[Vwdiesel] Air cooled gas VW's versus Diesel VW's

[Nate Wall]

I've had about 10 aircooled VWs in my younger days, so
here's my take. Oddly, I do not remember lack of heat
being too much of an issue, but then again I had an
accident in a '68 Squareback because the front
windshield was frosted over. I did leave a thick
plastic ice scraper in the rear footwell in that
Squareback and the heat was on and it just melted the
ice scraper into an unrecognizeable blob. Less heat
volume, but its much hotter.

Maintenance was more intense on the aircooleds. Axle
beam Grease fittings, 3000 mile oil changes and filter
screen washings, frequent valve adjustments (10,000
miles?), heads needed valve work at about 75,000
miles, and yes, some special tools were needed. But
the engines were easy to get out and rebuild.

Safety was a big negative (read the book Small on
Safety by Ralph Nader) with oversteer problems and
lack of engine up front, but the gas tank and fuse
block is right up there above your feet. But luckily,
I never got in any serious accidents in any of them.

Another big gripe I had was a propensity to rust out.
All of my aircooled were old and rusty. I screwed a
washing machine lid in the floor of one of them. Lift
up the floor mat and you could read, "Instructions on
how to use this machine"

Also, economy was about 28 - 30 MPG.

I'd take the VW diesel any day over an aircooled VW.
(Odd though, I've been keeping my eye out for a 50s VW
though!) I had a '56 bone stock ragtop Bug that I miss
quite a bit.

--Nate
--- Hayden Chasteen <dieseltdi at earthlink.net> wrote:
> I personally think, coming from a long history of
> air cooled VWs and finally
> into water cooled and especially diesels, that they
> are very different (yeah
> I know a deep statement) but what I mean is that
> although the aircooled were
> VERY easy to work on and fix, I was ALWAYS fixing
> something or retightening
> something or adjusting something. Plus you got no
> heat in the winter,
> except,oddly enough, right at the vents where I used
> to heat cans of beanie
> weanies, they are to small to effectively run an AC
> (an absolute necessary
> thing here in Texas) and horribly underpowered. ON
> the other hand the parts
> were cheap, they were easy to hot rod and basically
> bullet proof if you
> could get the cooling right.  The Diesels have more
> power (marginal yes but
> more power and torque), I can have real heat and
> real AC.  They have their
> problems (head gaskets) but if you keep them timed
> properly, run clean fuel
> and replace the timing belts, they can be much more
> reliable that the
> aircooled.  JMTCW  Hayden
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <Libbybapa at wmconnect.com>
> To: <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2004 2:39 PM
> Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] Air cooled gas VW's versus
> Diesel VW's
> 
> 
> > Just thought I'd raise a little trouble.  Anyone
> care to post their
> opinions?
> >  Which is better and why, aircooled gas or diesel?
>  Probably not an
> unbiased
> > group, but what the heck, just thought I'd ask?
> > Andrew
> > P.S. Try to keep it objective/civil.
> > _______________________________________________
> > Vwdiesel mailing list
> > Vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> > http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel
> 
> _______________________________________________
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