Itinerant Air-Cooled

Hey,

Sounds great, looking forward to it! :)

Cheers, Deano.

Yay! Van Damn broke today. After the camping trip last week the starter started acting out. When I pulled to the camp spot, stepped out to register, and got back in the van, turn the key.. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Nothing. Cycle the key, the engine turns, van starts. This afternoon, no go.. cycling the key always gives you a nasty grinding ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. So much for BOSCH reman unit. It lasted 4 years. It could also be the wiring, and voltage drop to the starter. So, need to inspect that this weekend. Thankfully I did not throw away the OE, if it is the solenoid, or the starter.

Aww no! I'm still not quite rolling yet, as well the MS I converted my bus from auto to manual and must have messed up the front shift rod support because I can't get 4th gear.

Gonna have a go at fabricating a new mount tomorrow so fingers crossed!

Hope you get the starter sorted dude

In the mean time, I got the new Awesome thermostat in. Hopefully it lasts. I still didn't have time to mess with the starter.

Awesome! Sadly I'm not on the road yet it seems there is a problem with my rebuilt box and it won't stay in 4th. Gonna have to drop the lot out again and send back to supplier! I'm getting married in 2 weeks then on honeymoon so won't be back on it until July.

Watch this space!

Finally had some time to investigate starter. With the suggestion of my father, I shifted gears a bit prior to turning ignition key, and lo' and behold, starter got freed, and it turned the motor over. I happen to have a spare starter / original. but... wonder if $300 gear reduction starter could be warranted? or another $70 reman... or starter adapter with another starter?

#what_would_colin_do? #wwcd?

Just got of the phone with NAPA. Turns out, they have a lifetime warranty on their starters. The only thing I have to pay $15 for two-day UPS shipping. I'm stoked. In part, I am glad it has life-time warranty, and in part I am pissed I have to pay $15 for shipping, and in part I am mad it only lasted 7000 miles... but all in all.. it will be a 2 hour job to replace -- one hour starring at the stupid thing, and one hour of actual work.

luftvagon wrote:Just got of the phone with NAPA. Turns out, they have a lifetime warranty on their starters. The only thing I have to pay $15 for two-day UPS shipping. I'm stoked. In part, I am glad it has life-time warranty, and in part I am pissed I have to pay $15 for shipping, and in part I am mad it only lasted 7000 miles... but all in all.. it will be a 2 hour job to replace -- one hour starring at the stupid thing, and one hour of actual work.

Your choice on the expedited shipping . . . suck it up.

Good luck with the starter.
Lubricate! the bushing if it uses the one in the bell housing.
Lubricate the pinion slide area on the shaft.
Make sure flange is clean clean clean both on the starter and bell housing opening (that is where your electrons come in)
Do NOT tighten the bolts until both are lightly snugged.
Starter solenoid post wiring sequence:
Battery
Alternator
Red/White to fuse box
Heater blower
whatever else

Thanks for the advice. Got the starter in, with a new bushing. This one is a bit faster than the old one. Old one felt lazy from the get-go. #hoping_it_lasts_this_time

Hey,

Back from honeymoon now and managed to get under the bus at the weekend, I mentioned i was having issues getting 4th gear on my reconditioned 091 box.

It turns out I can manually select 4th with the shift rod disconnected and it stays in gear.

Gave it quite a few tries, started with the clutch down, lifted the clutch, engine stalls, stays in 4th gear, repeat.

However, when i reconnect the gear shift rod, and stick and try to select 4th with the stick it pops out of 4th when engaging the clutch.

So it looks like my issue is with the linkage, bear in mind my bus was an auto and i've converted to manual myself, had to put the shift rod, shift rod tube and fabricate a bracket to support the front of the shift rod in place, i'm also using a crappy "empi" quick shift i got from ebay.

So first port of call is to get hold of a stock bus shifter and try that, and then i guess if that isn't a quick fix, its going to be lots of fettling and tweaking and scratching my head to get it to work.

So, it will be a while i think before i'm back onto the tuning, i'll let you know how i get on once i've got all my gears!

Cheers!

Deano.

Van is running great, so I decided to install new seats...
.. now I just need to replace seat belts so that i can utilize seat belt connector built into the seat.

Okay, I'll bite: what kind of seats are they? They look a bit like the Recaros that GoWesty sells, but not quite.

Chrysler Town & Country - Stow 'N Go seats.

They look great!

Dropping the engine and transmission today I've decided that the selector or the 3rd/4th gear stack must be faulty in my gearbox.

Hopefully I can get it rebuilt or swapped under warranty.

Cheers, deano

Hang in there Chewy! I'll keep perfecting this tune, so hopefully it turn key by then :)

After finally replacing (air cooled) thermostat, I decided it is time to relocate the air "coolant" temperature sensor, back to its stock location. The difference between old location and stock location was +80F. Crazy!! At last, with thermostat working, and flaps blocking cooling air, I'm starting to see steady temperatures, and rock solid idle, and much easier cold starts. This was also the maiden voyage for the new seats -- short ride, but sweet.



Just came back from a nice drive. It's 100F, and almost 100% humidity, and while my air may be on HOT, it's actually recirculating cabin air. No air conditioner on this beast.

I once said CYL #3 is not a good place for a temperature sensor, and boy was I wrong -- i am eating my flip/flops at the moment. It's as good as your thermostat, flaps, and ducting!! Those BOSCH and VW Engineers knew what they were doing after all.

My Vanagon's fuel, timing, startup enrichment, fuel overrun (thanks Colin), and other settings are now as close to L-Jetronic as they ever were. The engine now has close to 9000 miles, while the body is at 108200 miles. I have come a full circle, from some crazy tunes and settings, and now back to stock as close as possible.

Why all this? Has luft gone ge-luft? Nein! Stock settings will be a great way to establish a (new/digital) baseline. A great way to help others in their voyage towards digital fuel and ignition management. The only way I can see this engine management improve is to go to stock fuel map equivalent, and address areas where L-Jetronic could not compromise...

...and that's just it.. L-Jetronic is always, in a way, a compromise. You move the wiper one way, you loosen the spring, and now your skewed all three points. A shift and balancing act in trying to find out what your particular engine likes. In perfect world, the AFM was never meant to be messed with, and in that same perfect world, it is not AFM that changes but everything around it.

While this may sound like a rant about L-Jetronic and AFM -- it's not -- it's an admiration to the system and engineers who built it, and a salute to people who want to take it from there.