Date: Fri, 13 May 2011 08:34:51 -0700
Reply-To: Steve Williams <sbw@SBW.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Steve Williams <sbw@SBW.ORG>
Subject: Re: Maintenance Saga: '84 Westy
In-Reply-To: <BANLkTikTuLOjDQ4YY_4gzqE8w2YDXzFRdw@mail.gmail.com>
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At 06:39 AM 5/13/2011, Chris S wrote:
>Good post about the 2.3. I always wondered about the mileage, and I wonder
>how it would perform if you installed DJ-code ECU and dizzy.
I'm not familiar with that. Got a pointer to more information?
>Has Go-Westy tweaked the air flow sensor at all to compensate for the larger
>displacement?
No, they don't modify the air flow sensor. It can be adjusted.
That's why I took it to them for the smog. I was worried that it can
be a little tricky to set the air flow sensor correctly. They did it
when they installed the engine, but a few weeks later, when I
suspected a faulty air flow sensor, the shop in Chicago who replaced
it had a hard time getting it set right. The Chicago shop was on the
phone with GoWesty for quite awhile before they were
satisfied. (Then it turned out the real problem was a clogged fuel
filter, which may have been screwing with the mixture. Sigh.)
Back to last weekend: GoWesty had suggested I get a "pre-test" in the
Bay Area before heading down to them. I went to a random test-only
shop. They found the emissions were fine. But they said they
wouldn't be able to pass it because "the timing is way off." In
fact, the test-only shop didn't know how to check the timing on a
Vanagon. The timing was fine, and it would have passed on the first try.
I'm sure there are emissions testing stations in the Bay Area that
know how to properly test Vanagons. But Smitty's, around the corner
from GoWesty in Los Osos, certainly does. And I like long drives on
the California coast in springtime. So I didn't regret going down
there at all.
Speaking of fuel filters, last weekend GoWesty installed this kit to
eliminate the small, square forward fuel filter:
http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_details.php?id=23266
My van was one of those that also had the big fuel filter, and it was
time to renew the filters, so it only cost $12 more to eliminate the
small filter.
Various GoWesty people have various opinions about keeping or
eliminating the small filter. I'm a fan of simplicity, and I'm
willing to believe one filter does just about as good a job as
two. Since I've been held up by a clogged filter far from home, I
carry spare filters with me. Next time I have to crawl under the van
in the middle of nowhere to replace the filter, I'll only have to
replace one, not two.
Anybody want my spare small filter? Free to a deserving camper in
the Bay Area. It's this one:
http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_details.php?id=3137
