"Penberthy, Thomas" wrote:
>
> Has anyone done this?
>
> I'm totally into the idea of having my Vanagon purring along with more HP
> and still manage over 25mpg on the highway! I talked to my local VW guy and
> he said he thought it'd be cost-prohibitive to do it (not a dealer, just an
> honest mechanic).

        It's not cheap. The engine is about half the cost though.
It looks like this is gonna run me about $8000 without labor (but
with tranny regearing on a syncro tranny). I am still trying
to figure out if I can do the conversion myself or if my garage is
too small to do all the work involved (dropping the syncro tranny
has become the biggest issue as well as the leak in my garage roof
over the area I would need - the house is rented and the landlord
is slow to fix things). There are a number of issues you have to
solve, most of which you will need to do some business with one
of a ew German companies.

        Hmmm, that $ amount is without the external chip doggle
thingy for power/torque increases as well... But, I will be able
to run my van on biodiesel (now, do I have the room to produce it).
It does however include a nifty water-air intercooler which is
probably not necessary but will leave more room in the engine
compartment for the dual remote oil filter setup...

        I really wish I spoke vanagon german...

dave