bad idea for a watercooled van....but i have seen spares mounted on the front 
of aircooled vanagons before.
anyway,  best option is a rear swing out carrier.. they are available.. not 
cheap, but they are available.

chris

In a message dated 3/5/06 3:08:22 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
regnsuzanne@YAHOO.COM writes:

> 
> 
> 
>   The other day I saw an old bus (60-70’s) with a spare tire mounted to the 
> front of the bus.  It got me wondering if any of our vendors ever tried to 
> fabricate a similar mount for the vanagon.  The obvious advantage over a rear 
> tire mount is to eliminate the need to swing the tire out of the way whenever 
> you wanted to get in the hatch.  Another advantage would be in weight and 
> balance…to balance the loss of the weight from the big spare tire that won’t 
> fit in the underside spare carrier, and also to balance weight from the heavier 
> conversion motors.  The obvious negative factor is blocking the wind stream 
> over the radiator, especially if there was a cover on the wheel.  Perhaps it 
> would work if the tire mount was integrated with an over-the-bumper brush 
> guard…something I’d like to have on my van anyway.  Maybe if it was mounted in 
> a brush guard, somewhat away from the grill, it would allow sufficient air 
> flow past the wheel to cool the radiator.  What does the list think?  Perhaps a
> good project for a skilled vendor like Gary Lee?
> Thanks, Anthony
> 
> '89 Syncro GL (Hidalgo)
>