Date:         Mon, 26 Oct 1998 07:28:16 -0600
Reply-To:     Chris Smith <chris.smith@AQUILA.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Chris Smith <chris.smith@AQUILA.COM>
Subject:      FI, LP, and Happiness
Comments: To: vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

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