Turbodiesel out of
the Rabbit into the Vanagon. And of course, some guy on the Internet
promptly told me it wouldn't work. Wrong turbo/exhaust configuration. So
a week later I found the Turbodiesel Quantum in Toledo for $1000 bucks,
went over there, bought it, and drove it back. Once I swap engines in the
Quantum and Vanagon I'll sell the Quantum, sell the Rabbit, and just be
left with the Vanagon.
....and the '98 TDI. I told my wife to just take a test drive in it one
day while I was across the street doing some shopping, and, well...it's
black, and shiny, and loaded, and she had to have it.
The only problems I have now are...
1) the Vanagon (diesel) 4-speed transmission is unacceptably low
geared...so I need to find an early model air-cooled transmission to
replace it.
2) the Turbodiesel Quantum engine sat for a long time, and the injector
pump has a surge between 1800 and 2000rpm's. The diesel guy tells me this
may rectify itself after a few tankfulls of fuel....if not I'll have to
have it rebuilt.
3) how to plumb this neat Saab intercooler I bought for $25 into the
Vanagon where it will get enough air.
But those can wait...for a few weeks at least....
Mark Thoma
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