http://www.members.tripod.com/~fuelie/whatis.htm#What%20cars%20have%20Digifant
and although it was not written with a Vanagon specifically in mind, I think that there is some useful info which I can follow to get my cold performance and idle to work better. Certainly I will follow what seems good advice. We had 2" of snow here today so it will be a couple of days before I do anything else as I have to work outdoors.
Cheers, Steve
On Jan 15, 2014, at 7:54 PM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 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
>
