I have one like what you are talking except mine (84 van) has a '92
Jetta/Rabbit  I.8liter digifant II gas motor in it.  It's gearing is just
right with the 5sp diesel tranny and standard stock tires.  With the 5sp,
it's not a problem keeping up with traffic, uphill or down..Well, with a
long steep mountain pass and a very stiff headwind I sometimes get down to
50mph, but only when fully loaded at over 5000' elevation.  The inline 4 VW
motor IS a high revving motor.  I backshift from 5th to 4th at about
60-65mph if I encounter a long climb over about 5%  and hold 65 in fourth
gear at a pretty high rpm.  I can get up to 75 in 4th before I start to
wonder, but I prefer to keep it comfortable at 65 on the
climbs.....Different than most Vanagons like to be driven...
  I know nothing about the CIS injection system but finding mechanic people
who know the inline VW gas motor?  Easy.  Probably the most numerous motor
in use, world wide.  I even found available parts in the town of Trona,
Ca..and a guy who had all the tools and knowledge to get me going after I
limped in there using a tire chain rubber band as a water pump belt. Trona
is a very small isolated desert town.
  With a diesel to gas vanagon conversion many of the systems remain
unchanged and they are all  VW.  A jetta, a rabbit, WBX, fox, even
Audi...they all share many parts in common.  You won't have a lot of
'special' electrics, reversed coolant manifolds, false engine codes or
wiring harness adaptations to deal with and neither will any VW shop who
works on it..  There aren't a bazillion different versions of the inline
four motor from VW..And there are plenty of inexpensive aftermarket parts
and great knowledge base available.  Cheap replacement motors, too.  Around
$300 for a good used long-block, last time I checked..
  The conversion (gas from diesel) is pretty common.  Pretty straight
forward..Not a lot of special skills needed.
  I've got about 40k miles into mine, bought it already done a few years ago
and I am still happy..Good gas mileage, too..23mpg over all for all those
miles..High tankfull mpg was 26.9...low was 20.3..Not a hot rod motor, by
any means, but  more power than most  WBX motors...and probably 3 times the
HP of the 1.6 diesel.
  Hope that helps
  Don Hanson

On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 8:36 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans <
scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:

> re
> "If this Westy has the original diesel Vanagon
> tyranny, you may find the gearing too high. (engine revs higher than
> needed. Especially at highway speeds) Something to consider.
>
> that would be high numerically, but commonly ......when it's revving it's
> guts out at 62 mph in top gear .......that's called 'under-geared.'
>
> too high gearing is when it hasn't got enough beans to pull a gear ,
> especially a top gear, properly.
> stock 82 DV trans is WAY undergeared of course.
> desperately so- the lowest geared US model car there is , this side of a
> 1949 International L110 pick up truck.  A joke really
>
> but .....the 1.8 inline four, being pretty oversquare ( bore larger than
> stroke is long ) loves revs.
> Like even if it still does have the DZ transaxle ......it might not mind
> too
> much.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "neil n" <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 8:00 PM
> Subject: Re: Diesel to Gasoline Conversion?
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 5:19 PM, Pat Sloan <pmsloan@shaw.ca> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi everyone,
>>>
>>> I'm a newbie with minimal auto mechanical experience, and would
>>> appreciate
>>> some help/opinions from you. The question is:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> If a 1982 Westy has been converted from diesel to gasoline (1.8L engine
>>> taken from a 1987 VW Jetta - the water cooled, fuel injected CIS engine)
>>> will that set up be easy or difficult for a mechanic to work on?
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>