Date:         Tue, 2 Jan 2001 21:57:50 -1000
Reply-To:     Mick Kalber <hotlava@INTERPAC.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mick Kalber <hotlava@INTERPAC.NET>
Subject:      Daddeo is cruising!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Volks...
Since many of you have suffered through my long saga of viscous coupling
problems, grinding tranny noises and upgrades, I thought I'd give you a
final (I hope) report...  it took me a long time to complete all the upgrade
items, but the bus is finally up and running with the half Lilley in
place... pauter rolling rockers (1.4), Cromoly custom push rods, oversize
clip on valve covers, quad tip plugs, chip upgrade (had to get an 022D
ECU... thought I had it but didn't), k & n air filter, redline in tranny and
front diff, and a new viscous coupling from Derek Drew. Stainless steel
muffler from Stebro to go on Thursday.  Running synthetic oil for the past 6
thousand miles... have changed the oil filter once during that time and am
changing filter and oil later this week.
Part of our delay was fixing a strange grinding noise that sounded like it
was coming from the front diff, but ended up in the tranny. Inspection found
the pinion gear to be cracking, but not shattered, apparently causing the
noise. We suspect that it always made noise, but was more noticable once we
put the thinner redline synthetic in. At any rate, replaced the pinion (and
some other small related part) and put in a new clutch at the same time. One
or both of those fixes also took care of my shuddering problem in first and
reverse.  Thank you very much!  I know there will be further repairs, but
hope I have stemmed the tide for awhile.  She was getting me down for
awhile, but now I'm back in love!
Lotta bucks in the end, but the bus now runs perfectly (knock on wood!)...
much more power (hardly ever have to floor it anymore) and an increase of
two to three miles per gallon... up from 17 to nearly 20, and that with a
full load most of the time too.  Needless to say I'm very happy with the
results. Thanks to everyone for working with me on it. Thinking about adding
15 inch wheels... any thoughts pro or con?  My mechanic says don't, but most
of you seem to think it's a great idea.
Thanks again to everyone on the list.  Oh, our test run was a five day
camping trip to Kiholo in South Kohala on the Big Island for New Year's.
Syncro performed flawlessly on some serious 4WD terrain (sand/loose round
rocks/uneven lava rock).  Average temperature - 75 degrees.  Come visit, eh?
Happy New One!
Aloha!

Mick Kalber
89 Syncro Westy "Daddeo"
Tropical Visions Video, Inc.
62 Halaulani Place    Hilo, Hawaii  96720
ph. 808-935-5557    fax 808-935-0066
hotlava@interpac.net
www.volcanoscapes.com