Andrew, sounds likea very interesting project you have on your hands!
Only just subscribed to this site, but from what I can gather you are doing
a Subaru engine swap? Is this correct?
I presume you have seen the Relitech site on engine conversions, seems the
Subaru conversion is a very sensible way to go.
What do you plan to do with the the original engine and gearbox?
Are you looking at selling these?
If so I may be interested.
Regards,
John.

----- Original Message -----
From: Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2000 10:31 PM
Subject: Cliffs, road markers, handling and sheep

> New Zealand does have a lot of sheep. I hate the damn things. Occasionally
> I run one over; they run out in front of traffic when they get through
> holes in the wretched wire fences that line every meter of every road in
> the country.
>
> There are also a lot of winding roads along steep hillsides; occasionally
> the road collapses after heavy rains. I love bendswinging, but the thought
> of coming around a bend at 70kmh and being the first to discover the
road's
> disappearance doesn't bear thinking about. So one doesn't think about it!
> But you do see the occasional car way down there...In some places the drop
> is 2000 feet, not just 200!
>
> Those white 3x2" roadside poles, now replaced by thin plastic ones that
> don't dent cars or rip out of the ground when hit, bear reflectors to show
> where the road edge is at night, and they work well when they are spaced
> closely enough.
>
> One of the reasons I like VW vans is that you can really push them on
bends
> (and yes, the inside rear wheel is rather prone to lift on very tight
bends
> taken fast. At least the Caravelle doesn't corner with the drama of a
> hard-driven early Split like the 57 I used to have).
>
> Manual chokes...I remember them well. The old KE30-something Corolla coupe
> had one. Yuck. But small engines without smog gear can run well. The 1500

> carburetted Scirocco/Golf I engine of the mid1970s put out 110hp; try to
> match that with the smog US version! Acceleration was rapid and top speed
> was 180kmh (112mph).
>
> Also of course we get what Americans for some reason call "European"
> suspension setups. Most US-market vehicles get  really soft damping and
> probably springs and swaybars as well, and so don't handle nearly as well
> as the same cars in other markets. I do not know whether this is true for
> VW vans. Certainly it does for BMWs etc. Time for US enthusiasts to start
> petitioning the government to prevent more undersuspended cars being sold,
> ase people are dying because of this. Those "scariest chases' show how
> US-market cars can fishtail and lose it when travelling in a straight
line.
> Wow. Rant rant. This isn't a dig at Americans, please note.
>
> Andrew
>
> PS Yep, Dunedin's not far north of the southeast corner of the South
> Island, 365km south of Christchurch, where my van languishes without a
> gearbox as i scrape toward getting the engine/trans swap begun.