Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:06:38 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Rented an '87, heard same 2nd gear thump
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Aloha,
I have slept comfortably there in the Puna area is super light fleece long underwear. It wicks moisture away from the skin really well. Wasn't too bad that way.
and for sure ....warm temps with heavy duty humidity can be horrible. Lke you feel like you could take a cool showever ever two hours, and still not feel comfortable much.
the 87 mostly likely has power steering for sure, and most 84's do not. Perhaps that's the steering differnce you felt.
'blattier' .............I'd think that would be due to the type of muffler fitted perhaps. Normally 2.1 wbxr exhaust doesn't sound 'blatty' much I'd say ..
and again ..I don't think they are very serious about mufflers there.
Most cars I saw there are "Island Beaters' , and there're no freeways or long distance high speed driving ..so they get pretty causal about their cars there often.
Either you have not had to seriously use your 84 parking brake - ( in which case they are barely adequate ..like they hold, but 'just' on something really steep. You have 'Park' of course ..
so maybe you havn't had to really get an early one to hold on something steep much , or the 87's wasn't working that well. Becuase they are , really, about 3 times stronger than the early parking brake system.
Vast improvement ..
and very typical of course of VW to build something light duty, then upgrade it year or two later to how it should have been in the first place.
There's only one version of power steering though ..they got that pretty right from the beginning.
( PS was not on any 83's and was an option on 84's .....fairly common on 85's and more or less 'all' 86's and up have PS ..........though there are exceptions I'm sure. 'All' US models 86 and later have PS let's say. )
get to swim in the ocean ?
sometimes even with dophins ?
do you know about Kahena Beach ? ...it's on the red road, out past Pahoa.
Nice free black sand beach with no regulation at all.......you just park your car with no valuables in and climb down the almost cliff there.
The surf can be a little hairy getting through and then back out of the water onto the beach again ..
and people do swim with dophins there for sure . Clothing optional ..........and big drum circile on Sundays, last time I was there.
There are some warm ponds along that same road ....very nice hanging out in a huge pool like area of nicely warm water. It's a trippy place.
did you get to the flowling lava in Volcano Park ?
It's a trip too. You can walk on still warm black lava and stand 20 feet from where the hot molten red stuff is ooozing out of the earth.
cold in oregon,
scott
----- Original Message -----
From: Rocket J Squirrel
To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans
Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 6:25 PM
Subject: Re: Re: Rented an '87, heard same 2nd gear thump
Aloha, indeed!
Weather was warm and humid. After living here in Central Oregon, at 4,000 ft. elevation and in the high desert, the coastal air in the tropics at sea level felt . . . used. Like being in a small room with too many people. Add the requisite sun block and my skin always felt sticky. Not a feeling I care for. Three days of camping without showers, sleeping through warm nights sweating even though covered with only sheets, and pretty soon those sheets began to smell like . . . well, a part of a male human's anatomy that rhymes with "bloat 'em."
The van ran quite nicely. It was an enjoyment to drive a later model, as I've only ever driven my 1984. The 2.1L engine is not greatly more powerful than my 1.9, though the exhaust is blattier, which at times made a sound more reminiscent of my old '71 aircooled bay window's 1600dp engine. The steering in the '87 is considerably lighter than my '84. Interior appointments were more refined, tidier. The much-vaunted "improved" e-brake handle isn't such an improvement that I'd bother making a change.
Happy Campers removes the fussy Dometic refrigerators -- as many here know, those things require a bit of training, and the owners are understandably unwilling to drive to the other side of the island to light pilot lights, etc.* so that space is converted to a storage cabinet, and a large ice chest (cooler) is provided. Ice is available everywhere, as one might imagine.
==============
* The company has a journal in the glove box of each van and it's fun to read about others' adventures in them. In ours, we read that previous customers have been quite pleased with how willing the company is to send someone out to help. In the one case where help was needed for this van, they cheerfully drove out to change a tire that had an overtight lug nut. There were no other written reports of mechanical failures. We were requested and shown how to check the oil and the coolant tank every 500 miles.
On Fri, 2011-04-29 at 17:42 -0700, Scott Daniel - Turbovans wrote:
and besides, on the Big Island they don't really expect cars and vans to
work smoothly very much ..
many of the roads are quite funky.
What noise Bra, I don't hear nuthin' !
at least the van didn't break down on you while you were using it. What's a
little clunk here or there ?
- on the Big Island anyway.
how much was gas there ?
about $ 4.25 per gal for regular would be my guess.
It was probably nice to be somewhere warm for a change.
Aloha !
scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rocket J Squirrel" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 5:11 PM
Subject: Re: Rented an '87, heard same 2nd gear thump
> Yeah, yeah, yeah. I shoulda mentioned that Bud drove us back to the
> airport in Hilo, driving the same van. I asked him to put it in second
> and accelerate a bit and take his foot off the gas. Mrs Squirrel and I
> both heard -- or more accurately, felt -- the thump, but he didn't
> because he was on bumpy pavement, on the busy highway 11 and there is
> simply too much noise under those conditions for the untrained ear to
> hear the sound. But we two both detected it.
>
> Otherwise, I'd agree with your diagnosis!
>
> On Fri, 2011-04-29 at 16:59 -0700, Jeff Schwaia wrote:
>
>> The answer is obvious... it's the driver! :-)
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
>> Of Rocket J Squirrel
>> Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 4:18 PM
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Subject: Rented an '87, heard same 2nd gear thump
>>
>> So a while back, I posted about a mysterious "thump" sound that can be
>> heard, and felt, when the drive train gets unloaded in 2nd gear in my
>> auto transmission '84, Mellow Yellow. This thump is best heard when on a
>> quiet, smooth street, when the transmission is in 2nd gear, the
>> accelerator pushed down enough to cause the van to get moving at a fair
>> clip, then the foot taken off the gas pedal. Thump.
>>
>> In some cases, when cruising along a moderate speed in 2nd, with just
>> enough pressure on the pedal to keep the van drifting along, sometimes
>> coasting, sometimes being pushed a bit by the engine -- thump, thump,
>> thumpty, thump.
>>
>> Two mechanics have looked everything over and I posted about it here.
>> Several folk responded with further suggestions of things to look at,
>> and they either have been, or will be when the tranny is dropped a bit
>> to put on the GoWesty ATF external cooler kit.
>>
>> So I have backburnered more inspection until then.
>>
>> Well, Mrs Squirrel and I just got back from a week in Hawaii. We rented
>> a Westy from HappyCampersHawaii.com. These folks have a fleet of
>> Westies, mainly 2.1L, but a couple aircooled, and some very fancy buses
>> and bay windows. Bud likes working on them.
>>
>> We rented an '87 with an AT (238,000 miles, second engine, very clean,
>> very tidy but we did miss the amenities that we've gotten used to in
>> Mellow Yellow).
>>
>> Several days into the trip we both noticed that it also thumped under
>> the same conditions, though not as dramatically as Mellow Yellow.
>>
>> Except for one night at the Hilton in Hilo, we camped on the beaches.
>> When we brought the van back, I asked Bud -- co-owner with his wife --
>> if he had noticed the sound. He had not.
>>
>> --
>> Rocky J Squirrel
>> '84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
>> '74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
>> Bend, OR
>> KG6RCR
>>
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