On Thu, 14 Oct 1999, Michael Avrea wrote:

> Hi Jason,
>     I'm curious if you have an original turbo diesel Vanagon or if you
> switched from a standard diesel to a turbo. I also have an 82 which is a
> standard 1.6. Although it runs fine I often wonder how improved the
> performance would be if I went to a 1.6TD like you have. Also good luck on
<snip>

My van was an 82 Vanagon 'Window Van' with a 1.6D. (I believe that's a
cargo van,  since there were no rear seats, and the mounting holes all had
plastic plugs in them!)  I changed it over to a TD motor this summer.  I
having been trying to get a website with some good pictures together, but
just haven't had time.  There is some very crude descriptions of my
conversion on my web site though.

I never drove the van with the 1.6 NA motor, because it was blown when
I got the van, so I can't comment on the improvement.  I can say that I
couldn't image tollorating the van with the NA motor.  The van has pretty
good power now, I just need to change the transmission.  The gearing is
way too low.   Or if anyone has a 4.83 or 4.83 final laying, I could just
swap the gears myself.

The conversion was fairly straigtforward, with just a lot of 'little
problems'.  I rebuilt the engine myself, and it runs really good. (200k)
I highly recommend the TD conversion for anyone with a NA van.  If I had
more money, I would have gone with the 1.9TD or TDI motor.  Maybe when
this motor dies (shouldn't be for awhile!) I will use a TDI motor.

Jason