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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