Well Put, Mike.

I drove my 1965 Bus for a year in Phoenix and
never had a problem- that engine was still going
strong when I sold it with 80,000 on the engine.

Then 8 years later I bought a 1964 Bus, and in
the next 5 years I went thru 3 brand new engines-
in the Pacific Northwest.

After that I got my 82 Diesel Westfalia with a
engine compartment fire, and replaced the burnt
ruined Diesel with a 91 Jetta(now a 2.0 Golf)
engine.

Now my inline four is pushing a 5,000 lb camper
and it has 198,000 engine miles on it. Sure, it's
burning a qt of oil every 1,000- but that only
costs $1.69 at NAPA or Wal-Mart.

That I got 6 full years on a Volkswagen engine is
a record for me. In all of my 15 aircooled years
I only had one new engine make the 80,000 mile
mark.
All the others failed at 60,000, 40,000, and
20,000.

I think the main problem with aircooleds is
global warming. No really, it's probably the
octane . They ran good on the old 100 octane.

Robert

1982 Westfalia

--- Mike Rouby <mikerouby@YAHOO.COM> wrote:

>     Ironic then, that I live in Dallas, Texas
> and work across the street from Doug at
> Qualitat in Dallas (a business serving
> aircooled VWs since 1960s).  Apparently, he
> thinks your assessment that air cooled engines
> last 90k miles is quite, shall I say,
> remarkable.
>
>   Also, I took my wife to Egypt to see the
> pyramids last year and I could not believe how
> many VW buses are around bringing tourists to
> the sites.  Am I supposed to believe that their
> engines last 90k miles too??  I wonder who does
> their rebuilds??
>
>   Maybe Phoenix is the bermuda triangle for
> aircooled engines, but apparently they do seem
> to last hot climates just fine.  Case in point
> - My Westy originated in Albq, New Mexico.
> 1982 and still on it's original engine.
>
>   Good to see you like the square-headlights
> (they are more modern), but many people seem to
> convert to round headlights than the other way
> around it seems.
>
>   The reality is the waterboxer is less
> reliable than the aircooled motor.  Hence the
> decision of many to swap engines (eg Subaru,
> Tiilco, Nissan, Zetec, etc), than to rebuild
> that failed design.
>
>
>   I've been driving them around Phoenix for 30
> years, starting with a '68,
> then a '78, now an '86 converted to a Tiico
> (195K on the 2.1L WBX). A
> good friend of mine was in the VW business here
> (All Bug) for decades,
> and I can't tell you how many air cooled bugs
> and buses he saw come here
> from NY or NJ, or the midwest, with 200K on
> them. 95% of them died the
> first summer here. 90K on an upright motor in a
> bus *here* is about all
> that can be expected (with case savers, sodium
> filled valves, external
> oil cooler, etc.). 90K on a 2.0L AC Westy, with
> the square exhaust port
> heads, is pretty remarkable here, though the
> same motor could go 200K
> in less harsh climates (e.g. like where GoWesty
> is located). Stop and
> go traffic in 115�F weather just kills the air
> cooled motors. And with
> A/C....
>
> As far as the diesels go, I'll never cease to
> be amazed that VW was too
> dumb to put in a 1.8L Gas motor in the Diesel
> configuration (or a TDI)
> instead of redesigning a bug motor with kludgy
> seals and jackets and
> hoses. Having pedaled a '68 with a 1641cc
> through the Colorado Rockies,
> Sloooooooowly, a diesel with roughly the same
> HP is not my dream either.
>
> And for headlights, IMO the square lights are
> much better looking, but
> much less illuminating. So, take your choice.
>
> Keith Hughes
> '86 Westy Tiico
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Stay in the know. Pulse on the new Yahoo.com.
> Check it out.
>

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