Date: Tue, 26 Dec 1995 14:29:52 -0800 (PST)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: David Schwarze <des@teleport.com>
Subject: Daboat runs, but slowly - solution!
Volks,
DaBoat is finally back on the road, for good this time (I hope).
I posted on Friday that the engine was in, but running poorly. Since
then I have spent most of my waking hours (besides the few spent
celebrating Christmas =) ) trying to figure out what the heck was wrong
with my engine. To summarize the problem, the engine was bogging badly
at half to full throttle, and would barely get the bus up to speed on
the freeway.
I tried a variety of things. First, I tried rebuilding the right
carb. No change. Then, I swapped the distributor out with a spare.
Couldn't get it to run at all with the spare, I think the condenser had
a short. I tried timing the engine anywhere from 15 degrees BTDC to 10
degrees ATDC. I tried adjusting the point gap from .010" to .030".
None of this helped. I checked that there was adequate fuel pressure.
To add insult to injury, I got a facefull of fuel when I pulled the line
from the right carb and bumped the end of it on the throttle cable,
causing the fuel to slingshot out of the line. The bus managed to have
the last laugh in that concern, me having escaped earlier when installing
the line from the tank to the fuel pump. Anyway there was plenty of fuel
pressure.
Finally yesterday around 3 I decided to pull the left carb and
check it, even though it had been working perfectly on the other engine.
I cleaned it out and swapped the 130/175 jets for 137.5/155. The latter
set of jets were the spec for the 72 bus, and should make the mixture
much richer. I put the carb back together, reinstalled it and fired it
up. Now the bus wouldn't even idle. I was beside myself. I figured I
must have messed up something reassembling the carb, so I angrily
removed it and took it back to the workbench. I also took off the right
carb, thinking I would change the jets in it also to match the left. Of
course, I didn't have another set of 137.5/155 jets, so I cannabalized
one of Schneiter's 72 carbs for them. I took the left carb apart again,
and couldn't find anything wrong with it. I was really mad and
frustrated at this point.
Then, my luck changed. I don't know why. Maybe it was because it
was Christmas, or because in my frustration, the thought of selling the
bus for parts had crossed my mind. I took the carbs back out to the bus
and installed them. While doing so, I noticed that the crosspipe
between the manifolds had somehow come loose. That explained why it
would barely run just before. Gaining hope, I assembled the linkage,
fuel lines, and electrical wires. Fired it up, and it idled smoothly.
Optimistic once again, I adjusted the idle and the three mixture set
screws, and went for a spin. The bus surged forward eagerly in first,
and responded without hesitation when I put my foot down in second and
third. Problem solved! Still not a lot of power, but smooth, and no
bucking, popping, or hesitation. I was jubilant.
I drove home, where my luck continued to hold. I wanted to install
the air cleaner assembly, but hadn't seen the left mounting bracket in
months. I found it in less than 5 minutes in a box of parts against the
garage wall. Why it had eluded me for so long before I don't know. I
also found a little stash of jets, which included a 137.5 main and 155
air correction. Yes! Now I could reassemble Schneiter's carb without
making another trip to the junkyard. I installed the air cleaner
mounting bracket, air cleaner, and carb covers, cleaned up the garage a
little, and went for another drive.
The two liter engine is not really much of a change. I detect a
little more low end torque. It will pull away from 30 mph cleanly in
4th gear. Top end power is not there, though. It's comparable to the
1800 that it replaced. In this respect, I'm disappointed. I attribute
the lack of power to the extra-low compression ratio that resulted from
the deeply dished pistons and .060" spacers under the cylinders. On the
other hand, I cannot get this engine to ping, even running 87 octane
unleaded regular, with timing at 15 degrees BTDC, under full throttle.
For the first time, I'm not afraid to floor it going up hills. And, it
runs extremely cool. I went for a 10 mile run down the freeway at 65-70
mph and the oil temp maxed out at 190. Around town, it is usually under
180. CHT varies from ~200 around town to a max observed of just over
300, lugging it up a hill. Oil pressure is great, with 70 psi cold,
40-50 on the freeway, and 20 at hot idle. I'm running 20-50 oil, but I
think I'm going to put in 10-30 at the 300 mile oil change. The oil
light also goes out a lot quicker at startup than the 1800 did. I don't
know what to attribute that to, but it gives me a warm fuzzy. On the
whole, I'm satisfied. I only wish the engine had more power. I'm thinking
the carbs are probably not up to supplying the kind of air this engine
needs at high RPM's. I'm also thinking I will remove the spacers under
the cylinders one of these days, since I'm having zero problems with
detonation. I'm definately going to drive it in some hot conditions
before I do that, though.
So, the saga is over. If I had it to do over again, I would have
just left the 1800 alone, since there was nothing really wrong with it,
and I didn't end up gaining much power, if any. True, I have a newer,
quieter, possibly more reliable engine for the Inuvik trip, but I'm not
sure it was worth the expense and the frustration. Pictures to appear
on the web, one of these days. I'm way backlogged in the scanning dept.
-David
============================================================================
David Schwarze '73 VW Safare Custom Camper (Da Boat)
San Diego (Actually La Mesa) '72 VW Westfalia Camper (Da Project)
California, USA '73 Capri GT 2800 (Da Beast)
e-mail: des@teleport.com '87 Mustang Lx 5.0 (14.17@99.34)
http://www.teleport.com/~des '93 Weber WG-50 (Da Piano)
============================================================================
| 
