Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 15:44:56 -0000
Reply-To: Mike Finkbiner <mike_l_f@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Mike Finkbiner <mike_l_f@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: What is the sound of one van smiling? (Follow-up on Boston Bob
Engine)
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Volks -
Last week I told how we had adjusted the valves on my Boston Bob 2.1l,
engine vacuum came up, and around town things seemed to be better, a bit
more power, and smoother running.
Yesterday I drove about 120 miles on the highway. It's a trip I have taken
a couple of times before with this engine, so it makes a good comparison.
The road is a winding two lane with quite a few hills.
Overall, things seemed to be better. There is a touch more power at highway
speeds, although I still have to use 3rd on some hills. It seems to to
accelerate more easily in 4th.
Generally, the van seems happier, so I'm happier too!
The last couple of trips, I had experienced episodes where the engine cut
out briefly. This time, no problems. I'm not sure if that's because I was
carrying more spares this trip, so nothing dared to act up, or if I did fix
the problem.
If I did, it was probably in the ECU, because I replaced my Adler with a
newer Bosch unit that I have had as a spare. I finally got the digitool
connector soldered to the Bosch, (cost me two dozen beers!), so I swapped it
in.
The other thing I did was pull the ECU and fuel pump relays from the box in
the engine compartment above the coil. I got the number off one, and bought
a spare, but put the originals back in place. They are identical, and may
have switched places.
If I put a few hundred miles on the beast without problems, I might swap
ECUs again to see if the problem returns. It would be nice to know if that
was it, but I'm not up to experimenting right now.
Another plus this trip was gas mileage. It was 19.3 this time. The
previous two were 18.5 and 18.2. Not a big difference, but an improvement.
I still want to fiddle with the AFM to see if I can bring that up, but it's
close to the best I have gotten with a Westphalia around here.
When I go to the coast, in the denser air it isn't unusual to get 20+. My
vacation in July will tell me more about how this handles different
altitudes.
Thanks to all of you that offered advice! I really appreciate it, and I
hope my story has been useful to those of you who are looking into engine
swaps, or having engine power problems. I'm a lot more comfortable
traveling now with a solid new engine, and I have been pleased with the way
Bob Donalds helped me to work through the problems.
Of course now I'm going to start thinking about a 5-speed transmission with
a locking differential!
- Mike Finkbiner
'87 Westy (with a happier engine!)
Moscow, Idaho
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
