Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2016 10:04:39 -0500
Reply-To: Marc Perdue <mcperdue@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Marc Perdue <mcperdue@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: My van is HOME!!!!
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After 7.5 MONTHS, I brought my baby back home yesterday!!! The
engine's been completely rebuilt, with a balance crankshaft and lots
of other goodies (I don't have the parts list here just now). Because
of the ridiculous length of time it took, and acknowledging my
patience, he threw in the trailing arm, some exhaust work, and over
$900 in other parts at no charge. It's too soon to tell ultimately
what it's going to be like, but I do have some observations.
1) He replaced the water pump and thermostat and some cooling hoses
that I didn't know were near gone until after they came off. It's a
wonder they hadn't already leaked. My van had NEVER had the correct
thermostat in it since I owned it. The temperature gauge had always
stayed at the low end and I thought it was never overheating, except I
was always blowing out hoses. Now, it gets up to temperature fairly
quickly and stays there, middle of the gauge. From what I've
understood from being on this list over the years, this is what it's
supposed to do.
2) I had another problem from the time that I have owned the van that
I have been chasing down. I'll drive the van the 2 miles to work in
the morning (I know, it's horrible for the van; I'll be changing my
route to lengthen that) and it drives fine. I start it up in the
evening to go home and it stalls every time I come to a stop and runs
rough as a cob. This problem persisted through an engine change. After
that engine change, I think I changed everything but the throttle body
and the distributor. Well, now the distributor's been changed and the
problem appears to be gone!
3) Having a newly rebuilt and balanced engine, not quite blue-printed,
ported and polished, I expected it to run smoother than it had
originally, but it doesn't. I'm hoping the engine builders on the list
can help me out here, because I don't know. He claims that the rings
and such need to wear in and that it will smooth out over the next 500
miles or so, at which point I will take it back for some adjustments.
I do remember having to do this with my Boston Bob engine, I just
don't remember it running quite so rough at first.
4) Since I had his ear, I asked him about oil recommendations.
Pennzoil 10W-30 in the winter, making good oil pressure. I had never
been able to run 10W-30 before without setting off the oil buzzer.
5) I got on the road and realized I was low on gas, but hadn't asked
him about gas recommendations, so I called him. He recommend
ethanol-free regular gasoline, said it was easier on the valves or
some such. I was driving into a massive thunderstorm as he was telling
me this, so I couldn't catch everything he was saying.
So good to have her home!
Marc Perdue
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