Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 11:46:23 -0600
Reply-To: Blue Eyes <lvlearn@MCI2000.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Blue Eyes <lvlearn@MCI2000.COM>
Organization: Vexation Computer
Subject: Re: Yes!5 Cyl into 87 Syncro Camper
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Mark Drillock talked about how pleasant it was to drive the
5 cylinder Vanagon test vehicle, which is our Americanized
version of the 1999 specification South African rear wheel
drive VW van. "I test drove a vanagon with the Audi 5
cylinder a few days ago and it was fantastic. It had plenty
of power and . . . ."
I speculate that the fatter lower end torque curve was even
more important in causing the huge subjective improvement in
how it seemed to drive compared to the stock VoA 4 cylinder
versions, than the peak horsepower difference.
I further speculate that even a 4 cylinder 90 hp. direct
injection TDI motor in a Vanagon would give about the same
robust impression because of its huge improvement in usable
low end torque compared to the power plants we have been
forced to endure.
Allow me to suggest another alternative path that hasn't
been discussed in this forum. That is installing one of the
1983 Audi 5 cylinder turbo diesels and adding an inner
cooler to it. The first thing to remember is that this is
an early bullet proof non-electronic controlled motor, so it
will smoke 5/4ths as much as a 1.6 TD, which isn't much in
most, but not all conditions. As one person put it, the
total electronics to keep it running is one wire ~ to the
fuel shut-off switch!
Audi and VW diesels are essentially the same motors. Same
bore, same stroke, interchangeable parts but the Audi is 5/4
or 125% larger due to the extra cylinder. Here are well
known options.
Atmo 4 cylinder = 52 hp.
Atmo 5 cylinder = 65 hp.
Turbo 4 cylinder = 68 hp.
Turbo 5 cylinder = 84 hp.
Turbo innercooled 4 cylinder = 90 hp.
Turbo innercooled 5 cylinder = 111 hp.
These motors DO NOT have the amazingly strong bottom end
torque that these latest direct injection TDI diesels have,
some of which are more like a small block Chevy V-8 with 285
newton-meters of torque down at 1900 rpm from a little 4
cylinder motor. But these old indirect injection diesel
motors reach their horsepower peak at about 80% of the rpms
where your waterboxers reach theirs. So they could benefit
by taller effective gearing, whether you do it by tires or
trans. The least cost for acquiring one of these would
probably be in the $200 to $500 range. Your ability to wear
one out in your lifetime is questionable. It would be a
joke to try to compare the reliability of these motors to
the waterboxer hobby motor.
I hope some find this information about these additional
options interesting.
John
