Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 14:18:43 -0400
Reply-To: Sam Walters <sam.cooks@VERIZON.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Sam Walters <sam.cooks@VERIZON.NET>
Subject: Re: 85 & 86
In-Reply-To: <06d501c66d3a$113fc340$206580c0@JTLINCOLN>
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
The engines are of different sizes, 85-1.9l and 86 2.1l, and they use
different fuel injection systems, 85 - Digijet and 86 Digifant.
The 85 is a sort of hybrid year. VW started putting some of the things
that would be part of the major changes starting in 86 on the 85, but in
many ways the 85 is still like the 83.5 and 84 Vanagon.
Some people have put the 2.1l engine in the earlier vans and
descriptions of the projects are in the archives and saved on some
people's computers, like mine.
See the attached.
Sam
--
Sam Walters
Baltimore, MD
89 Syncro GL, Zetec Inside
85 Westy Weekender
85 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel - to become veggie oil powered
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Subject: IT LIVES! 84 Westy 2.1 Conversion Finally Completed!
IT LIVES! IT LIVES!
After 13 months of sitting in the driveway, 2 1/2 months of which was
spent in bucks and time to put together a 2.1 the 84 Westy 2.1 Project
LIVES!
Originally purchased for the outlandish/ridiculous price of 1000 clams,
it's 1.9 at 81,967 miles grenaded on the inside with a hole as big as
your fist on the top of the case, I was looking at spending some serious
bucks either for a rebuilt long block or finding a good used engine for
replacement. A little bit of both happened in this instance.
The OLD (1.9):
**GIANT hole in top of case - thrown rod suspected.
**Pulled right bank cylinder head - #2 piston TOTALLY gone. Just a pin
frozen on a rod that was "S" shaped.
**Split the case - Remnants of #2 piston and the camshaft in 4 pieces
found inside. Amazingly, the crankshaft and 3 rods were re-useable and
in very good shape considering the other damage present.
The NEW (2.1)
**Found an '86 2.1 core engine (minus heads) at the Kelly Park Show for
$85
**Had my machinist split the case on this one and found that it had to be
LOW mileage because of very little wear. Case didn't even need
align-boring, crank only needed polishing and minor honing of the rod
bushings.
**Purchased and traded my 1.9 heads (which were OK, minor cracks between
the seats and some pitting) for Rebuilt 2.1 style from AVP - Damn good
work too.
**New Water Pump, Thermostat, Thermotime Sensor, Temp Gauge Sensor, Oil
Pressure Sensor, Expansion Tank Cap, Expansion Tank LED Sensor.
**New Cat Converter, Muffler and Tailpipe. Rest of Exhaust in relatively
good shape.
**New Fuel Pump (Old one was frozen after 1 1/2 years of sitting -
raunchy gas)
Note: Purchased from the importer one made in Germany by A.P. Pierburg,
the OE mfr of the mechanical pumps. A little better pricing than the
Bosch, but not by much. One neat thing about the Pierburg is that it is
in-cased in rubber to even further deaden any sound and vibration. Have
to change the connectors to "loop" style as it uses studs not push-ons
(appropriate parts, hardware and weather boots are provided with the
pump).
Further note: Decided to check with every FLAPS in the Redding area just
to see what the going price for a FI fuel pump was. Average retail price
quoted was $275.00!!!!!! And none of them had it in stock - most said it
would take 1 to 4 days to get one. Can't believe it as during this time
of year, there are FI Buses, Vanagons and Westys everywhere in this town
- kinda like the VW RV capital of the world with Shasta Lake, Whiskytown
Lake and Trinity Lake Nat'l Rec Areas surrounding the place. (Of course,
I knew Bus Boys had one and at a price much, much less than the other
FLAPS, but I chose instead to buy it direct from the importer of course).
I just can't believe the prices I was quoted for this pump here in
Redding from the others (BTW, I have these pumps for resale at about
$182, Bosch [without the rubber insulation] is a little higher).
**Rebuilt the fuel injectors - raunchy gas from sitting really screwed
with the "cone of spray" - Rebuilt locally by some fine people that know
these inside and out - about $25 each (rebuild and return).
**New Fuel Filter
**New Belt
**New Plugs (W7CC0 as per spec in fiche), Cap (85 style), Rotor and Wires
(Bosch 09272 - these have the suppressors at both the distributor cap and
metal shielded suppressors at the plugs).
QUESTION: Are the W7DTC/WR7DTC Tri-Electrode Optional Plugs that much
better, or are we splitting hairs here? Inquiring minds wanna know.
**Used Distributor w/good vacuum can (Old one was really trashed, dunno
why)
**Cleaned and Re-painted a lot of ancillary stuff
**Some new coolant hoses (expensive - even at my cost)
**New Bypass/Bleeder Assy in engine compartment - blasted thing's made of
plastic and promptly fell apart when trying to replace the 8mm ID Bypass
Hose to the X-Over Heater Pipe. Dealer only (oh well).
Moment of truth came when firing it up. After a few coughs it sprang to
life and settled into a smooth (very smooth) idle just like it had been
in there for years. Bleeding the cooling system as per Bentley went
without a hitch (in fact so well, that I feared that something else more
drastic would happen). Then I re-set the timing as per spec. Gee this
thing sure runs quiet. The lifters were only noisy for the first 15
sections it ran and settled down right away. Temp Gauge was doing it's
thing and the fan came on right at about the 3/4 mark (on the right) on
the gauge. As I let it idle for about 25 minutes, the gauge would
meander between 1/2 and 3/4, so the bleeding must have been right on the
money. Didn't figure to be that lucky, especially in 100+ degree heat
today. After dutifully checking for the requisite leaks and other
potential problems that could have surfaced (there were none, amazingly
enough), I shut it down for a little while to go inside and get out of
the heat for an hour. Then I went outside fired it up again and took it
on it's first road test - 4.1 miles. First thing I did was had my left
foot looking for the clutch pedal. OOPS! This is an Automatic, gonna
take some getting used to. Performed flawlessly, transmission shifted
very smoothly and at what I felt were the proper points in speed. Little
bit of a slug, but I've been told that when reaching freeway speeds, not
to worry (we'll try that tomorrow). Pulled it back into the driveway,
parked it and proceeded to clean up the tools and get most of everything
else put away. Before locking down the garage, checked underneath again
for leaks (NONE). Never felt better. Now all it needs is a nice bath to
get rid of the driveway dust and grime. Slapped a Type2.Com sticker on
the Rear Window and a Too Slow? Too Bad! sticker next to it too
(well.....it is an Automatic). Waiting for the new (soon to be obsolete)
V@L sticker to arrive from Poor Richard to complete it.
Now for a shower and some dinner. Quite a day. Felt like I got
something accomplished for once.
But I am by no means an expert yet at Wasserboxers.
Thanks to all who contributed to the V@L archives relating to performing
this adventure. Without them and the Bentley Book I think I may have
gotten lost. I'm glad I took my time to read, do and LEARN.
Now for the dreaded SMOG test, insurance and updating the registration
coming soon this week (oh joy).
Jim
Sherwood Automotive * The Old Volks Home
PO Box 176 * Palo Cedro, CA 96073-0176 * (916) 221-5342 (Voice & Fax)
oldvolkshome1@juno.com
2.1 oil cooler retrofit on to 1.9 Haynes
Which exhust system are you using? The 1.9 exhaust will not clear the
oil filter with the cooler in place. My solution is to replace the cover
plate on the front of the head on the drivers side with a plate from a
2.1 which has a hose connection. This will be the feed. Then, install a
tee in the hose from the bleeder valve to the heater return pipe to use
as the return. The 2.1 hosses that go on the cooler will act as reducers
to go from the large hose connections on the cooler to 5/16 or 3/8
tubing/hose. Benefits include making the left head self bleeding and
providing a path for coolant flow when the engine is cold. The flow will
be about the same as the stock 2.1 set up.
Dennis
The small line on the return pipe is 7mm. The 2.1 goes down to 100 mm
hoses. Tou really do not need that much flow. You could drill/tap the
blnak cover plate for a 1/4" npt thread and use a larger fitting there
and drill, braze a larger nipple on that return pipe. I just tried to
make things easy. If you really want an upgrade, forget the water to oil
cooler thing and add a proper 16 or 19 plate cooler in front of the
radiator using a sandwich adapter and remote thermostat. This helps by
not adding the oil heat into the cooling system. My Fun Bus had had this
set up since almost new. I think it has contributed significantly to the
now 222K miles with the engine having never been touched.
Dennis
