Hi Neil

Agreed - VW used the diesel-I4 in the Vanagon. At the same time VW
had plenty of good gasoline I4 engines - using a lot of the same
parts as the diesel-i4 - so VW could in 1983 quite easily have
changed from boxer to gasoline I4 - but somewhere inside VW the
argumentation/businesscase for making the WBX is stored - and I think
that it would be an absolutely historic scoop to get the real story
about why VW decided to make the WBX, instead of changing to gasoline
I4 in 1983.

Happy driving

Jens Jakob
At 22:45 10-02-2009, neil N wrote:
>On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 12:46 PM, Jens Jakob Andersen <jayjay@zorck.dk> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >..... - on the day when they decided:
> > "Lets convert the CU to water-cooled - it will be real easy, done
> > quite fast, and a good stable conversion - instead of just using one
> > of our great inline.-4 engines"
> >
> > So my basic question to this list -      does anyone know about why
> > VW decided to create the WBX, instead of changing to inline-4 in 1983?
>
>
>Actually VW did make the Vanagon with an inline 4. The diesel.  :)
>
>And.....
>
>In South Africa, they put in 5 cylinders. This thread has a pic of one:
>
>http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=215380&highlight=south+african
>
>Check out this SA autotrader link
>
>http://www.autotrader.co.za/
>
>I got lots of hits under "microbus". Maybe some listings have pics of
>engine bay.
>
>Neil.