All,

I just installed a K&N filter on my '89 Westy. Huzzah!

From a modest local test drive i can honestly say that third gear pickup
seems noticeably better. Really, no joke, i press the gas and she just
leaps! Also throttle response in general seems slightly better.

However, once warm, i seem to have a big dead area in the low RPM range of
2nd, 3rd and 4th gears that i want to believe is due to an aging air flow
meter.

The symptom is, once the engine is warm, when i shift from 1st to 2nd,
unless i rev it way up, the pickup just dies when i shift to 2nd. However,
if i keep my foot on the gas *in the exact same position*, the RPMs slowly
build and then suddenly the vehicle just shoots ahead, i shift to 3rd and
the cycle repeats. If i wind it up to 3900-4000 RPMs before shifting the
"dead zone" is largely avoided.

This does not happen when the engine is cold, i.e. i can shift from 1st to
2nd at 3000 rpms and she will just dig herself out of the RPM hole smoothly
and predictably. I'm noticing this now because, if you've been watching the
news, Minnesota broke all records yesterday by hitting 92F! We tied with
Phoenix, AZ! Hence my engine is warm MUCH faster than two weeks ago when we
had 8 inches of snow.

So... air flow meter, right? right?

-jspeer

'89 Westy, "Mystery Machine"