HEY!  You guys shut up about this weight thing.  This swap has to work.
I've put too much effort into it and this damn van's been sitting too long
in my driveway.

Anyway, I do have a backup plan.  I have secured a complete diesel
conversion, for a 2.0 gas motor or TDI swap if the 2.3 is too heavy.

Then the 2.3 turbo with adapter plate can go in a wheel standing 10 sec vw
rail.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
> Of Rico Sapolich
> Sent: Monday, July 17, 2000 1:22 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Gotta Be a Wasserboxer!
>
>
> In a message dated 7/17/00 3:34:09 AM,
> andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz
> writes:
>
> << The 3.8 GM V6 is a heavy lump, and in my Caravellr one produced nasty
> scrub-understeer. Best avoid if you like good handling.
>
> Andrew
>  >>
>
> Andrew,
>
> Thanks for the sobering voice of experience.
>
> I am fond of Volvos.  After having V-gons for a while, I longed
> for Volvo's
> set-it-and-forget-it maintenance regimen.  Also, I thought their
> tractor-like
> character (especially the old pushrod engine) would be ideal.  Of all the
> compromises, the one I could not justify was the increased mass
> that would be
> hanging WAY out in the ass end of such a beast.  I thought of the time my
> buddies and I tried to tow an engineless 240 with Volvo V-6
> dumped into the
> trunk for good measure.  Everything was great until we hit the city limits
> and tried to go over 40MPH.  If you have ever heard the
> expression "the tail
> wagging the dog", well, change dog to alligator and you will have
> an idea of
> what we experienced.  Mercifully, we had not finished our first 6-pack of
> road trip refreshments so, we were still prudent enough to dump
> that V-6 lump
> in a nearby buddies barn.
>
> I guess the grass is always greener until you actually trod upon it.
>
> Rich
>