Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 15:18:56 -0800
Reply-To: Stephen Overmyer <s.overmyer@UWS.EDU.AU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stephen Overmyer <s.overmyer@UWS.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: Oettinger WBX 6
In-Reply-To: <199902282212.JAA27619@ob1.uws.EDU.AU>
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At 02:15 PM 28/02/99 -0800, you wrote:
: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 23:10:29 +0100
>From: Michael Meier <michael.meier@KNUUT.DE>
>Subject: wbx 6, should I?
>This Bus is the rarest of the rare over here - I think there are not =
>more than 25 Dehler WBX 6 all over germany.
>Shall I enjoy it (with big risk) or shall I forget it?
>
Michael,
I happen to know some guys in the VW business who have the Oettinger
franchise in Sydney,Aus. and are the local Oettinger tune-up gurus,
although mainly these days for T4s,Golf,Passat & Polo.They have spent
time in Germany at VW factory training courses and also at Oettinger
training with the high performance tuning chip technology.They also
sold me my Transporter WBX new in '92. Anyway they happen to have
an Oettinger WBX 6cyl in a '90 Crew Cab.Originally it was in a camper
that caught fire (nothing to do with the engine) and they got it
for a steal from the wrecker for only $5000Aus who didn't really
know what he had,or what it was worth! It has since had a top-end
re-build as it was apparantly never set up right and used to ping
badly,mainly I believe because it was running too hot as the stock
cooling system didn't handle the 6cyl in Australian conditions.
Anyway,from talking to them about it (& while looking & lusting
over it) I understand the following to be things you may want to
consider before deciding what to do.
*At over 3 litres,they have excellent performance,but rather thirsty
& therefore costly to run.(yea I know, a 2.1l in a camper aint great
either but...)
*Unless you have an automatic transmission,they tend to destroy
manual WBX gearboxes as it isn't quite strong enough for the extra
power of the Oettinger.
*They still have problems with heads cracking.(I asked this as a bit
of a cynical joke but got a very serious "yes"reply)
*Parts are expensive-naturally! Replacement heads are around $2500 ea
in Australia.I can't say how that pans out in other places but they
don't sound like they'd be a bargain.
*They run hotter than a standard WBX.This of course is more of a
problem in Australia and additional cooling fans had to be installed
to compensate for the hot running.This obviously won't be such a
problem in Germany most of the time.
On the plus side the performance is excellent,especially with the
modified tuning chips available for them and you would be the envy
of a many a Transporter owner.
Good luck with your decision...
Steve O.
Blue Mountains NSW Aus.
'92 Transporter WBX
'76 Crew Cab
'68 Beetle Deluxe
