Rick Boebel writes: > >I have an '80 Vanagon Westy and a number of questions- > >1)I need to pull the engine due to low compression in #3, a mechanically >inclined friend, says the FI makes the engine run too lean especially with >an aftermarket exhaust. Thus to solve any future problems and make it run >better (and cooler) rip the FI off and put on 1 two barrel progressive >weber (don't use a 2 carb setup because you end up with a right and a left >engine which are not always in sync). Fast Freddy's quoted a price of $240 >for a complete setup. Has anyone made the switch? Does this sound right? >model. Any advice would be appreciated. I think that if the FI is in proper condition, it will provide better gas mileage and performance than a two barrel progressive. But they can be quite a bit more expensive to maintain and a lot more hassle than a carburetor. My ex-girlfriend's '78 had FI when she bought it and it ran pretty good for awhile, then developed a problem of surging/missing when you were driving. You could be rolling merrily along and all of a sudden it would start cutting out. Well, when you first confront the engine you'll be greeted by a lot of hoses, tubes, vaccum lines, dashpots, etc. and (at least in my case) you won't have much of a clue where to start looking. So the first thing I did was become a FI "expert" by reading the Muir section and checking out a couple of Bosch FI books from the library. After much testing, I concluded it was the air flow sensor, a flap thing that measures the amount of air going into the engine so that the computer can inject the proper amount of gas. This one had a couple of "dead" spots on the wiper where it would indicate a voltage of zero. This would explain why, when the engine was misbehaving, speeding up or slowing down slightly would fix it. Well, I called a couple of import parts places and the cost of this (and the cold start injector, which was also not working) was close to if not more than the cost of the Fast Freddy Weber kit. Keep in mind there were plenty more FI parts on this bus the same age that might be breaking soon. So in one fell swoop, I replaced all that hardware with one compact little carburetor! Voila, there really WAS an engine under all that stuff! Aside from adjusting the choke and idle, it ran fine right out of the box. We didn't notice any lack of power, and she hadn't kept any close record of fuel economy but the carb didn't guzzle gas, maybe 20 MPG. If your FI system is working okay, then you're probably better off with it. And if it isn't, but you want to learn about the FI system and have lots of money, then it's still okay. But if it's broken then I'd recommend the progressive Weber. If you have fuel problems in the future, troubleshooting time should be drastically reduced since (aside from the filter, etc.) you just have one place to look (the carb). And if you convert, don't forget to buy the little electric fuel pump. The one you have puts out 35psi or so, and will turn your carb into a little Weber gas fountain. :-)

>3)Best place to obtain miscel parts, a)both (F&R) the bumper side guards >are missing from the right side. b)the covers to the water and electical >inputs on the right side, and c)the emergency blinker dash switch. Can >these be found anywhere besides the dealer if there, if so where? Have you tried junk yards? Here in Indianapolis there are one or two that specialize in foreign cars. Stuff like engines, lenses and emblems go pretty quick, but other parts aren't too hard to come by.

Pat Walsh, '71 Westy, walshp@ippdsgi3.nawc-ad-indy.navy.mil