Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2014 19:54:20 -0500
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: More 89 Bluestar questions
In-Reply-To: <255B707F-6CAD-449D-B649-F41F1A6DEEEC@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
The heat shield, muffler brackets, and the rear support are different for
the Syncro. Not only are the mounting holes in a different location but so
are the curves for the pulley area and the slots for the muffler brackets.
Try to find the correct shield. Hopefully you do have the correct rear
support! Otherwise the rear of the engine will sit too low putting the oil
sump and the transmission at the wrong angle.
The muffler seam should sit in the cut outs on the brackets. The seam should
not be close to anything. I have seen some where the seam is in the wrong
place. GoWesty has some real nice brackets both for stock mufflers or the
stainless ones they sell. If the muffler is hurting maybe just get their
muffler and clamp combo. Their tailpipes are awesome.
Don't assume you have a mixture problem since it doesn't idle cold. If it
can start and run cold then the idle stabilizer should be able to keep it
running. The mixture screw on the air flow meter is just a trim screw and no
one has never fixed anything by tampering with it. The only adjustments you
should have to make is base ignition timing and idle speed. Anything more is
diagnoses and repair.
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Steve Cotsford
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2014 5:06 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: More 89 Bluestar questions
After a break for Christmas and some very cold weather, I have worked some
more on my Bluestar with a 2.1 non original engine. I was having problems
with a flashing oil light and the low oil pressure switch started leaking
quite fast so I contacted BD and bought two new pressure switches. The low
pressure was easy to replace but the high pressure switch below the
distributor was a bit of a pain but with persistence,I was able to do it.
Having the wrong heat shield probably made things worse. I have no more
flashing red lights on the dash :-)
Moving on, I have some significant noises due to the muffler touching the
heat shield. This heat shield apparently came off a syncro ( my van is
2wd) as I had to rework bolt holes near the main pulley and at present, I
have tabs about 2" long below the main mounting cross member. The banging
noise is coming from a muffler seam where the tail pipe end is attached and
it rattles in contact with the bolt flange of the heat shield. I plan to
take off the muffler and the heat shield both and do some repositioning,
perhaps modify some holes a bit so that there is adequate clearance between
the muffler end seam and the heat shield mounting flange. I also want to
do a cleaner job of fitting the syncro heat shield to this non syncro set up
and shorten the downward poking tabs etc. If there are other things to
consider, I would happy to hear about them.
I have now driven the van a very small amount, just 2 or 3 hundred yards up
the road and back. The clutch feels good and the engine seems to pull
fine, and the change to second gear was smooth. I have a problem with the
idle however. When starting from cold, its clear that the idle mixture
is not right as I have to keep the revs up a bit for a short time or it will
die. Afterwards its a just a teeny bit uneven but otherwise idles smoothly
and at 900 rpm on the tach. Being basically ignorant of the digifant
system could someone point me to a good write up in Bentleys or elsewhere on
how to adjust the variables. There is a big allen head set screw where the
air box fits the intake bellows which I am guessing is a mixture screw but I
feel sure other things should be checked first. The black plastic lid on
the air box potentiometer has clearly been off for reasons I do not know but
it must be in reasonable shape I think. I dont have any idea about this
engine but I can say it seems to run quite smoothly, albeit with some small
exhaust leaks on the passenger side. The idle is also a little uneven but
when I rev it it seems to rev cleanly and smoothly which gives me a little
satisfaction. Acceleration seems clean on the short runs I have done so
far. I have had the engine running for the better part of an hour on 3
occasions and the temp gauge sits over the central LED. Thanks for any
wise comments. Steve
