Hi Scott,

The best thing going to preheat my Vanagon engine is my garage!  After 3
years in a cabin near Fairbanks, we bought a house last spring and the
Syncro loves the garage this winter.  We don't drive it so much any more,
as it has become our 3rd vehicle.  Still runs great, 105,000 miles.  I
haven't thought lately about how hard it was to drive my Van when it got
much below zero degrees F.  But it can be done!

Mine has a battery heater, an oil pan heater, and an in-line radiator hose
antifreeze heater, all 110V AC.

The oil pan heater looks like a VWAG product, stamped with the Audi symbol
and a VW part number that I'll try to get for you.  It mates well with the
fins and contours of the oil pan.  It's all aluminum, not a rubber pad like
the others I've installed on other cars.

The in-line heater must do the job that the freeze-plug insert heater does
on my Japanese cars.  It's on the passenger side of the block, and gets
mighty hot.

The van always started great as long as it had been plugged in, even down
to about -25 F.  Once, at the end of a 6 day ski tour, we had to start it
at -35 F (it had been -50 that morning).  We put the backpack stoves
beneath the oil pan, charged the battery with the help of a pipeline
service truck, and she did start.  It was 20 minutes or so before I could
release the clutch pedal without stalling, or move the shifter.  We had a
bad case of square tires that night!

What I never solved was the power steering loss at low temperatures.  Seems
like the pump and resevoir are next to the engine and could warm up, but
the rack is up front and stays stiff.  I pondered the idea of a 12V heater
on the reservoir or someplace up front, but never pursued it.  Or maybe the
belts don't do their job when it's so cold; they sure do squeal upon start
up.

Good luck with your van, happy new year, and keep in touch.  We'll be
passing through on the way to Kauai in a week or so; where's the best New
Year's Eve party?

Cheers,
Chris Wyatt
'87 Syncro GL
Fairbanks, Alaska