I can't agree more, my AC vanagon is a great vehicle and has been performing
flawlessly over a lot of miles in a wide variety of conditions.  It gets
better care than most but the longer I drive it the less inclined I am to
worry with converting to a more modern engine.  Good cooling and careful
monitoring keep the AC engines very happy.

Jonathan Poole

On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 2:01 PM, Doug Alcock <doug.alcock@gmail.com> wrote:

> I know a 30 year VW dealer mechanic who has a flawless 82 Westy (and
> of course it is flawless). He argues that the air-cooled engine at
> that stage had been refined over 25 odd years and if your kept it
> right it was state of the art. Keep the tin good and you're golden.
> Adding water cooling to this engine in the middle of 1983 was, at
> best, a bandaid solution that has caused the head/coolant leaking
> problem. that we are all familiar with. Not too mention those
> incredibly long and hard to bleed hoses that go from front to back of
> a 14 foot van. I have heard that VW added water cooling to the
> horizontally opposed air-cooled engine because they couldn't make
> enough I4 engines to put in them -- and that the I4 engine was what
> the van was designed for. I have an I4 conversion (1.8 from a Jetta)
> in my 84 Westy and love it. I had a 78 with an air-cooled 2 Litre FI
> engine and loved it -- lots of power -- reliable etc. I don't think
> air-cooled is a mistake --- but be really serious about the engine tin
> --- that is what keeps it cool. Don't ask why I know this :-)
>
> Cheers,
> Doug
>
> On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 1:33 PM, Jonathan Poole <jfpoolio@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I haven't been keeping up with this thread,, not enough time to read much
> of
> > the list unfortunately.  Anyway, I did see Ben's statement on how buying
> an
> > '82 was a mistake and just in case this anti air-cooled perspective is
> all
> > that you are hearing I wanted to shed a bit of light from the other side.
> >
> > Ben knows these beasts better than most of us and he may have good reason
> > for dissing the early vanagons but in my experience an '82 isn't really
> much
> > different than any other year vanagon.  It is a bit older but that
> doesn't
> > matter too much now.  How it was taken care of is what matters at this
> > point.  The biggest difference is obviously in the cooling of the engine.
> > Both engines have their problems and both their strengths.  Either, if
> > properly setup and maintained provide good service for a long time.
> > Performance from both is very comparable when you are comparing examples
> of
> > them that are in good repair.  So, did you screw up buying an '82??  Not
> in
> > my opinion.  It was only a mistake if you paid too much for a really beat
> up
> > and run down van, but in the end most can be fixed if you are up for it
> so
> > do what you want.
> >
> > Anyway, I love my air cooled vanagon.  I drive it all over at respectable
> > speeds, getting good mileage etc. etc.  It is pretty simple to keep up
> with
> > and I never have to worry about leaking antifreeze!  My heat isn't as
> good,
> > but it is still more than adequate.  I have melted stuff that was
> > accidentally left in front of the heater outlet,, so it will get hot..  I
> > also like some features of the early westies better as they have a little
> > less plastic and such.  Again, in most ways there aren't many real
> > differences in my experience.  A lot of the bad experiences folks may
> have
> > had with early vanagons are probably the result of vans that were in poor
> > repair.
> >
> > Good luck getting her sorted out,
> >
> > Jonathan Poole
> > '83 AC Westy
> >
>
>
>
> --
> http://www.dougalcock.com
>