Date:         Fri, 22 Feb 2002 08:47:15 -0600
Reply-To:     Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Mazda RX7 oil cooler on Westy
Comments: To: khowe@OMNINET.NET.AU
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I restore old Westies and I"ve got a Westy that I've been driving for
seven years.
Here is the list of things to inspect and the things to do.
#1. Clean the engine, top to bottom.
#2. Clean all of the electrical connections in the engine compartment.
#3. Be sure you have a good rubber seal around your sheet metal, the heat
shield above your muffler.
#4. Run a quart of engine flush through the engine to remove old sludge
etc.(read the instructions)
#5. Install new oil, filter, clean the strainer. Hot weather use 20/50 wt
oil.
#6. Adjust your valves as per Boston Bob at his web site, replace the
valve cover gaskets.
 http://www.bostonengine.com/articles/print/hydraulicll.html
#7. Replace the little seals at the base of the injectors, they get hard
and leak, shrink.
#8. Inspect and replace all fuel lines in the engine compartment, use
Fuel Injection hose (not std. fuel line) 7mm or 5/16" line.
#9. Be sure you timing is seat dead on to 7.5
#10 Check all vacuum lines for leaks, replace leaking lines, put a clamp
on every vacuum line or hose in your engine compartment (small lines like
vacuum retard on distributor and line to deceleration valve can be
skipped)
If your engine is in fair to good condition these things should pretty
much bring you up to par.
As for more cc ...... stick with stock, not much point spending money on
a good running engine. Consider modifications if you ever need a rebuild
job.
I'll keep you and the list posted on the RX7 cooler but so far it seems
to be working great.

Stan Wilder
83 Westfalia Air Cooled

On Fri, 22 Feb 2002 13:39:50 +0800 Kim Howe <khowe@OMNINET.NET.AU>
writes:
> On Thursday, February 21, 2002, at 08:18 PM, Stan Wilder wrote:
>
> > I've made several post recently on an RX7 oil cooler that I
> installed.
> > http://williamwareagency.com/forsale/stanvan/rx7cooler1.jpg
>
> I got a 404 Not found looking for this. I'm very interested in your
> results. One thing that would be interesting to see is what effect
> a
> (hopefully) lower oil temperature will have on cylinder head temp.
>
> I recently acquired my first Vanagon, and 82 Camper (not a Westy, as
> far
> as I know they were never imported to Australia). The van is in
> excellent overall condition and the previous owner claims (and I
> believe
> him) it has only travelled 130,000km. The bad news is that it has
> suffered some poor maintenance (people thinking distance travelled,
> when
> they should have been thinking about the fact the oil had been in
> there
> for 3 years...) and mechanic butchery in the engine area. I just
> swapped
> the side mirrors having found out from this list why I couldn't
> adjust
> the passenger one so I could see anything with it, and why the
> drivers
> one was in the way of the quarter vent window. I don't think I
> would
> have worked that one out by myself!
>
> Anyway, on to my situation. The engine appears somewhat unwell. It
> starts and runs ok, but has a knock, which seems too loud to be
> lifters.
> Initially the oil light stayed off, as if it was gummed up with
> crud,
> which it well could have been, given the oil had been in the engine
> for
> nearly three years (although only a couple of thousand km). The oil
> pressure light started to work after a few days of being driven. I
> then
> changed the oil, and given the knock I opted for a fairly thick oil
> (which I could name, but it's an Aussie oil and probably would mean
> nothing to you). I took the van for a run to next town (50k each
> way
> with 110kph speed limits). The weather was warm 25-30C. I was
> somewhat
> surprised to see the oil light appears when I throttled off for a
> speed
> reduction. (It's an auto, so the rpms dropped somewhat more than a
> manual would.) When I found that the oil light would be on at any
> speed
> below about 90kph, I got very worried, thinking the end was in
> sight,
> but I had my children with my, including my 14 month old, and
> didn't
> want to stop out in the middle of nowhere with them, so I pressed
> on,
> keeping the speed to 80kph or less. It travelled in total more than
> 40km
> with the oil light on.
>
> That was now a few weeks ago, and the engine is still going, much
> the
> same as before. I haven't attempted any further high speed driving,
> just
> running around town usually 50-60kph, with an occasional short
> stretch
> of up to 90. (I live in a small city on the south coast of Western
> Australia, the nearest freeway is about 400km away.) As soon as the
> engine is up to what I would call a normal operating temperature,
> the
> oil light appears at idle, and the further it is driven the higher
> the
> rpms have to go to get it to go off. This all seems weird to my
> previous
> experience with VW engines. I have owned 30 Beetles (including the
> two I
> have now) and I think this is my 7th Type 2. I had a 76 Fuel
> Injected
> Auto that I drove across Australia and back in, and I've done my
> share
> of rebuilding motors etc. I'm wondering about a stuck relief valve,
> ie,
> when I put the thicker oil in, if it pushed the relief valve down
> into
> some sticky residue from the old oil and now it's stuck there. In
> any
> case, I don't think the current engine is a long term proposition.
>
> I have been thinking a rebuild is going to be necessary, and I'm
> very
> interested in the whole cooling issue. I thought it would be nice
> to
> perhaps bump up the capacity with 103mm cylinders, but I'm
> concerned
> that the extra power might not be usable anyway, because of heat
> issues.
> Have you any experience with going to a bigger bore on a type 4
> engine?
> Do you think the fuel injection would cope adequately with the
> extra
> 400cc? Am I just asking for trouble?
>
> Kim Howe
> 82 Vanagon
> Albany Western Australia
>
________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.