Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 00:19:21 -0600
Reply-To: Marshall Ruskin <mruskin@PANGEA.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Marshall Ruskin <mruskin@PANGEA.CA>
Subject: Re: TDI fuel savings
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
In Winnipeg we have an on-going Westy project to swap the waterboxer with a
beaver-powered motor. It is very similar to a rat-motor, but those are
inadequate for the Westy (only suitable for Beetles and Golfs etc).
We plan to see if a dual-beaver powered motor is possible, but we are not
sure how that will impact the consumption of wood.
The great thing about this motor is that in Canada there is a lot of wood,
so we could cut trees (only deadwood) as we go along the highway.
The only serious problem we forsee is rapid wearing of the beavers teeth, as
sometimes we have to use surplus 2 by 4's in the city (with nails). Does
anybody know of a species of beaver that is not so prone to tooth-wear? Or,
perhaps, someone has rigged up a beaver tooth-protector of some kind? I
wonder if coating the teeth with a hard coating is more practical or easy to
do than jerry-rigging a tooth-protector?
Any comments regarding the above are welcome. (Soon, I will be offering kits
for the above, (watch out David!) $2700 without the Beaver or $3500 with (no
core required).
The only thing is, you will have to come up with your own tooth-protector
system, (but any local vet can do that - it's about $100)
Marshall Ruskin
84 Beaver-powered Westy
59 Rat-powered bug
>John - I see that you do not have the necessary social conscience that
>is required to buy & read Algore's "Earth in the Balance" and gain
>Algore's comprehension that the automobile is our greatest threat to
>ourselves!!!
>
>A 250:1 ratio for weight:horsepower mandated by our Guvmint would have
>manifold benefits for all of us. It would also give us the chance to
>"smell the roses" while traveling. It would also "even" out things for
>us on Interstate highways. A Lotus Super 7 would be limited to about
>4HP. A fully loaded Westie could have about 22HP. Seems fairly
>"democratic" to me.
>
>You know, I was cruising the Net and ran across a few URLs that really
>inspired me. Looking back at the 50's, those Swedish Tribesmen really
>did a great job of producing such vehicles. It might be worth your time
>and effort to take a look at what they did.
>
>BOB - WA4RRN
>'85GL
>
