On Wed, 24 Jul 1996, Colin A Moran wrote:

> posted before on turbo or supercharging the 2.1, has anyone found any more
> info on this idea?  Forced induction seems to be a good answer for the lack

While I too would not mind a little more grunt outta the van (Mines 1.9) 
every once in a while, I fear that Turbo/supercharging may not be the 
best idea for these waterpumpers.  considering their common ailment of 
leaking combustion gasses from cyl into waterjacket via the head 
gaskets, i'd be very wary of the thought of increasing the pressures in 
the combustion chamber further than they already get...

I'd love a tranny with a slightly lower first and a fifth waiting for me 
when I get out onto the highway, this in my mind would be the way to go...

But speculation is merely that...  You take Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda in 
one hand, and 15 bucks in the other...  You still don't have enough for 
a bottle of blue goo.  Sorry, I tend to babble when I think about 
Vanagons with a 5 speed transaxle.

All I can say is...  Go for the ram effect air intake, I doubt you'll 
notice a difference, but if you do a nice job it'll certainly look 
cool/unique.  If it improves power then you really benefit.  I do, 
however, worry that turbo/super would just prove to be too much for 
these poor heads that the Flat 4 waterpumpers are stuck to.

Cheers,

SStones,  Toronto Ont. 
<sstones@io.org>