Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 08:57:14 -0600
Reply-To: Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Subject: What's wrong with my VW? Friday
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Many of the problems encountered with VW engines is the extreme lack of
maintenance.
Sure; Everybody changes their oil, fuel filter, air cleaner but there are
other components that develop their own personalities over the ten to
twenty five years that the vehicle has been on the road.
Some examples; Injectors develop hairline fuel tracks that can leak since
the fuel pressure is constant.
Distributors wear the bearings, gears, cams and advance springs rust or
just get weak.
Camshafts wear down and lifters quit rotating.
I've had a go at bunches of Vanagons and Westies, I find that many owners
are very conscientious about maintenance and spend hundreds of dollars to
fix problems that never get fixed, ultimately I get my hands on it and it
is something very simple like the screw holding down the point set is
1/2" long and blocks the distributor advance. Other things come to mind
but don't make the point.
Replacing your engine is 90% of good thinking but neglecting other things
like the injectors, distributor, proper grounding, proper fuel pressure
will get you about 90% of the potential of your new engine.
Having collected many spare parts and get me by parts over the last eight
years I've had the opportunity to select the best of the good parts for
installing on my Westy.
Out of thirty Fuel Injectors I've chosen the best 4, out of eight fuel
pumps I chose the one pumping 62 psi, out of 40 CV joints I chose the
ones that fit tight the story continues with best of the distributors,
best of the AFMs.
Most of us didn't buy our Vanagons or Westy new and don't know the
potential of a near perfect combination of the proper parts functioning
as they were designed to do.
When I built my most recent engine for my Westy (July 2001) I collected
and tested every part. Some were markedly better than what I was
currently running. All of this went into the car at the same time and
everything else came out.
All of the internal parts on the engine were new, all of the external
parts were used but the quality of the external parts were known to be in
very good condition because I tested them.
Gathering the parts is a challenge in itself; I'd suggest that a list of
the various part numbers be written down and if you visit a automobile
bone yard compare the part numbers with other Audi, Porsche, VW parts
since many are interchangeable. The CVs are almost universal on the VW
automotive line at the output shafts on transmissions even on front wheel
drive cars. The ignition modules fall into an also fit for many VW
applications. In many situations a look alike part isn't necessarily an
interchange but that part number will qualify it for you.
If you're going in for an expensive shop built engine I'd suggest that
you dig a little deeper and replace the fuel injectors, distributor, fuel
pressure regulator, ignition wires, fuel lines, clutch if you got one,
temperature sensors and senders, oil pressure senders.
If you have known to be good parts because you've had them serviced or
tested you can skip those replacements.
To many of you that have hung in this far, this might have sounded like a
unnecessary scolding for something by an old fool with too much time on
his hands.
I must say at this point; I was absolutely astounded at the performance
of the pure stock Air Cooled VW engine after giving the external
components as much consideration as I did the internal engine parts.
Try it .............. you'll like it.
Stan Wilder
83 Air Cooled Westfalia
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