If you're gonna go this route, I'd suggest the olds 350. Bore it 30 over and
drop in some knuckleheads. If you trick it out right, the 350 can approach
the 455 in hp, while having a higher redline, and the parts are SO much
cheaper.

On the positive side, this would allow you, if your vanagon ever had engine
trouble, to pull into any junkyard anywhere in the US and buy whatever part
you need for $25 tops.

On the negative side, you'll need to add about 3 tons in support braces to
the back so when you goose it the motor doesn't fling itself into the next
lane, new springs so your headlights don't blind planes, and you'd need to
convert the middle section into a huge tank so you'd be able to make it to
the next gas station.

But back to the positives. I think you could safely remove that leaky rear
heater, because it will always be warm in the back of that vanagon.

It's Friday right?
Tom C.
who's other car is a '79 olds delta 88 (with a stock 350 that's plenty fast
enough ;)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Terry K." <CTONLINE@WEBTV.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 8:01 AM
Subject: Re: Using American engines for Vanagon swap - why the heck not?

> BIG engine's have cubic inches which makes horsepower--as well as gobs
> of torque----
>
> Forget the weak VW, cheesy, running gear---
>
> Drop a 455 Olds into the back end of a Vanagon, with Toranado drive
> train ---and get the hell out of my way----
>
> The puny Golf / Jetta setup's will be doing nothing more than sucking
> dust, and watching my tail lights disappear-----
>
> Look up the road---it's a bird---it's a plane----no it's Super Vanagon
> !!!!:>)
>
>             ______________
>            |[  ] [  ] [ ]\
>            |    |    |    |
>      ~~~ ~||-(())----(())-|
>
> Terry--
>
>        "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom"
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> http.//community.webtv.net/CTONLINE/TerrysHighOnLife