rob: the last vw air-cooled engines, '83.5 being the last year sold, were
state of the art for that porche-type engine (the original was designed by
mr. porsche himself). porsches were air-cooled until not that long ago. no
reason to believe the air-cooled vw engine won't go for a very long time if
one just changes the oil when supposed to. the pre-fuel-injected models had
a touchy exhaust valve in no. 3 which could result in a blown engine if not
kept properly adjusted but the later fuel-injected models had hydraulic
valves that did not require adjustment. air-cooled is not as powerful as
water-cooled but for an old vw bus hand, it doesn't really matter. my '82
cruises at 65-70 on the freeway and that's just fine. elsewhere, well, the
right lane is also just fine. if you're in a hurry, a vw van is the wrong
vehicle. cheers, art, '82 westy

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob S." <iH8myISP@SUSCOM.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003 10:57 PM
Subject: Rebuild? was: Model/year recommandation

> What exactly goes wrong that requires every vanagon to have an engine
> rebuild done around 100K miles?
>
> My 82 is original un-rebuilt motor (as far as I know)   and it runs out
> VERY strong.
>
> with 92,000 and a broken odometer...   should I be ready to spend for a
> rebuild soon, regardless of how good it runs now?
>
> should I not fix the odometer so that it never reaches that dreaded
> 100K mark (where the engine will instantly destroy itself)?
>
> -Sealover
>
>
> On Thursday, October 9, 2003, at 12:19 AM, Art McGinn wrote:
>
> >   jp: as a longtime bus owner and later a vanagon owner, i have a very
> > strong bias against the water-cooled vanagon and a very strong
> > preference
> > for the air-cooled van, although the latter are getting harder to
> > find. the
> > waterboxer (water-cooled) has inherent heating problems, as most the
> > posts
> > on this list indicate. an air-cooled  vanagon in reasonable shape with
> > a
> > recently rebuilt engine and a recently rebuilt transmission (rebuilt
> > engine
> > is necessary since the most recent was new in 1983) could run for many
> > years
> > with minimum trouble if reasonably maintained. good luck on whatever
> > you
> > choose. cheers, art mcginn, san fran, '82 westy (ex-'82 vanagon,
> > ex-'68 bus)
> >