Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 12:34:36 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <j_rodgers@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <j_rodgers@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: 2.3L WBX replies... (pretty darn long - again)
In-Reply-To: <20030814164424.25706.qmail@web13102.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Damon,
Put on a Mahle oil filter, and change the oil to 20W50WT. After a good
Break-in would suggest going to 15W50 Mobil 1 Synthetic. That 10W30 is
way to lightweight an oil for the WBX. I expect you will see a
noticeable change.
John Rodgers
88 GL Driver
Damon Campbell wrote:
>Thanks for all the input, everyone. It is nice to
>hear a consensus of "don't rip it apart, yet!".
>
>More information, and responses to some questions i
>received:
>
>0) specs - 82mm CW, balanced crank. Big-valve heads.
>95mm pistons and cylinders (tops shaved by 0.14" to
>maintain CR). Essentially stock cam, rockers, and
>valve train. Pistons, rods, etc. statically balanced.
>1) The starter is indeed the original starter in the
>van. Never (ever) had a lick of problems with it.
>2) Voltmeter across the starter when cranking? Well,
>havn't done that, but with the original battery, and
>my digitool, i saw the voltage drop down to about
>9.5-ish.
>3) I am running 10W30 castrol dino oil
>4) I used the original german oil pump out of the 2.1
>case. It looked to be in good condition, and i lapped
>the face plate and pump to clean that up and close any
>clearances. I also have a 30mm high flow pump that i
>could use, but i am skeptical of the quality (it fits
>waaay too easily into the oil pump bore).
>5) Overheating? This is kind of an interesting one.
>Mr. Digitool read 0.07V rock steady on the way to
>santa cruz for it's maiden 50mile voyage. On the way
>back, it read a rock steady 0.03V. The way back
>seemed a bit low (hot), and the only engine difference
>was that the timing was set correctly while at
>volkscafe (it was about 18* advanced).
>6) I unfortunately do not have CR as a known value.
>It doesn't ping, but i *definitely* want to get that
>figured out. I'm quite sure it is higher than stock
>(i feel really lame not knowing it - but i was a
>little bit rushed with the top end).
>7) the combustion chamber was ceramic coated (heads,
>piston tops, exhaust valves, and exhaust port), but no
>friction-reducing stuff addedd. Unfortunately, there
>was a miscommunication between me and the ceramicist
>so no coating was put on the usuall pitting area, so
>i'll just keep after it with the blue stuff and
>frequent coolant flushings.
>8) Bob Donalds honed the cylinders and opened up the
>clearances a bit to let them run cooler and with a
>little more longevity.
>
>02 read normal, AFM, temp 1, and battery voltage all
>read normal when rolling.
>
>The mechanic at volkscafe was really concerned,
>however, at how hard it was to crank over by hand when
>hot.
>
>I hope that sheds a little more light. Thanks for all
>the input, and keep it coming because i really like
>the way it drives, and don't want to tear it down for
>somewhat esoteric problems.
>
>Thank you oh mighty list,
>-damon
>
>
>--- Damon Campbell <damoncampbellvw@YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>
>
>
>>However. And this is a *big* however, there are two
>>problems...
>>1) When hot, even with a brand new battery, the
>>engine simply won't crank over. At best, you may
>>get
>>1/2 a lazy revolution. It cranks over and fires up
>>cold with some difficulty, but it does.
>>2) Oil pressure is low (grrr...). When at full
>>temp,
>>idle is around 5psi and at say, 3000 rpm, we are
>>closer to 20-25psi. These obviously aren't great.
>>Not even close to good.
>>
>>
>
>=====
>'84 Westy (Sparky)
>'65 Kharma Ghia (Dharma)
>
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