Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 00:24:25 -0400
Reply-To: Jim Akiba <syncrolist@BOSTIG.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Akiba <syncrolist@BOSTIG.COM>
Subject: Re: Can engine and transmission be swapped?
In-Reply-To: <0K1500KLC9UL5H51@vms044.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
The problem with the setup is it's so heavy... fitment problems aside,
why would you want to add 500+ lbs to the rear of the van? It would
destroy part of what makes a vanagon so great to begin with, light
weight. Americans tend to forget that, as to most m'ericans it isn't a
"feature" as much as a "point of wimpiness" for a vehicle to be
lightweight and they also translate it directly to safety at times
viewing the relationship as a direct proportion, which it certainly is
not. The guy that weighs 400 lbs is going to have larger leg muscles
if he does the same amount of walking as the guy that weighs 200.. but
it's not worth it since big muscles shouldn't be the only goal, and
certainly not at all costs. Same with engine conversions. More people
than not get hung up on one or two aspects and forget everything else
in the equation, that's fine depending on their own goals and
priorities, but is usually not prudent under more general
consideration. As an aside, most of the W bodies with that powertrain
will weigh about the same as lot's of 2wd westys we've weighed
here(3800-4000 lbs)... the heaviest we've weighed being a fully loaded
syncro westy that was just shy of 6k lbs. My 9 passenger bare bones
van only weighed 3400 lbs.
We have started looking to put the focus powertrain in the older
buses, and it might even work in the vanagon but we'd have to
completely modify the rear suspension, and add an access hatch under
the rear bench... the upside is that the old engine bay could become a
huge trunk... which would be cool. It might be a good possibility for
lot's of 2wd folks, and would be fully CA legal. Imagine a 4 speed
auto, or a 5 or 6 speed manual... the parts to pull it off might be
quite inexpensive too, needing far less engineered parts to pull of,
so on top of a donor car, you might only have to drop $1000 on the
custom parts, meaning you could do it for under $2k realistically. But
it's a bit of a ways off, as we're saturated in delivering the new
revision of the conversion and website. Can be done. We'll be working
on the buses first though.
Jim Akiba
On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 10:06 PM, pdooley <psdooley@verizon.net> wrote:
> Trying to make the Buick transaxle run backwards would be difficult at best.
>
> Much better would be to mount the transverse motor/trans combo the same way
> as in the Buick, but driving the rear axle in the Vanagon.
> This would put the engine slightly ahead of the rear axle centerline, which
> would improve weight distribution.
> You may need to clearance some sheet metal:)
>
> Don't even bother with the Buick sub frame, fabricate a cradle to attach to
> the van frame rails and motor/trans mounts and make custom drive shafts with
> VW outer splines and Buick inners.
>
> The Westy might weigh more than a Buick but the Buick transmission is built
> to stand up to a lot more torque from the 3800 motor as compared to the VW
> transmission.
> I would certainly feel better about longevity with the Buick tranny backing
> the Buick motor compared to the 091.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Greg Potts
> Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 11:48 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Can engine and transmission be swapped?
>
> Hi Gerry,
>
> That would be an interesting idea... I think the secret of that Buick's
> gas milage was in the transmission, not the powerplant.
>
> But... The buick doesn't way anything close to an unloaded westy. I
> doubt that the transmission would hold up for long, even if you did find
> a way to make it fit.
>
> Also, in the buick the engine is in front of the transmission. If you
> spin it around to install it in a vanagon you are going to end up with
> one fairly slow forward speed and three choices for reverse. So I guess
> you will have to plan to have the transmission modified to spin the
> other way.
>
> BTW, the corvair engine/tranny swap for aircooled buses puts adapter
> rings on the transmission that the original bus CV's bolt up to. No
> special axle fabrication is required.
>
>
> Gerry Lepage wrote:
>> There was talk on the list of converting to a buick 3.8. Kep makes the
> adapter. Someone had mentioned the possibility of swapping out both engine
> and transmission and getting custom axles built with buick at one end?and VW
> at the other. Has anyone actually done this? How about any other conversion
> using both the engine and transmission? I know that VW makes a good
> transaxle but geared too low to keep a bigger engine at proper RPMs. I also
> know that a taller 3rd & 4th could be installed to fix problem but a lot
> could be said in keeping both engine and transmission mated. I've searched
> quite a while on the Internet and haven't found anyone who's done it. Can
> anyone point me in the right direction if this is possible.
>>
>
> --
> Happy Trails,
>
> Greg Potts
> 1973/74/79 Westfakia "Bob the Tomato"
> 1987 Wolfsburg Weekender Hardtop
> www.busesofthecorn.com
> www.pottsfamily.ca
>
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