Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 14:43:22 -0500
Reply-To: Michael Sullivan <sullivan@OPENMARKET.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Michael Sullivan <sullivan@OPENMARKET.COM>
Subject: Re: FI, LP, and Happiness
Content-Type: text/enriched; charset="us-ascii"
Dear Chris,
Just curious, I used to have dual Weber side-drafts on my old BMW 2002ti and I was very pleased with them. Great performance and great gas mileage (unless I floored it!).
So my question: how is the performance of your newly-carbureted van:
- Same as the old FI?
- Slighlty better?
- Slightly worse?
Also, do you think you'll have any problems passing emissions?
(Did you keep your Cat?)
Cheers,
MJS
At 07:28 AM 10/26/98 -0600, Chris Smith wrote:
>Have you ever noticed that there is no greater grin than the one on the
>face of a Vanagon owner who just got their bus running right?
>
>Yes it's true. After a couple of weeks of playing with the new carb,
>jetting, timing, vacume advance, and other related systems, Turd is now
>running better that she ever has. The FI to Carb conversion is now done.
>There were a few issues with the carb tuning (new emulsion tube solved the
>worst problem) and the fact that the carbs' throttle clip is about 6 inches
>farther back than the FI was. The van used to get almost 20mpg with me
>driving when the FI was in good shape. Now with the carb I'm getting
>almost 25mpg (it was close to 30 but was running dangerously lean) all
>highway driving.
>
>For those that are considering the swap here are a few of my experiences:
>
>1) It takes way longer than expected. 2 of us spent all day doing the swap
>with one person under the car taking care of the fuel pump, and all the
>lower lines that have to be re-routed. This included repairing the exaust
>to the gas heater, and installing new filters and drilling new mount
>locations for the new pump.
>
>2) Be quite sure that the engine has a good tune-up before trying to start.
> Too high of a dwell angle can sure look like a fuel supply problem.
>
>3) The throttle cable will need to be longer. Our solution was to head
>down to the local performance shop and pick up a cable extender. I'm not
>sure if a 6 inch is still available since the owner there couldn't find a
>second in the same diamater in his books. But looking for webber parts for
>a VW is always fun around a bunch of chevy lovers.
>
>4) If you get the kit that 'The Parts Place' in Michigan sells, trust the
>initial tuning. The carb was so very close that it could have run for a
>long time without us playing with it and messing it up.
>
>
>All in all, this was one of the best modifications I've made to the van so
>far, plus that giant webber sponsor sticker looks great on the van now.
>
>Chris
>
<bold>Michael J. Sullivan
</bold><italic>Director of Catalog Design
Open Market, Inc.
</italic>
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