Has anyone here ever done a WRX or TDI (two most common) engine swap in a VW Vanagon Westfalia camper? Or gotten to drive/ride in one? It looks like a vehicle that could solve a lot of problems for me, but the stock Vanagon Westfalia will never cut it at my altitude or on our mountains here.

I'm wondering if the swaps give enough power to be useful for me. Ballpark 0 to 60 times, hp and torque numbers? I've checked out a raft of VW vanagon sites, but nothing really concrete about performance (in all fairness, that vehicle isn't really about performance). I'm just wondering if two people and their stuff can go over, say, Vail Pass at 5 or 10 over the limit. I'm kind of tired of being in the far right lane with the semis in my Toy(ota) pickup, and while my Z will fix that problem it's not exactly a practical vehicle for camping/biking trips around here.

thanks for any insights,
Dave

 

You need to have a talk with tony D on zcar. He could probably give you a direction to go.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot he used to be a VW guy. I mostly just want to know if the conversions give reasonable power, or if the best that can be said is "Well, they're better than the stock 0 to 60 of 18.3 seconds...".
Hey, I finally caved in and turned on PM's.
thanks for the reminder,
Dave