Date:         Sat, 5 May 2001 17:12:57 -0700
Reply-To:     radish150 <radish150@earthlink.net>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         radish150 <radish150@earthlink.net>
Subject:      Oil pressure report
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854";
              x-mac-creator="4D4F5353"

I got my engine torn down after nearly dumping it in an irrigation ditch because of LAME oil pressure problem. Were talking somewhere in the neighborhood of 150K, this is the run down.

Rod bearings, minimal wear (replace).
Main bearings, some copper showing, but none were toasted (replace).
Barrels and pistons, nearly perfect (hone and replace rings).
Replaced oil pump and cover with oem.
Cam and crank mic'd perfect.
Cam bearings TOAST! Some had that crappy chrome looking stuff flaking off in big chunks leaving huge pits to bleed off oil valuable oil pressure.
Heads were replaced in not too distant past, look great.

Total cost so far, about 400$.

Ken Wilford, you kick butt. When I called he went and looked for my parts while I waited, knew exactly what I needed, HAD everything I needed- including main bearings (at very competitive prices) and he then feverishly packed the parts while UPS
was in the shop tapping thier fingers waiting. When I got the box the next day, the gaskets were not bent, and everything that I ordered was in the box.

Asset to the ebay comunity!  A+++++++.  Wait, you know what I mean.

Ok, nuther little question for the smart folks out there. This rig has been running very well, but there are a couple of little things that I'm curious about. Anyone know what causes a slight surging at idle speeds? If the idle is low enough it
won't do this, but if you raise it up it will surge lightly at very low rpm.

Other nuther little question. The last few times I started this thing it seemed to "load up" a bit for a minute or two before it cleared up and ran smooth. Was really nothing but a very minor inconvenience really, but last time I tried to start it
it was plainly flooded out (smelled gas). Took sitting a few minutes to start again. ???  ??? One thing I'm wondering about is this when I got this thing the computer was bad and it dumped quite a bit of raw gas out the exhaust system, but only for
a very short time. Basicaly the puter died, the bus died, and when we tried to start it it pumped some fumes but did not start. Then replaced the computer and proceeded to burn all the dumped fuel. Could this have clogged that horrid convereter?
What about opening it up and hollowing it out and welding it shut again? Anyone know how to do this?

Thanks amigos
mark...