Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 10:24:27 +0200
Reply-To: "Dr. Rainer Woitok" <woitok@RRZE.UNI-ERLANGEN.DE>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "Dr. Rainer Woitok" <woitok@RRZE.UNI-ERLANGEN.DE>
Organization: RRZE (Regionales Rechenzentrum Erlangen)
Subject: Re: Snorkle on a vanagon
In-Reply-To: Msg <19990510174004.28144.rocketmail@web306.yahoomail.com> of
1999- 5-10 10:40:04 -0700 from wasserbox@yahoo.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Mark and all you other Vanagon-Nuts :-)
On Mon, 1999-05-10 10:40:04 -0700, Mark Mages wrote:
> As I was driving through the foot deep water that is
> all too common in Houston at this time of year, I was
> wondering if anyone has hooked up a snorkle system to
> their vanagon.
Stock in Syncros, but probably not necessary in a normal van. The
crucial points on a Vanagon are the spark plugs. They will be shortened
by the water long before the air intake will be flooded. Another
crucial point is the venting of the gearbox. On Syncros the gearbox as
well as the front diff vent into hoses which end somewhere high up in
the van. Don't know about normal Vanagons, but I'm assuming they just
vent. Without any hoses. And where air can go out (or in), water can
go in, too. Water in the gearbox isn't such a good idea. However,
since the oil will swim on top of the water, it's relatively easy to
drain all the water from the gearbox via the normal oil drain plug
almost without draining any oil. You just need to loosen the oil drain
plug completely without really removing it and to quickly screw it back
in as soon as real oil is coming out. I dearly hope you'll never need
all this good advice ... :-)
> ...
> Would you need to set up something for exhaust too?
As long as your engine doesn't stall the emerging gasses will keep any
water from intruding into your exhaust system. This little extra
pressure while fording once in a while doesn't do any harm. However, if
your engine stalls, water will enter into the muffler and perhaps into
the cat. Once stalled you will most probably not manage to restart the
engine, due to the additional back pressure at the muffler and due to
wet plugs. So you'll need another vehicle or a winch to pull you out of
the water. Once out you should punch a little hole into the belly of
the muffler to drain all that water. You can later seal this hole using
a little screw. The cat, too, will probably need to get a hole punched
in its belly (no, not the mamal, the catalytic converter :-). Any
residual water will quickly evaporate, once you have managed to dry up
your spark plugs and to re-start the engine.
Again, I do hope you'll never need to do this.
Sincerely
Rainer
'89 Caravelle GL Syncro 16"
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| Rainer M Woitok | Phone: (+49-9131) 85-27811,-27031 |
| Regionales Rechenzentrum | |
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