Matt,

Any answer you get to this question from the list is going to be nothing
more than opinion and speculation.  Regardless of how certain the responses
may seem, I truly doubt that anyone has the "inside" information from the VW
engineers.  Like other vehicles, our vans have green areas on the RPM gauges
and red areas, they're there for a reason.  The RPM shading is probably the
best info you'll get.

Cheers,

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
Of Matt Sutton
Sent: Saturday, October 09, 2004 9:27 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Safe 2.1/1.9 Rpm: survey/query

Ok Folks.
    I've  been listening and posting for a couple of years now, and still
consider myself a newbie. But recent posts have made me want to ask an over
arching question about driving the vanagon.
    What is the actual safety area in RPM's for engine longevity on the
Vanagon engine? Or, what did the engineers really intend? Or maybe a
hypothetical question is best- if you had designed the wasserboxer engine,
how would you treat it if you had to drive it?
    I drive an 88 G, 4-speed, usually pretty unloaded on short 15 mile runs.
Two-three times a year I'll do long runs, a month at a a time. Last one was
10k miles. On these long runs I'm usually just over 4K  on the tach,
(215/70/r14 tires).

    Just trying to judge what I can ask of my vehicle, really. Would love to
hear from all the rebuilding heavy hitters out there. Can't exclude Subies
and I4's, but I only have the engine I have, and am trying to make the most
of it.

 thanks,

Matt Sutton
88 GL
Brooklyn NY