Date:         Wed, 18 Aug 1999 19:23:27 -0700
Reply-To:     "Bruce J. Wilbur" <bjwilbur@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Bruce J. Wilbur" <bjwilbur@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject:      Audi 2.3 l conversion report (long)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

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