Hello all,

I thought some of you might want to read how things went with the conversion of my '87 Westy syncro from the wasserboxer to a 2.3 l Audi 5 cyl.

The van is a pleasure to drive. The low end torque is dramatically better. The on- highway performance is also much better. As a friend of mine put it- "wow it drives like a normal car." I do like the throaty exhaust note but also liked the way the wasserboxer sounded. I have about 1500 miles on the conversion. The van passed the California smog/referee test. So far I'm averaging about 17-18 mpg in mixed driving (premium gas- ouch). I haven't been off road with it since the work has been done but it should do great. At highway speeds their is some reserve of horsepower but apparently there could be a bit more if the knock sensor unit was operating well. I've exchanged 3 used knock sensor control units and kept the one that worked the best, but would like to find a perfectly working one to optimize the performance. Why so many of these are defective or worn out is a mystery, but it is probably less noticeable if it's in the lighter Audi sedan than in a heavy syncro camper. Two 5000s 1987 sedans that I know of also have bad knock sensor control units - strange.

I bought donor parts ('87 5000) from a wrecker. The car was supposed to have 78,000 miles on it. Detlev of the Vanagon Projekt spent a lot of time with me explaining the process and showing me previous conversions before I decided to go ahead with the project. He most strongly recommended the Quantum conversion (2.2l) due to simplicity, relatively lower cost and it's tolerance for regular gas. Given the weight of the syncro camper and the taller 215/75 15 inch tires I use, I thougt that I'd prefer to get as much torque and horsepower as possible and asked for the conversion with the Audi 2.3 l -engine code NF with 130 peak HP.

The conversion ended up being fairly difficult, from what I can tell. A large part of this was that the donor parts that I brought to Detlev were either worn out, damaged, incomplete, or incorrect. All the stuff basically looked OK to my untrained eye when I picked it up. Examples of things that caused problems were stretched out wires with increased resistance, the wrong air flow meter that looked just like the right one but was different electronically, malfunctioning ECU's, a bad alternator, and a noisy AC compressor. It was the harness/computer/electronic problems that seemed to make life the most complicated. Detlev and I agreed that it would be good to rebuild the engine. I am glad it was done because the engine showed much wear including deep grooves in the cylinders and out of spec pistons. The rest of the engine needed rebuilding as well. Either it was an extremely hard 78,000 mi without good maintenance, or their was a digit missing from the reported mileage. The deck lid had to be slightly modified, resulting in a 1/4 inch panel on top of the hatch. The ground clearance is similar to before, I have not measured it but there was a thread on this when Mark Drillock had his conversion done.

There were also more fabrication/customization issues in the Audi conversion compared to the Quantum conversion. (oil cooler, motor mount, AC hoses, etc). I'm happy with how Detlev addressed these things. He continues to work on refining the process, but the Audi version remains a custom install and the quantum conversion is fairly straightforward and routine for him.

In summary, I'm extremely happy to have the conversion in my van and found it a pleasure to deal with Detlev and have him work on my vehicle. Many thanks to Detlev for all of his hard work, creativity, and attention to detail. If I had to do it again I would consider more strongly the Quantum conversion as I'm not sure if the difference in peak horsepower is enough to justify the extra complexity and cost of the Audi. Unfortunately for vanagons '89 and newer I think that in most states you would have to use an Audi for a 5 cyl conversion due to smog laws, as the last Quantums were in 1988. I would also be try to be more selective about how/where I got the donor parts from. A donor car seems like a good way to do it.

Sorry for the long post, but there still seems to be a lot of interest in engine conversions and related issues. In the end, if you need or want a new or different engine there are many threads in the last 6 mos. about routine engine rebuilds, upgrading the stock engine for more spunk and reliability, kits or installs from FastForward, Vanagain, Vanagon Projekt (Detlev), Eurospec, Kennedy, or even Porsche conversions. Forget not the TDI, Ford, GM, or even Corvair enthusiasts. Go to it fellow vanagoneers and keep those vanagons on the road!

Best regards,

Bruce Wilbur

'87 Westy syncro