Vanagon EuroVan
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Date:         Wed, 16 Aug 2000 16:26:48 -0400
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From:         =?UTF-8?B?Q2FycmluZ3RvbiwgVG9t?= <TCarrington@ReliTech.com>
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Please reply to Zoran, not me!

-----Original Message----- From: Mladen, Zoran [mailto:zmladen@solant.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 16, 2000 9:43 AM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: RE: Article about the ECU Chip upgrade from Vintage Vee Dub

According to this article, the fix was made specifically for Australian vehicles. What is so unusual about them or the climate, and why is this fix acceptable for US Vanagons?

Z

-----Original Message----- From: Robert Lilley [mailto:Wolfvan88@aol.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 16, 2000 4:35 AM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Article about the ECU Chip upgrade from Vintage Vee Dub

Here is the article from an Australian mag about the ECU chip from Vintage Vee Dub.

Robert

<< From Australian Volkswagen Magazine Issue No2 Express Publications February 1999 A Wasserboxer Adventure By Chris Bellamy and Richard Holzl In the beginning, the water cooled flat four T3 Vanagon seemed a comfortable continuation of the all successful Kombi the vehicle that changed the face of practical transport worldwide. A huge following resulted and many other manufactures joined the people mover revolution. Those of us that moved up from the air cooled to the water cooled Vanagon fell in love all over again with Volkswagen’s all improved bus. Did I say all improved. After coming to appreciate more space, more power, more room and better handling, some strange things began to happen. Corroded cylinder head studs and cutting power after a few hours of operation in expressway conditions. Many things were thought to have caused these problems, they appeared at random and struck the population of Vanagon sporadically. Coolant type (tap or distilled water) and running too lean under load were blamed and Volkswagen provided and impedance transformer at the usual price to correct the disturbed signal from the air

flow meter to the computer. With that fixed, there was still a need to address the lean out under load and to quicken the response from the full throttle switch for emergencies. Given that the engine accepted type 1 rockers, some Gene Berg 1.4:1 ratio rockers were fitted to increase air volume. A dyno run was then made with and without rockers. This produced a much bigger increase than expected, buy the air flow meter overreacted and a too rich condition resulted. Thanks to Mark at Yagoona Automotive, a probe into the computer allowed a custom chip to be produced in order to correct the mixture throughout the rev range. Numerous dyno runs were made to identify the sweet and sour spots resulting from ups and downs in the flow rate of the inlet manifolding and possibly the exhaust. Merely increasing the richness across the board wasn’t going to be efficient. The final results were well beyond expectation 49 per cent increase at the wheels with, as the following text shows, an increase in economy. Combined with the correct coolant in the correct ratio mixed with distilled or purified water, the Vanagon engine has a chance for nine lives. Richard Holzl Just back from a summer holiday in Deutschland back in spring 97, I chanced across a low mileage white T3 transporter Campervan advertised for sale locally. With many happy memories of long summer evenings in camping grounds, sitting with Wasserboxer campervan owners sharing a glass or two of delicious dry white wine, I soon found myself the proud owner of an Aussie Wasserboxer campervan. The vehicle in question is a white 1992 T3 transporter with a rear mounted 2109cc fuel injected part water, part air cooled motor and a five speed manual gearbox. It was built in Hannover in May of that year. It was in fact one of the last T3s sold in Australia, with the T4 series having been launched here in 1993. Whilst a big seller in Deutschland, adverse exchange rates for the DM against the Aussie dollar meant that’s T3s were an infrequent sight on our roads compared to the ubiquitous 1980s Japanese vans or the more popular T4 series. Compared to the old Kombis or T2s, the T3s were higher and wider in size and much quieter in operation. Weight is evenly distributed in the T3 with the fuel tank amidships, the radiator up front and the engine in the rear. They offer good ground clearance and a first gear that is excellent for crossing creeks or crawling over rough ground. My T3 started life as an ordinary van, so it has no leather seats, carpets or mod cons in the flight deck like the Carat, a common up market T3 in Deutschland but very rare in Australia. The original owners of the T2 traveled around Aus and after 3 years, they had it converted into a campervan in Sydney. It was then sold and, after languishing in a garage or two in the hands of two other uninterested owner, I became owner number four. Never having owned a van before, I found driving a forward control van for the first time was a great adventure. I do confess to having previously owned several beetles and a Type 3 wagon, which could have been factors in my purchasing another VW. A pre purchase inspection by Quedub in Queanbeyan concluded that it was in top shape apart from showing early signs of the dreaded Wasserboxer head gasket problem which I had fixed before any major damaged occurred. An auto electrician then checked out some of the odd wiring that other owners had introduce, to avoid any nasty shocks when the VW was plugged in at the first caravan park, along with giving the headlights a boost and an alignment so it could be driven after dark. A unique challenge with manual T3s is the gear stick. It comes nicely shaped for the left hand drive, with first gear well placed for the average right handed driver sitting on the left side of the van. By getting vic at Quedub to modify its shape and Mike at Hellbug in Sydney to fit a gene Berg quick shift, I was ultimately able to avoid continually grazing my knuckles on the radio controls during quick changes into second. Lubricating all the linkages means that I

can now regularly find first at most traffic lights. Being a campervan, a long range water tank needed to be fitted. This was done by Safari campers in Yenora who did the original conversion. The campervan comes with a fridge, stove, cupboards, running water, a queen sized bed for two downstairs and a bunk space for two kids upstairs in the pop up roof. Being

the Spartan model, however, it does not run to a microwave. With all this gear on board and the roof covered with kayaks, the seats with passengers and their

gear in the back, I soon discovered that out on the open road, everything slowed

to a crawl while petrol consumption with such loads shot way up. As for the rude

signs from other drivers…. Faced with this quandary and having fitted an Australian reusable “Finer Filter” and with the motor tuned as best as it could be, I eventually lashed out and had Boris at vintage Vee Dub Supplies fir their Wasserboxer engine mod in March

97. This was after having seen, in late 96 edition of a previous VW magazine, an advertisement for the Wasserboxer engine mod and after having approached Boris at Vintage with a degree of incredulity. To me, the prospect of nearly 50 per cent increase in engine power at full revs, reduced fuel consumption and the possibility of longer engine life seemed an impossible dream. The vintage Vee Dub engine mod basically involves fitting a new computer chip more attuned to Australian driving conditions, along with Gene Berg rockers

and push rod. After out laying nearly $2000.00, I found the difference in on road performance amazing. The water cooled heads defiantly ran cooler. I know his because the air conditioning condenser which sits crammed in front of the radiator between the double headlights, now works much better, such that both the motor and the driver run much cooler. I have also found rolling along the Hume highway, the van was no longer being run over by B-Doubles and that it could keep up with Commodores. Fuel economy was much improved running on premium unleaded it has managed 31 mpg on the flat open road while cruising at around 60 mph. Around Canberra, fuel economy improved by about 15 per cent and now it regularly gets 22 mpg on either kind of unleaded fuel. On trips into the Riverina the T3 will happily cruise all day at speeds well over the highway limit and it still gets 22 mpg good for a vehicle weighing over 1.5 tonnes and with the aerodynamics of a Mack truck. On the flat, it now starts in second gear as well, so the need for constant gear changing is now a thing of the past. This in turn should

extend the life of what is a very expensive gearbox that must be treated with care. With all the extra speed, I then found myself requiring more work to be done on the suspension. It now boasts KYB Off road gas shockers at the rear with regular KYB gas shockers on the front. With some damaged front end parts also replaced and a front end alignment, the campervan (with its 300 to 500 kg payload on board and relative high center of gravity) now handles much more like the adverts said it would when it was new. In the bush, the T3 is like the Hilton on wheels, while on the open road, one gets very used to happily rolling along with an endless supply of cold drinks coming forth from those sitting in business class next to the fridge. Around town, its different the lack of power steering means that parking it

at Woollies is not much fun. So in mid 97 I acquired a low mileage 1970 Beetle

from the Riverina to use as a town car. I find the Beetle is simplicity itself by comparison with no computers or microwaves to worry about, but one things for certain I do miss that fridge. Chris Bellamy >>


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