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Date:         Wed, 20 May 1998 11:02:11 -0400
Reply-To:     Derek Drew <drew@INTERPORT.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Derek Drew <drew@INTERPORT.NET>
Subject:      Re: Syncro Alignment Spreadsheet
Comments: To: malcolm.stebbins@MSVU.Ca
Comments: cc: vanagon@vanagon.com
In-Reply-To:  <C40168499D@msvu1.msvu.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Glad to hear the stuff arrived.

You need only return the fiche, and you have, if you need it, more than a few weeks to do so as I am not in a hurry to get it back, and will tell you if I become so.

What *I* would do is take these steps:

1) Confirm in your own mind (and possibly with the list as well) that VW provides different alignment specs depending on whether the vehicle is empty or not. That is why they list differeing alignment specs for vehicles "half laden," "due to the presence of optional equipment which cannot be uninstalled" for the alignment, as they put it (I am actually paraphrasing). They are thinking of the Ambulance vans with special equipment, but I am thinking that this appllies to Westfalia as well. (Consider writing or emailing Westfalia to confirm the wisdom of taking this approach.)

2) Confirm in your own mind that a bone dry non-GL syncro weighs much less than our vehicles (according to the vehicle weight information of various models I sent you, and possibly also by weighing your van on a truck scale to see what percent higher it is in weight than the empty non-GL Syncro or pickups), and so our vehicles need to get a set of alignment specs which are somewhere between "fully laden" and "unladen." Confirm in your own mind that our vehicles should therefore be set to an alignment spec which is possibly 30% laden rather than using the "unladen" spec provided in Bentley. (You can confirm this by performing the wheel centerline to wheelwell measurement given on page 443a of Bentley, and noticing that the vehicle is already at the maximum given in that graph, meaning that it is more laden than the VW designers expected it to be when they issued unladen alignment specs.

3) Perform calculations designed to translate the published figures in the Bentley manual to a partially laden spec. To perform these calculations, you will need to translate the Bentley specs to the specs used by our alignment mechanics on their machines so they can understand the paper we give them. I used the standard translation tables I sent you in the mail, but VW seems to have its own more specific translation tables in mind, the tables present in the Microfiche I sent you, and which depend on wheel diameter. So possibly my translations are off. There are two sets of calculations to make: the calculations to match how laden the vehicle is, and the calculations to translate degree, minites, etc.

Email me with any questions.

At 11:33 AM 5/20/98 -0400, you wrote: >Just to let you know that your package arrived today and I will get >to the 'reader' tomorrow and get the fiche back to you. > >Do you need the paper material back as well?? > >I may have a few quesitons as I do this. I hope you'll be there to >help :-) > >Thanks. Malcolm >

_____________________________________________________ Derek Drew New York, NY & Washington DC ConsumerSearch drew@interport.net 212-580-6486 (W) 212-580-4459; 202-966-0938 (H)


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