> I have to agree that the brakes are the limitation.   I have plenty of power to
> pull everything with the 2.1 but I plan ahead to stop.  One of the next things I
> want to do is upgrade my brakes.  The mechanic I go to said to install braided
> steel brake lines and I might do that.  I did this upgrade on a motorcycle once
> and the improvement was definitely perceptible.

I bought my air cooled 81 with no real knowledge of vanagons, just sort
of fell in love with it and now I am wanting to tow, but the places I
can pull my camper are limited by the power and the age. Sadly, I cannot
bring myself to replace it, as it is a part of me (yikes!) so I have to
tow long distances with my car. My children are not fans of camping
using the car either. I feel like 10 more hp would let me tow my combo
anywhere (of course that may mean a 100% increase <g>) so it is
frustrating.

On days like today, I think about doing a conversion, and its a good
idea until I remember, no water on this baby. I cannot afford a porsche
motor, and could probably not make emissions testing with it anyway.
<sigh>

So, here I am with a van I really like, and am confident in, and it
can't quite do all the things that I need it to do. It just runs so darn
well, and has been so reliable.......  Oh well, sorry, just lamenting
out loud. :)

Anyway, thanks for posting about your towing, as the archives are
getting some real life data on the subject which will help a lot of
folks.

John