

| Subject: | Re: In praise of aircooled vanagons |
| From: | Robert Keezer |
| Date: | Wed, 4 Apr 2007 00:26:26 -0700 |
"I'm not sure of any particular problem specific to airheads except the overheat problem which is operator-controlled." I think the other word for it is "denial". Heat is the main culprit with aircooleds but to believe it's solely operator controlled is misleading. Air-cooled engines in Busses and Vanagons are usually short lived. When octane was lowered the air-cooled was doomed. They are from an era that had higher octane, leaded fuel, and when the average car was owned only a few years. Simplicity? So were 8-track players. Puddlers? Waterboxers, glorified flat -four engines. They last longer because they run cooler. Heat is the enemy of motor oil. Savor this moment of momentary air-cooled bliss. As I remember on a plane flight long ago, the mayday was sent after the radial engine swallowed a valve, billowing black smoke. The pilot had spoken to the co-pilot minutes before'Amazing how well it runs for not having had an overhaul in 25 years". Capture the moment . --- Nathaniel Poole <myth.wright@GMAIL.COM> wrote: > I know the list is mostly populated by > piddlers, and so not an even > sample, but I have seen repetitive posts on > similar issues with the > puddle engines. I'm not sure of any particular > problem specific to > airheads except the overheat problem which is > operator-controlled. > Earlier ones really seemed to have a problem > with the twin carb setup, > but VW had a very good engine worked out by the > late 70s - just to > drop it under market forces. It's a shame > really. After driving all > those miles (a lot on the interstate), I don't > see the horsepower > problem as a problem at all. I would buy a new > one tomorrow. It is > such a simple engine, like a motorcycle but > bigger. Of course it would > never pass muster in the smog department. > > Nathaniel > > On 4/3/07, Benny boy <huotb@videotron.ca> > wrote: > > Aircooled van/bus are strong runner! if kept > cool and clean, they are GREAT, > > sometime better than the wasser. > > > > Cheers, Ben > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ No need to miss a message. Get email on-the-go with Yahoo! Mail for Mobile. Get started. http://mobile.yahoo.com/mail
Have something to add on this topic today? Revive this thread in the forum »