Date:         Wed, 24 Aug 1994 14:00:49 -0500 (EST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         jesse lee reynolds <jeslreyn@silver.ucs.indiana.edu>
Subject:      back from summer trip.

Howdy!

I don't know if any of you recall, but I left in mid-may on a 11K mile road
trip in my 76 van.  I finally got back, a month late.  Thought I'd tell my
story.  I might not be able to finish it now - so this may be an installment . 
We'll see.

(By the way - it was the first trip in my van)
The 4 of us too off from Bloomington, IN on May 22.  We'd gone 20 miles when I
saw the oil light come on at a stoplight.  I freaked out a second but tyhen it
made sense - warm oil, low RPM, low oil pressure.  So we went on.  BEsides, I
had a hell of a trip planned.  Nobody ever told me what proper oil pressure
was.  ............

I won't bore you with the details of the trip.  Suffice to say we drove a lot.
All out west.  The oil pressure stayed too low (as I know now) at around 20 psi
on the hiway.  It ran hotter than what I think it should - about 350 F head
temp.  (anyone know what it should be?) Mileage around 19 MPG.  Decent power -
never went into 1st gear for any mountain.    The cabinets, bed, stove, and
sink were great, but it was a bit crowded for 4 people.  The Fridge barely
worked, though.  Overall, I babied it.  Tune ups according to John Muir.  Never
driven over 60 MPH.

There were no major problems during the trip.  a busted valve cover gasket, for
example.  The only odd thing was that when we fist got to the Bay area (we'd
driven strainght there - this right at the beginning of the tripp), it didn't
start on time, just CLICK.  But it then started right up.  HMMM.   Failure to
start became more common, so we popped the cluth a few times til I got out the
Idiot manual and did the "Won't start" procedure.  I'd test the starter by
bypassing the solenoid and hear the WHIRRRR of the starter.  OK, I thought,
starter is ok.  But then I could turn the key and it would start up!  By merely
testing the starter I could temporarily fix the problem.  I eventually did the
test procedure in reverse order, and banging the solenoid with a hammer fixed
it.  So, apparently the josting caused by a running starter would cause to
solenoid to work again.  So I bought a new solenoid for 25 bucks.

The real excitement happened late in the trip.  We were going through Death
Valley around sunset, and my oil pressure got so low the light came on at 2000
RPM.  I knew this was bad.  It was losing power, too.  I made it, but at my
next tune up, my compression test had dropped from the 130's to the 90's.  Ug.
  So we eventually made it to Yellowstone.  I knew it was rebuild time.  But up
there I sprung an oil leak.  We spent all day at a Yellowstone garage trying to
find and fix it.  A wonderful mechanic (Tim) spend after - hours helping me.
We even put it up on a lift.  It was the oil cooler.

The leak was bad enough that I thought I'd have to pull the engine to fix it in
Wyoming, then later rebuild it.  Luckily the leak slowed enough that I was
putting in a quart per tank of gas.  But I had to decide - can I make it to
Indiana?  My girlfiend wanted to spend the summer with her aunt and uncle in
Aspen, Co.  But I was homesick.  And we had one companion left from Indiana.
I decided to send our friend home on a greyhound, and rebuild in Aspen.
But without net access!!!!!  I was terrified.

Her aunt and uncle are great people, and Aspen is a great place.  So that
wasn't bad.  I worked for them to earn some money, and worked on the engine.  
Removal went OK.  Dissassembly went alright.  Ordered (by mail, as aspen is
EXPENSIVE) new pistons, cylinders, clutch plate, oil pump, 009 distributor, oil
pump.  The nearest machine shop was in Glenwood, 45 miles away.  They took
forever and kept screwing up.  After 3 weeks, they had checked my case - OK.
Checked my shaft - OK.  Valve job - new exhaust valves and guides, and 1 new
intake guide.  Checked lifters - shot.  Checked rods- OK.  so, They ordered new
main, cam, and rod bearings.  Finally...I got it back.

Fist I found out they shorted me a bearing dowel pin.  They said I lost it, so
I drove 25 miles to find one.  Then I couldn't get the shaft to sit in the
case.  I tried like hell for 2 days, and then drove down there to have them
look at it.  Turns out the accidently pressed the front (#1) bearing, with
flanges, onto the #3 spot, the one which must be installed by the shop.
But in my attempt to put it in I ruined the bearing.  So they ordered one.
But they got the wrong ones, and had to order again.  So, 3 days after dropping
it off, They sent it down.   Then I found out they'd shorted me my camshaft
cap.  so I had to drive down (my 5th time - 90 miles round trip) to get it.

I tried 3 times to put the case together, but each time the crank would bet to
tight to turn.  I was seriously stressing.  My girlfriend's aunt called every
mechanic for help (Something I'd never have to humility to do) and dug up this
old guy who was a VW man.  Jim Hayes is something special.  He's 74, looks
frail, but is the champion kickboxer of his age group.  He's a dancer, and a
gymnast.  He is  the town silver and goldsmith.  He owns 5 beetles
 and drives at 90 MPH. "That's when they's get
airborne" he'd say.  He helped me put the case together, and then showed up
every day (on his own: he was obviuosly enjoying himself.)

Once we got it in, we adjusted the clutch until once we pressed the pedal, and
it stuck down.  We had to repull the engine to find out the local parts stroe
gave us the wrong size of clutch throw out bearing.   It had gotten stuck in
the pressure plate.  It was shredded.  

We pulled the van around with a truck to break in the engine, but it wouldn't
start.  we thought and tested for days.  When Mr. Hayes pulled off all wires
but power and condenser from the coil, it started but wouldn't keep running.
It turned out to be the wire from the coil to the Fuel Injection.  Oh shit, I
thought.  My brain is fried.  We had an appointment the next morning when I
decided to give anything  a shot.  I put in the old distributor and it started
right up.  Turns out 009s are not FI compatible.  I traded Mr. Hayes for a new
050 he had lying around.

We broke it in 100 miles, and changed the oil.  It got us home with lots of
power.  But it ran HOt - like 400 F on the head.

So here's my questions - 

Why might it be running hot?

How do you time a 050?

Does it take a while for an engine to break in, or did I just do a bad job? 
(Quite possible....)

How do you get this list on digestifier??

Thanks for reading - 

Jesse Reynolds
jeslreyn@silver.ucs.indiana.edu
76 van  
2000 cc FI