Date:         Sun, 14 May 1995 15:33:51 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         eugp@uclink3.berkeley.edu (Eugene C. Palmer)
Subject:      Engine build, part 5

78 x 90.5 engine log, part 5.

Tuesday, May 9,

Ho Boy it has been quite a weekend,  not all that great really.  Drove into
the sunset on friday
afternoon, this bus was cruisin, hard to keep it below 65.  EFI was snappy,
running under 20%
throttle, often as little as 9% at 65 mph. Got to Hunter-Liggett about 10
pm, found that both roads
into the wilderness were in disrepair, one non-existent, one with a small
river running over it.
Decide not to try and ford it.  Guess I won't get to try hiking up that 5000
foot peak I can't remember the name of right now.  Continued on down
Nacimiento-Ferguson and stopped for the night.  Slept OK in the bus.   Ate
some breakfast.  Check the valves, all good, just a little snug on #1
exhaust.  Start out for the day.

Anybody out here in California who has never been down Nacimiento-Ferguson
should try it
someday.  This road drops off the coastal uplift down to the ocean in no
time at all.   An intense
and spectacular drop.  Bus was surging some as I started down Nac-Ferg.
After the descent, as I
started down route 1, the bus was not doing its thing well at all.  Got some
gas (1.95@gal in
Gordo) and tried to continue.  The going got rough, bus has no power,
revving to over 4000 to get
up dumpy little hills.  Stopped at a turn-out.  Everything checks out.
Tried again, stopped at
another turn-out.  This can't go on.  Attempt to gather myself together,
here I am, a VW bus on
route 1 in California, notorious for breaking down, broken down.  Move the
bus, with great difficulty now, off the road to a parking lot at the Silver
peak trailhead.  Remove one injector wire at a time, #2 is running the car
by itself.  Remove spark wires one at a time, same thing, #2 running the
engine.  Rip out a plug, it sparks.  Rip out left bank injectors, they
spray.  Try it again, same deal.  What the @#$%^&*?  Give up.  I have
created a monster, an aftermarket FI system that I can't even fix, and no
one in the world would touch.  Hitchhike to Cambria (this took over two
hours with constant traffic, at least it wasn't on Nacimiento-Ferguson!).
Call U-Haul, check that they are open Sunday and that they have a van &
dolly, eat dinner, at least I'm not a poor man. Head on to San Luis Obisbo,
check in to motel.

Get up at 8:45 and walk to U-Haul, get 17' diesel van and tow dolly, get the
insurance since I'm
going on route 1.  Drive to Carmina for breakfast, it's a nice little
tourist town.  Continue on and
drive the 17' van over 35 miles of curvy, hilly roads.  Stop at bus and find
a new VW front emblem
under the windshield wipers!  My bus hasn't had one since I've owned it.  A
gesture from some
sympathetic stranger, or just somebody who found one and thinks it might be
mine?  Get bus on
dolly with one cylinder running, carefully stopping bus before it goes off
the front, trash fog lamps. Lube dolly ratchet straps, they are always
rusty.  Sock bussy down hard, drive van and bus back down miles of curvy
roads, stop at Hearst Castle and check out the rich mans dream.  Remove
axles, check van/dolly over real good (a strap had loosened quite a bit, and
I had forgotten the saftey chains), drive back to Bay Area.

Work all day Monday.

Return van & dolly Tuesday,

Wednesday, May 10,

Still don't know whats wrong, but I'm guessing the injectors are clogged.
Remove plug wires,
manifolds, spark plugs.

Thursday

Compression check with friend.  #1-100. #2-110, #3-105, #4-105.  Makes
sense, not as even as I
had hoped, but in the right range for a 7:1 ish engine.  Could be better
with the valves set at .004.  Nothing seriously wrong with the long block.
All spark wires sparking, all plugs check out for continuity, all injectors
also.


WOrk,work, work....Bus sits in driveway.

Call around about cleaning, or rebuilding injectors, can't find anybody who
does it.
Strongly considering slapping the stock carb on and seeing how it runs, and
how the power brakes behave.  When I get some time.

Sunday, May 14, Mommie day,

At this point I'm not sure why I'm posting this stuff, it's rather
embarrassing actually.  I've gotten a bit of feedback from excerpts so I
guess people are reading it.

Should I stop?

Does anybody find it helpful or anything?


Eug,
exotic, but very still, '71

Posting part 5