Date:         Sun, 25 Apr 1999 20:07:06 -0400
Reply-To:     David Beierl <synergx@IBM.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <synergx@IBM.NET>
Subject:      Re: Holding off on Engine swaps?
Comments: To: Marshall Ruskin <mruskin@PANGEA.CA>
In-Reply-To:  <00bf01be8ed7$c4b6cde0$10e1e1df@marshall>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

At 23:54 4/24/99 -0500, Marshall Ruskin wrote:
>FYI:
>
>We bought a Dodge Omni in the early 70's that was powered by a Rabbit
>engine!(Only for it's first year of production, I think)  It was the only
>thing component that didn't cause problems!

Hmmm <g>.  It was 1978, the first year they made the Horizon/Omni -- and
did you forget about the alternator bracket breaking every x thousand miles
(and the distributor every y thousand, and the *left inner* CV joint every
z thousand -- well, those weren't the engine's fault)?  In fact, the
alternator bracket may not have been the engine's fault -- dunno whether VW
or Chrysler designed the bracket, and the carburetor where the float-valve
suspension tabs *wore through* from vibration, and the curious arrangement
that made the engine race out of control on starting if it froze in the
wintertime -- with the throttle *closed* !!!, and the lousy potting on the
ECU (which was located in the air intake) so that rainwater would seep in
and short it out.  Of course the ignition ballast resistor was certainly
not VW's problem, nor the door trim that shrank about ten per cent in
length, or the steering wheel ditto, so that it cracked apart at the
bottom, nor the fact that the car preferred to travel back-end foremost!

Pretty car, though.  Good paint.

:)
david
David Beierl - dbeierl@ibm.net