TheSamba.com :: View topic - Vanagon has lack of power going up a hill

Mon Jan 24, 2011 4:28 pm

My Vanagon is a camper so it has a little more weight that the regular vanagon. The van had fuel injection originally. When I purchased the van it was switched over to a carburetor. I am thinking about switching back to fuel injection. The vanagon is getting terrible gas mileage as well. Please help...!!!!

Mon Jan 24, 2011 4:43 pm

What exactly do you need help with...you need to go find all the original parts for the injection first.

Mon Jan 24, 2011 4:51 pm

I just want to know if switching will change the sluggish acceleration up the hills. I know these vanagon are not built for speed but hill kill my vanagon... And the gas mileage seem to be getting pretty bad...

Mon Jan 24, 2011 6:05 pm

A little more info on the van! These vans come with 2.0 Air cooled, 1.9WBX, 2.1WBX, diesel, auto trans, std trans, 2WD, and 4WD(syncro).
Also sluggish may be hard to define - any of these in stock form could be considered sluggish. Heck the "power house" 2.1L is 90hp@4800 @117Ft-lbs @3200. My 9 year old Honda mini-van has 240-hp and 242-lb.-ft. of torque.

But, if you tell me you have an air cooled Westy, then I'll say "normal". :wink:
John
81 Westy (now sold)
86 Westfalia Weekender

Mon Jan 24, 2011 6:16 pm

i once had a lady with a walker pass me on a long uphill in Oregon! Oh yeah and the priceless expressions of the happy people stuck behind you as they pass saluting you! HA!

Mon Jan 24, 2011 7:10 pm

Agreed you need to give more information on what you have maybe someone swapped in a 1600 T1.

Mon Jan 24, 2011 7:12 pm

um...how long have you owned the van?
does it have an owners manual? It'll tell you how much hp your working with--I'm guessing you're in an AC and your running about 67 raw hp, assuming the engine is correct...with it having carbs you tell us..as for the carbs, dump them!

Mon Jan 24, 2011 9:04 pm

"Vanagon has lack of power going up a hill"...I expected a joke of some sort when I opened this thread. author must be new to Vanagons or hills

Mon Jan 24, 2011 9:09 pm

And the question is: Do a lot of Vanagons lack power going up hills? :)

Yes we need year model, engine type. :?:

Tue Jan 25, 2011 9:02 am

aswah wrote: i once had a lady with a walker pass me on a long uphill in Oregon! Oh yeah and the priceless expressions of the happy people stuck behind you as they pass saluting you! HA!

I love the Salutes I get in my Aircooled too. Everyone is sooo nice nice they keep telling me I am number 1 :lol:

Tue Jan 25, 2011 9:54 am

I have all parts to help you switch back to FI and I will credit you some $s if I can use the Carb setup.

Please post a picture of the engine compartment showing the setup you have.

pmail please.

dylan

Tue Jan 25, 2011 12:10 pm

METRO: hope you don't think we are "shooting you down", we are all laughing at ourselves at one time or another as you can see we've all been there, some will always be there.

We really do need more information about your engine, etc... so we can direct pertinent ideas to you. When you have a Vanagon, you have to be able to laugh, if you didn't already know that. We'll help. :P

Tue Jan 25, 2011 1:39 pm

I have a 1983 air cooled westy... I think it was either a 2.0 or 1.9 originally. I think it was replace with a 1.9 engine I am not sure. I had a 1976 air cooled west and it seemed like it had more power than my current 1983. The '76 westy did have fuel injection. I am just seeing if it is worth the time and effort to switch back to the fuel injection. Will it really increase the power and fuel economy....

Tue Jan 25, 2011 2:56 pm

fuel economy yes....power, prolly not....but thats all dependent on condition and tuning of things

Tue Jan 25, 2011 3:30 pm

Switch it back to FI. But, it sounds like your carb set-up may not be tuned correctly. I am not sure by how much lack of power you are describing. As we all know non of the original vanagons have a lot to begin with, but it should be able to keep up with a Bay.

Tue Jan 25, 2011 3:54 pm

Hey Metro I had a 72 Bus it was much faster than my Vanagon, especially if you have an Air cooled one. I think these Vanagons are much more heavier so they are slower than the ol Bays.

Tue Jan 25, 2011 5:58 pm

metroatlantacomputers wrote: My Vanagon is a camper so it has a little more weight that the regular vanagon. The van had fuel injection originally. When I purchased the van it was switched over to a carburetor. I am thinking about switching back to fuel injection. The vanagon is getting terrible gas mileage as well. Please help...!!!!

Is it a single progressive two barrel carb mounted in the center of the engine?

Tue Jan 25, 2011 8:36 pm

CQ, I beg to differ...I am not sure why the 72 is rated at a 78 mph top cruising speed but the 79 bay is the same as the vanagon at 74mph.. it may be because of smog equipment. The vanagon westy has a gross weight of 132 lbs more than the bay westy, but the later bays and vanagons have 15%+ more torque than the 72. Your 72 may have been a little faster on the flats but I don't think a 79 bay would be any faster than a vanagon. I have noticed quite a few bay folks complain about slow vehicles too.

Tue Jan 25, 2011 8:55 pm

My '74 bus with a progressive would, in its youth, easily out pull a WBXer up to 55-60 mph. I was really shocked when I started looking for a Vanagon as to what pigs they were. Sales people (dealer or used car lot) kept telling me how I would be impressed with the Vanagon's power after driving a Bay, but the opposite was what was true.

It's too bad it is so hard to do a good progressive installation, way beyond most people's willingness, interest, and abilities to do. The progressive can really make a T4 rock, but sadly few actually do.

Tue Jan 25, 2011 9:01 pm

Maybe it has to do with timing….I mean the timing of the vehicles metro is used to if he’s used to driving a newer car.

A couple years ago I read a story in Road and Track? where the author was finally getting the Ferrari 308 GTO he’s always wanted (1986-ish Magnum PI car).

The sentence I always remember goes something like this –

“The prices on driven 308s are now about the price of a new Toyota Camary. Between the two, I took the 308. Unfortunately, the performance between the two is about the same too.”

Then it goes on about the high repair costs, the lack of parts, and the spontaneous coolant dumps the 308s take when sitting in the driveway over the weekend.