Date: Thu, 1 Apr 1999 10:18:27 -0700
Reply-To: "Jon B. Kanas" <kanas@QUALITY.QADAS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "Jon B. Kanas" <kanas@QUALITY.QADAS.COM>
Subject: Aftermarket Parts Opinions
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
David & Fellow Listers,
We've been fighting off the Melissa virus at the office, and email has
been unreliable this week; hence the delayed response.
Regarding aftermarket 'enhancements':
Some is great, some is junk; some vendors are great, some are crooks. In
my experience, good vendors usually carry good products; they're also a
bit more expensive. My recommendation would be to select a specific
product you are interested in, and ask if anyone on the list has had
experience with the vendor and product. When someone on the list
recommends a product, try to understand the context in which they use the
product; Do you have a similar problem or requirement?
In my opinion, the majority of aftermarket gizmos that are available are
intended to improve performance much more than improve longevity. The
relationship between performance and longevity is a compromise. More
performance generally means lower longevity unless you are incorporating a
significant technological change (new materials or advanced engineering).
I tend to be a bit of a purist, in that I use factory parts whenever
possible, and do little or no 'improving' of the mechanical systems.
Future availability of parts is also a consideration. My family and I
travel 4 to 6 weeks per year in our Westfalia; it's very comforting to
know that I can get a part from a dealer in the event of a failure. If I
have "enhanced" components which fail, I am not as confident that I can
locate a replacement part on a timely basis. The dealer network supports
a particular model of automobile worldwide for many years, the aftermarket
company is likely to stop supplying the parts for a particular model as
soon as it is no longer profitable. The dealer parts may be more
expensive, but when the original part lasted for more than 100K miles I
would expect the correct replacement part to have equal longevity.
There are also clear examples when one wants to stay AWAY from the dealer.
Two clear examples are the Wasserboxer water pumps for the 1983/4
Vanagons, and the "factory rebuilt long blocks" coming from Canada that
many dealers purchase and provide instead of performing engine rebuilds.
Both of these items have a long history of problems, and both have been
superseded by superior products from external sources. The dealers are
independent businesses, and some will cut corners to maximize profits.
What I said earlier about vendors applies to dealerships as well.
As we pass electrons between us, I have a 1980 2.0 Westfalia that I have
agreed to sell for a friend who has departed for their native Australia.
This camper has about 30K miles on one of these "factory" rebuilt engines.
A leakdown test shows 100% leakage on two cylinders (same side), 10% and
30% leakage on the two remaining cylinders. The heads were torqued 800
miles ago. To be properly repaired, this engine needs to be completely
torn down and measured, then reconstructed properly with stud inserts.
I'll bet we find some other "interesting" items when / if we get it apart.
Now I have to decide whether or not I should sell the bus "as is" for her,
or spend some time and money properly rebuilding the engine and selling it
for a premium price. Fortunately, it's in otherwise good condition and
rust free, so it's worth the effort. While I'm at it, since this is being
posted to the list, if there's anybody out there who might be interested
in this Westfalia either with or without a new engine, email me privately.
A good example of this whole philosophy is my attitude on aftermarket oil
coolers. For a considerable period of time, it was a very popular
practice to add an aftermarket oil cooler to air-cooled VW engines. An
individual would spend $200 to add an additional radiator, hosts, fittings
and drill holes in their fan shrouds and add the cooler. Any one of these
new parts can fail, with catastrophic results. They would get cooler oil
for some period of time, then they would throw a rod. The reality was
that their bus was overheating for a reason, not because the engine was
inadequately designed. VW has many highly-paid engineers - they KNOW how
much heat the engine produces, and how to dissipate that heat. If more
heat is being generated than the engineers intended, something is wrong.
In the majority of cases that I have seen, overheating is caused by
out-of-tolerance main bearings (either a bad rebuild or worn out). The
true problem was masked by the over-cooled oil, and the result was a
catastrophic failure.
Of course, there is a time and a place for things like this. When we
build a race 914, we boost the compression and enlarge the bore and
effectively change the redline from 6K to 8K rpm. Now that engine
produces more heat than the factory engineer intended, and does require
additional oil cooling. NOW we add an oil cooler. We might even add a
mister for the cooler and an electric fan to improve airflow if the cooler
cannot be placed in an ideal location.
Apologies for the verbosity & Regards to all,
Jon Kanas
Boulder County Colorado:
194249 sq Hectares surrounded by reality.
Working hard to keep it this way
You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.
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