Date:         Sat, 15 Jul 1995 22:55:45 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         eugp@uclink3.berkeley.edu (Eugene C. Palmer)
Subject:      Engine log, part 100

Volks,

Ladies and Gentlemen, here is your favorite builder of type II race engines
that break with your bedtime story.

Left for Oregon from Berkeley, CA June 5, drove up the highway midday, found
oil temps to be higher than I had encountered to date on this nearly new 78
x 90.5 fuel injected 1971 bus.  Let the SO drive above Chico, saw oil temps
surpass 210, 220, then hang at 230,(65-70 mph @ 95 degrees F) let her keep
driving, thinking I should back the timing off.  Fuel milage in Red Bluff
was good 19+ mpg, meaning the timing can't be that far off.  Back timing off
anyway in Red Bluff, back to 15 from 18-20, head up into the mountains after
stopping at Shasta Lake for a dip.  Backing timing off helps pull up hills,
still weaky though for such an engine.  Stop in Ashland for the night.
Check valves in the morning sprinkles, loose!  Head on towards Eugene,
Oregon.  Realize that my fuel maps are all leveled out at 50% throttle,
change them to continue up from 50%, low and behold the engine comes alive
at full throttle and starts hammering up hills no problem.  Mixture meter
reads spot on 14:1.  Reach Eugene, settle in for the weekend, concerned that
I may have cracked the heads in the central valley, but pleased that I have
the fuel maps tuned better and things seem to be running well.  Fuel milage
to Eugene was actually a bit worse than the advanced setting.  

Have a great weekend performing at the Country Fair, head out monday morning
after checking valves and finding them a bit tight, which is what I would
expect.  Drive down through Ashland with happy bus.  Let SO drive after
Ashland, which includes the dreaded 4000'+ Anderson Pass, sweetie hammers up
it in third at 50 mph just like I told her to, me in the back attempting to
rest.  Look up and see the oil temp past 250, fail to freak out, let her
keep going.  About 5 miles past Yreka she goes "I'm losing power" and pulls
over.  OBerg warning light is on.  I look around, check valves, they seem a
bit loose but nothing serious, get in and sure enough it feels like it's
running on one or two cylinders.  Proceed down the highway to the next exit
at 30 mph.  Pull off and get out the spare spark plugs I brought, only to
find they are the long reach plugs and don't fit, oops, better check those
spare parts a bit better, eh?  Decide to head back to Yreka since it's the
largest town around and it's getting late so we better find a place to stay.
Drive over 15 miles at 20-40 mph on the side of the highway on what feels
like two cylinders.  Beautiful late evening electric storm.  Burn out the
flasher unit because I added those high mount brake lights.  Pull into motel
parking lot and check things out, the usual, lots of spark and fuel, valves
loose but no visable damage.  By the way we are caravanning with friends and
they have been following, good thing, eh?  Now we head off into town after
9:00pm at night in search of spark plugs, find them at a Chevron with a
service section and they sell me four.  Swap plugs, which is a difficult
operation with the four barrel throttle bodies in the rain at night.  Fire
it up, no change, buy motel rooms for the night for all of us.

Next morning go to U-Haul and rent the only auto-transport/truck in town at
8:30 am.  Drive bussy up onto transport, it seems happier now.  Guy at
U-Haul is amazed at how fast I load the bus up and secure it.  Little does
he know.  I like the auto-transport more than the tow-dolly because you
don't have to rip out the axles and there is no wear on the bearings.  Drive
back to Berkeley.

WELLLLL how about this, my Gene Berg engine whipped within 2000 miles!
Imagine my surprise.  What appears to be happening is that the engine does
not make power, it idles beautifully, all four cylinders fire and receive
fuel, will rev to 5000 rpm with no load.  OBerg filter is dirty, but not
with any serious shards of metal, just the usual gunk, no chunks of metal in
the sump or attached to the pickup tube magnet.  Valves again seem fine, a
bit loose which I think is what happens when the case and heads get
overheated.  Compression back in Berkeley measures 100, 95, 100, 85.  Which
is quite a bit lower than it was before I left less than 750 miles ago.
Cracked heads I surmise, either that or the studs/heads have loosened.
Beautiful ported and polished semi-hemi cracked heads, what was I thinking?
That I could actually build a cool running 2.0 engine?  Guess not.  At this
point I have re-installed another set of plugs, only to find that this is
not a repeat of my last U-Haul ride in that I do not get the power back when
I put new plugs in.  This is not a pleasant situation, I thought I did alot
of stuff right, well, apparently not.  I do have another stock long block
that can go in, but this is clearly not my first choice.  I also have a set
of nearly new stock heads bored to 90.5 I can use, also not my favorite
choice.  I still do not know for sure what is really wrong, it doesn't seem
like low compression alone could account for such a loss in power.

Some conclusions at this time:

Do not spend $5000 on a Gene Berg VW engine, buy four instead.

Do not buy the Haltech PEFI system, though it has worked perfectly, it is
not adaptable to adverse conditions, such as having to re-program it when
the compression drops.

Never drive with the oil temp over 215 degrees F if you have dual port heads
and don't want them cracked.

Do not fail to pull over when the engine has been working way hard, even a
race built one.

That even though an engine is making good power, mileage, and has no signs
of knock or ping, the timing could still be too advanced for some
situations.  Bear in mind this is the Stinger S4 auto-retard distributor
that retards 2 degrees for every thousand rpm.

That I, personally, can kill any VW bus engine on a drive to Oregon and back.

I have alot of opinions about Gene Berg, this engine should have cut it, it
had/has great oil pressure and I think the short block is still solid, but
VW heads are VW heads and have severe limitations, no matter who put them
together, or what fuel system/distributor is running them.

I think thats all I'll say for now, since I don't really have all the facts yet.

Eug,
'71
Builder of VW bus/race engines that break, top U-Haul customer, establishing
a fine credit rating.

PS, I hesitate to respond to peoples requests for technical assistance from
the list, I don't believe I should be telling other people how to screw up.