Date:         Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:29:41 -0400
Reply-To:     craig cowan <phishman068@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         craig cowan <phishman068@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Last weekend's successes.
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Well, i'm a bit behind with announcing the monumentous success in relation
to vanagon work last weekend, but here goes.
We were able to get the gas tank back in and fully installed, including
David Milo's expert replacement of the broken stud that holds up the left
wheel well expansion tank. Some electrical gremlins were given some
attention in the engine bay, and the clutch was bled. Then, it became time
to energize the circuit and see what happens. It wasn't long to realize that
the fuel pump was working smashingly, as the main feed line to the engine
was not attached to the other side of the firewall, resulting in torrents of
gasoline! It's just a little mistake, easily fixed (I have all new gas
lines!). Then came a series of coolant leaks. It was very apparent that the
1.9 thermostat housing, is about the most rediculous and finicky design i've
come across to date, and that i am now officially an expert in attaching the
lower housing (I'd say i've done it near 25 or 50 times, though not all in
this project). Finally, that doesn't leak. The steel line that goes below
the harmonic balancer to the waterpump was leaking like a sieve at it's
connection to the right head. Putting a bolt in there, was a bad idea, as
it's entirely in-accessible. With Eric Zeno's help, we got that replaced
with an allen head bolt, which was probably the stock configuration, and
it's tight and leak free. The oil filler tube was not on very tightly, and
was dripping a bit. But, a quick tighten job fixed that. So now that it's
holding coolant in the engine bay, filled with oil, and ready to go....we
start the cranking!
Of course, no luck. The timing was way off. I had many timing issues before,
and while the distributor was put in the same place (it was marked), the
plug wires probably were not, as i always believed my timing gear to be off
by a few teeth resulting in needing to play musical chairs with the spark
plug wires. We said "what better time than now to fix this", so once again
with Eric Zeno's great help, and Walt Spak's great guidance, we pulled the
distributor drive gear and repositioned it properly (as per bently). Upon
further inspection....my distributor was junk! It seems that it has a
different part number than all the spare 1.9 distributors we had at our
disposal (But was NOT a 2.1), and the innnerds were clearly "rebuilt" at
some time, as they were shiny and new, and there was an obvious crack in the
case from the rebuilders having trouble mounting the electrical pickup plug
(plastic plug) to the outside. So, we've settled upon a spare, and we're
back in business!
So, we start the cranking.....
LIFE!!!!!! IT Stumbles to life! Sadly, it only ran for 30 seconds before
recognizing that it was on 3 cylinders. It could be my 20 year old sparkplug
wires (new ones are on the way!), my untested 20 year old fuel injectors
(found in a box of spares, not the ones that came off the engine), or any
number of things. But in the 30 seconds of running, the cause has not yet
been determined. The timing though, is good, or at least close.
The problem was.....
COOLANT PIPES!
I replaced the rear sections of my steel pipes with "good" sections of steel
pipes, using 2 left pipes and coupling them with the NAPA hoses that David
Marshall Recommended and two hoseclamps per side (stainless steel clamps). I
could justify this because the front sections looked REALLY good overall.
Well, it seems i was wrong....
In all the gas tank fidgetting, a catastrophic failure of the front section
of one of the pipes has developed, and the front sections now need to be
replaced. I have two good front sections that are already cut at the
appropriate spots, and will be waiting for the next time i get home to work
on it to get these installed. The game plan, is to at least attempt to use
the two fronts of the two "Left" pipes that i used for the rear section
doners. The obvious problem is the only difference in the front between the
left and right pipes is the right pipe takes a turn at the end, in order to
make it simple to attach the hoses that go to the radiator. Using 2 left
pipes will not allow for this, and could make it very challenging. We shall
see. I have one right pipe that could be cut up if need be, but i'd much
rather see it kept in one piece (as there is a good left pipe in one piece
still to go with it). I would hope to be able to replace this front section
without dropping the gas tank, which should be possible due to the location
of my couplings and decision to make my hoses "2 piece".
If this all fails, i'll be back to the drawing board and in search of a
mountain of cash to finish this already over budget project with stainless
steel pipes.

With the pipes replaced, i sincerely expect to be in "good shape". It will
just be a matter of routing out a few loose ends and finishing off the
troubleshooting......THAN IT'S TIME FOR A TEST DRIVE!!!!!

Hearing it run, was just......Great!

Once again, special thanks goes out to David Milo, Walt Spak, Eric Zeno, and
Brian Honan (who stopped by for some moral support).
The project is nearing an end. I might actually end up with a vechicle that
RUNS and is RELIABLE. Now I just need to find a place to park it in the
driveway....
We just picked up a new Volvo 850 GLT, 1997 with 23K miles on it! That's,
quite a car!

-Craig
'85Gl
Busses by the Beach......maybe.