Its a aircooled thing - isn't it ?

Apart from the conversion cost, won't fitting a diesel devalue your van as well?

 

Interesting thread, i know what you mean about fuel costs but i dont think i could ever bring myself to convert to watercooled diesel or petrol, as i'm sure has been said many times if you want a watercooled camper get T5.

 

I just have a very efficient diesel car that I use most of the tiime. It avereages out ok.

 

Yes it will certainly devalue your van to others - to you it may enhance it's value.

 

On the issue of conversions - if you're doing it purely for the cost saving in petrol: don't. That's my advice. If I were to think about how far I'd have to drive to recoup the cost of the conversion, I probably wouldn't have done it. For me it was a wide range of things, including (but not only) the power, the reliability, the fuel economy, the range, the possible midlife crisis , the fact of not driving an engine at the very top of it's capability for hundreds of miles at a time........

It's possible I've devalued my van. I accept that. Holes have been cut in the chassis rails and strengthening plates added where the radiator is to be mounted. However I view my van as a keeper. So to me it makes no odds.

I've also thought about the whole romance of the aircooled thing. It never fails to bring a smile to my face when I've been driving along on a sunny day, with the window down, in a built up area at around 40ish listening to the chuga-chuga sound bouncing off the buildings of a happy little aircooled engine chattering along as it pushes my van down the road. But I've also had the miserable bits too, like conking out in a monsoon while trying to get the hell out of Cornwall because of weather in the summer that's the pits.

And that's why I chose what I did: I wanted to go scooby because the engine is the same configuration - and although somewhat muted because of the water-jacket and the belt-driven cam (as opposed to pushrods), it still makes a similar noise. But I'd also like to go places, (mainly places with nicer weather than the UK actually) and I'd like my van to take me there. If I wanted to stand and admire it, then I could save myself the cost of ownership and go and look at other people's at shows. And I know that hundreds of people have taken aircooled VWs round Europe, and will continue to do so, but that's just my choice.

Just my tuppence worth, in case anyone was interested............

 

If you were to go down the diesel conversion route, then really you need to think about upgrading to a 5 speed box too... otherwise you still only get a max of 35mpg...

That extra gear will drop your cruising revs which are more suitable for diesels!!

 

Nah, T25 box won't swap over... the shifter is actually on the side of the box, and not on the side of the nosecone...

Not only that, the 5 speed T25 boxes are essentially the same gearing as the 4 speed 2l box in the bay, just with a low 1st...

 

NO do not even think about it if you want a diesel camper buy a T4 or a T25 or a transit


Think, what do you like about a Bay and what gives it its soul and a big part of this is the engine.




This is just me

 

I'm going down the scooby route with my van, for the mostly same reasons as baybirmingham

I'll be doing the conversion myself with the help of the boys at Fellows in Brum, currently driving around in the doner scooby so i know the engine is good

Can see both sides to the original verus non-original arguments, but each to there own at the end of the day

 

The Subaru sounds like an aircooled engine. It sounds a lot like the 3.2 aircooled you'd find in the back of a mid-80s Porsche 911. It's a flat-four and has the thud to match. And, it goes like stink too (my 2.5 churns out 200bhp and the bus sits at stock height and looks bog-standard from the outside, excepting the Fuchs alloys). I've had many a grin. Cruising at 80mph is a breeze. Accelleration from 70 to 100 is just awesome, as it is in 3rd gear when you floor it from about 40mph. And you can tootle (or is that pootle) around as if you've got a bog-standard VW engine too (I like to do that, and save flooring it till the time's right). I love the moments when you're in a long queue of traffic doing about 40mph. Then, when you hit a long straight, all the motorbikes and quick cars blast past the slow vehciles and caravans. My bus is always there amongst the big boys. Flat out sometimes - because I just can't resist it. And you should see the look on their faces! It's such a hoot! It works absolutely fine on stock shocks and servo-assisted brakes. Yes, some may know that I've had some problems with the engine recently. But it seems this was probably down to a failed oil pump. That could have happened to anyone in any vehcile I guess. She'll be back on the road this week.