Dyer,
did you check out the Four Wheel Camper Hawk?
    http://www.fourwheelcampers.com/hawk.html

the total height and drivability on a 3/4 ton truck should be comparable
to a Westy.  Note that I'm just guess as I've never driven this combo.

I've seen year 2000 Toyota 4x4 Tundras on sale for around $14-$17K.
This is with a big ole V8 4.7L engine and around 230HP.  It appears that
you could drop a used Four Wheel Camper Hawk onto the back of the Tundra
for less than $20K and have a 3 year old vehicle with a high mechnical
reliability rating.

I'm looking at the Subie conversion.  However, at a budget of around $3K
for engine. wiring harness and KEP adapter kit, it's not cheap, nor is
it easy.  Also, if I do the conversion on my current '83 Westy, I'm
still stuck with the other mechanicals of a 20 year old vehicle (with a
new transmission).   For example, I know that something related to the
ignition switch or striker plate on the automatic shifter is flaking out
because the vehicle doesn't start sometimes (even with a brand new
starter and after market relay that connects the starter directly to the
battery.)  Also, it's not a 4x4.

So, I could spend $10-$15K to get a 90-91 Westy Syncro, then do a Subie
drop-in.  However, then the prices start to get high and I'm still
looking at a vehicle that is 10 years older than a Toyota Tundra and has
half the power.  A new truck would also have a good-quality air
conditioner, cruise control, power seats, leather interior, power
mirrors, and other stuff associated with a late-model vehicle.

However, the layout of the Westy is very nice, so I am currently
planning on keeping the Westy, though I do dream of more reliable camping...

I think that the trick with the truck cabover campers is to get a
light-weight pop-up camper that sleeps four with a smaller 4x4 truck.
I've also looked at the pop-up Alaskan Campers, which are supposed to be
the high-end, but they are too heavy for the load rating of a Tundra.
The four wheel camper hawk appears to be light-weight, with a similar
set of amenities to a Westy, without the front cabin section of the
drivers and passenger seats.

But, it's likely that I'll go the 2.2L subie engine conversion before I
bail on the Westy and go to a truck.  There is a pretty awesome
sub-culture around the vanagon and it's nice to have that Westy feeling.

Regards,
Craig

Dyer Lytle wrote:

>
> Hi Craig,
>
> I've been reading posts to the subaru-vanagon Yahoo group and I've
> read most of the on-line vanagon/subaru conversion sites and my
> impression
> is that the subaru 2.2 liter engine gives more power with about the
> same gas mileage.  However, ground clearance is somewhat compromised
> and in some states it is complicated to get the vehicle to pass smog.
> It does sound like the best gas conversion I have heard of though, those
> subaru engines are excellent.
>
> My brother has a full sized (Dodge) 4WD pickup.  His goal was/is to use
> it for trips including camping trips.  After paying $25,000 for the
> vehicle,
> all he could afford was a camper shell for the bed.  His best mileage on
> the highway has been 17 MPG and it is often lower than that.  I think
> that
> if he had a heavy pop-up camper in the bed it would be worse. As it is,
> he still sleeps in a tent when he goes camping.  So, I'm not sold on the
> truck with camper option, expensive and bad gas mileage.
>
> I think a vanagon with a turbo-diesel engine is a fairly good option
> although I am concerned about the amount of pollution produced by a
> diesel engine.
>
>  -Dyer Lytle in Tucson
>
>
>
> Craig Oda wrote:
>
>> Dyer,
>> I looked into this a fair bit.  I'm still using an 83.5 waterboxer
>> westy.  I'm on my 2nd transmission and 2nd engine.  I've also had a
>> fair amount of excitement on the side of the road in deserts and on
>> dirt roads with cracked cylinder heads and blown coolant hoses.
>>
>> I looked at cabover campers.  I haven't gone this route yet, but you
>> might want to consider a used one with a good, reliable truck.
>>
>> Lance Campers (www.lancecamper.com) is the high-end.  You could go
>> for something like their Lite 835.  Look for a used one.   New, I
>> think they're around $20K or so, but used, I've seen some for a few
>> thousand. It comes with a shower.
>>
>> Capri Camper also has ones with showers.  These are lighter.
>>
>> Alaskan Camper has ones that pop up like the some westies.  So, the
>> profile of the truck is real low.
>>
>> Four Wheel Campers are pop up campers too.  These will fit on small
>> trucks like a Toyota Tacoma.  The amenities seem similar to a Westy.
>> No internal shower, but external shower is an option.   To me, this
>> is the most Westy-like option and I've considered putting this on the
>> back of a Toyota Tundra 4x4
>>
>> There's also Six Pac.
>>
>> Bottom line, if you go with a big used truck like a Ford F150 (best
>> selling vehicle in America), you can put a cabover camper on the back
>> that has more amenities than a Westy.  If you go for a Ford F350, you
>> can really be living posh.
>>
>> Note that I've never done this before.  I only own a Westy.  I've
>> never even used a cabover camper.  So, this is just speculate.
>>
>> I usually contemplate this most passionately when I come back from a
>> trip with my Westy and I had to tow the vehicle back or paid a ton of
>> cash for some hack job from an emergency road-side mechanic.
>>
>> Also, note that my next upgrade will probably be to a Subaru engine
>> and not to a cabover camper.  However, I would love for someone to
>> convince me to drop the Westy in favor of a cabover on a reliable 4x4
>> truck. Please convince me???
>>
>> Aloha,
>> Craig
>>
>>
>> Dyer Lytle wrote:
>>
>>> Aha, this is something I've been thinking about lately, in general
>>> terms.
>>>
>>> My story goes like this:
>>>
>>> 1.  Decided VW camper was the ideal road trip vehicle for me.
>>> 2.  Bought a very bad condition '72 with homemade interior.
>>> 3.  Rebuilt engine and transmission, discovered how much work this is.
>>> 4.  Bought a '73 Westfalia, went on some trips, too many things to fix.
>>> 5.  Fell in love with split window busses, this was counterproductive
>>>     to the road trip philosophy (see below).
>>> 6.  Bought a '66 standard microbus, basket case, rebuilt all
>>> mechanical,
>>>     paint, interior, etc.  (I'm painting the bumpers this weekend.)
>>> 7.  Went on a few trips in the '66.
>>> 8.  Discovered that road trip friends, mostly, require quieter ride,
>>>     air conditioning, and interstate speeds faster then 60 mph.
>>> 9.  Bought an '84 Wolfsberg Westfalia, good shape, broken head stud.
>>> 10. I am in the process of rebuilding the engine and fixing the air
>>>     conditioning now.
>>> 11. Continue to do road trips in my '87 jetta, good air
>>> conditioning, quiet,
>>>     75 MPH, 37 MPG.  But I have to use tents, sleep on ground,
>>> cooler, etc.
>>>
>>> So, I have been thinking about the optimal camping vehicle for 1 or
>>> 2 people.
>>>
>>> Requirements:
>>> 1.  fairly high cruising speed, at least 65-70
>>> 2.  fairly high ground clearance but also fits in my garage
>>> 3.  air conditioning
>>> 4.  significantly quieter than my '66
>>> 5.  ability to sleep in the back and open screened windows
>>> 6.  excellent gas mileage and clean emissions
>>>     (at least 30 mpg, low CO, low particulates)
>>> 7.  Inexpensive, or at least much less expensive than
>>>     new eurovan/winnebago, say 5-8 K dollers.
>>>
>>> Things that would be nice:
>>> 1. very low first gear
>>>
>>> Now, except for the gas mileage, the vanagon is ideal.  But the gas
>>> mileage is fairly important to me so I have considered:
>>>
>>> 1. Engine swaps for the westfalia (complex, expensive, unwanted side
>>> effects
>>>    like loss of ground clearance or engine intrusion above rear deck)
>>> 2. Light pickup truck with camper shell (too bare bones, no amenities,
>>>    bed barely long enough for sleeping)
>>> 3. Some kind of weird compact station wagon conversion,
>>>    ford focus wagen gets 35 mpg. (too much engineering and
>>> construction required)
>>>
>>> So, it still seems to me that 84-85 vanagon is best for me.  I would
>>> like
>>> a syncro Westfalia but they are too expensive and get worse gas
>>> mileage than 2WD.
>>> '84-'85 vanagon has high ground clearance and water boxer (quieter)
>>> engine.
>>>
>>> My '84 won't fit in my garage and the gas mileage won't be great but it
>>> fits the other requirements fairly well.  I will make an effort to
>>> build the
>>> 1.9 liter engine so that it will be as efficient as I can afford to
>>> make it
>>> (good balance, close tolerances, clear exhaust, synthetic oil after
>>> break
>>> in, etc.) and be happy with that until a better suggestion comes along.
>>>
>>>  -Dyer Lytle in Tucson
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Dustin wrote:
>>>
>>> > As much as I love my Vanagon, the mechanical and engineering flaws
>>> are well known.
>>> > I'm wondering what the thoughts of the volks out there as to what
>>> the ideal volkswagon
>>> > van would be like. Any thoughts?
>>
>>
>>