On 4/3/06, John Connolly, Aircooled.Net <john@aircooled.net> wrote:
>
> we had a kit ready to go, but most Vanagon owners are tight @$$es and
> won't
> spend the coin to buy one (but they will ask you how they can adapt that
> $50
> junkyard turbo onto their vanagon).
>
> Most go the Subaru route instead.
>
> We are not going to market this kit after our experiences with this BTW.
> It's a shame, it worked wonderfully.

Well, it stands to reason. No "anything goes" motorhead is going to drop a
big wad of cash on a kit to just "turd polish" a stock wasserboxer when,
like you say, they could get the same result with better mileage and
reliability with a subaru or I4 engine. At the other end, an aftermarket
turbo kit holds no appeal to "purists" who generally won't accept anything
much beyond bigger valves, bigger pistons, longer stroke, and/or a
performance ECU. Vanagon owners aren't so much cheapskates as your product
occupies a "dead spot" between two distinct market segments. The reason the
only interest you got was from people wanting to know how to do it
themselves is because the product has no real commodity value. It's only "a
neat hack", as the computer guys say. Great if you can whip one up yourself
out of junkyard parts, but not worth paying much for.

--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"