Date:         Tue, 23 Apr 1996 20:37:28 -0600
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Dave Backe <backed@cadvision.com>
Subject:      77 Fuel Injection - the saga continues

Background: My 77 Westy was purchased with a Weber carb kit. Me no like. It
never ran right in colder (below 50F) weather. Also seemed to run a bit on
the rich side. I don't have the patience to constantly rejet.

Update: the carb has been removed, and the FI gradually put on (as I figured
out what everything was, and where it's supposed to go.. Hmmm. I have the
patience for this???). Finally, this evening, I put on and wired up the fuel
pump - the final piece to go back on. OK... check all the fuel hoses...
clamps all nice and tight... all air and vacuum connections accounted for...
Is it ready to try out?? YES!

So I reconnect the grounds to both batteries, get the fire extinguisher
ready, and climb into the driver's seat. Turn the key. Let it turn over for
about 8 seconds. No start.. OK... no problem.. the fuel just needs to work
its way into the system... Turn the key again.. after about 4 seconds it
slowly starts to fire... come on Emma! (that's her name).. there she goes!
It actually started and is running. Wow! This was the first real mechanical
thing I've ever done! It's actually running.

Sort of. Runs VERY ROUGH, like it's flooded... Step on the accelerator a
bit, it revs up.. good sign... still sounds flooded. I let it idle (cough
and gag) - it won't die, but it sure sounds rough. Go back to take a look..
Black smoke.. Smells like it's burning rich.. Go back up front. Shut it off.
Go back and disconnect the lead to the cold start injector. Climbed back in
and turned the starter on. Fires right up. Still runs rough. Let it cough a
bit more, and shut it down.

I go back and take a peek at all the gas hoses, and I see a small amount of
gas forming from the pressure measurement tap on the fuel distributor. Grab
the 7mm wrench and see if it's tight. It is. A wee bit of gas around a
couple of hose clamps too (and they're on good and tight). Hmmm. I guess the
fuel pump works :)

I don't have a fuel pressure gauge (yet), but I'm guessing that either a)
the pressure regulator don't work, or b) the return fuel line from the
pressure regulator is blocked. I can test the return line by disconnecting
at the back of the pressure reg and seeing if gas drains from the tank (I'll
try this one tommorrow).

Any idea how much pressure the system would be under if the pressure
regulator wasn't 'regulating'? I'm guessing it would take quite a bit of
pressure to cause gas to come out of the measurement tap. Any other
suggestions as to what to start looking into?

Thanks,


Dave.

ps: I can continue to post my progress if anyone is interested. I know the
traffic has been high lately, and the requests have been made to keep things
consise. Let me know and I'll keep posting, or shut up :)